Hello

I want to do the impossible in Basel. I want to stay there for 3 months for virtually nothing - well, according to Swiss standards.

I am in Antwerp at present and pay 200 euros a month for a room with a kitchen. Nothing fancy but I am warm and dry and can wash and cook.

I have also lived in Paris in one of the tiny 7th floor maid's apartments. 5 sq metres to be exact. Not my first choice but it was cheap (in exchange for babysitting and dog walking) and it did have a great view.

So how can I find something cheap in Basel? I need to be there for 3 months.

I have an offer of a room with shower from someone there - a person I got through connections - their son has left home and it is his room and shower room on offer. But no cooking facilities and not a seperate entrance. 800 CHF a month. I get the feeling that they think I would sleep there, get up each morning and go out all day and only come back to sleep. Hmmm...I need somewhere that I can call home for 3 months and make simple food. Even just a kettle, toaster and be able to make salads will do me.

So does anyone know how else I could find a place? Where could I ask? Any newletters or something? I would be prepared to pay up to 400 a month if I had to, but that really is my top limit. I know it's not much by Swiss standards but for me that is using almost all I have.

So if you have any suggestions - apart from "don't do it" - please let me know. I need to be there by mid March or April at the latest.


And below if my story - brief as I can to explain why I am in this situation.
Thanks in advance for you ideas and for reading this. I am not a person to give up and feel there must be some way......

The very short story is that I gave up everything I had, left Australia and for the past 3 years have been reclaiming the career that is really me. Lutenist. As this is music the past 3 years have been getting my skills back and only just now am I begining to perform - so basically I have not earned money for 3 years. I plan to go to Australia for a "concert tour" in July but I am going to Basel as a professors at Schola Cantorum said if I was there he could give me lessons whenever he had a spare hour. This is a fantastic opportunity for me and here comes the amazing point - I am 54 years old - yet, all the musicians I have have encountered and this professor and other teachers and now (after some concerts in the Netherlands last week) the general public, don't care. It is all about the music. And this is my life. But if I could be in Basel for 3 months it would be all my dreams come true ans this professor is why I first of all took up music years ago and now why I came back to it. So thats me. And if you have any ideas I would be very grateful.

I should think it's possible, but you'll need to share and be out of town.

Here are some links

http://www.unibas.ch/index.cfm?5F1C3...C84A1609122FF2

What are your dates? There is a possibility we may be able to assist.

We may also be able to help if you get really stuck for somewhere to stay.But it could only be from 2nd April.

You should do a search. It's been demonstrated many times that it's absolutely impossible to live in Switzerland for less than CHF100,000 a year. Even if you live on nothing but dry toast and tea.

In all seriousness, unless you have your heart set on living in Basel, you might be better off looking for someplace cheap to rent just over the border in St. Louis instead. You should be able to get a tiny, cheap, not-terribly-attractive-but-warm-and-safe studio of between 25-30m2 for a few hundred euros a month, and you can catch the Distribus into Basel, so you're only 15-20 minutes from the centre of town.

Added bonus is that associated costs of living (food, etc) are cheaper in France.

You might also look for a flat-share. Lots of French students come to do their apprenticeships with Roche and Novartis and prefer to stay on the French side. One more bonus - anyone who is doing an apprenticeship at one of the big pharma companies will certainly speak good English.

You could also try house or pet sitting. I just did a quick google search for house sitter Basel and found this:

http://www.housecarers.com/search_de...?ID=2145554727

Good luck!

You may be elligible for student accomodation. Also, I am about to PM you with a contact, who is also a musician, who may have some ideas. Best of luck.

Join: http://www.couchsurfing.org/

and beg a few nice folks to let u crash with them

A big and thanks for the groan, Biff. The smiley and helpful post afterwards obviously didn't indicate that I might be kidding.

You could well be right but I have managed to live for nothing by taking cut sanwhiches everytime I visit Basel for a day or two....however, I don't think I can take 3 months worth of cut sanwhiches! The world is full of wonderful helpful people so I am hopeful!

Thanks for that. Yes French friends had told me about St Louis. Any idea where I look for St Louis accommodation? Any websites?
And why does eveyone say "safe" when referring to areas in Basel? Is there somewhere that isn't safe? I have lived in Paris for a couple of years - rich and seedy areas - but never felt "unsafe" and the topic has never even come up. So why do I see it a lot in reference to Basel?

Thanks
Yes I will look at the link you gave and I have been looking for house or pet sitting. Especially pet sitting. I did this a lot in Paris and loved it. I love dogs and cats.

Look for posts from a member called 'slammer'

He lives in a 300chf apartement in Basel but is harassed by his man-crazy landlady. Try to make a deal with slammer where you pose as his better half. You keep the crazy landlady away, he provides room and board.

Hi
I just joined the housesitters. So fingers crossed. It would be such fun to mind a doggy firend or two. I did lots of this in Paris and made many friends....Scrumpy, Porter, Lord Nelson, Weezy, Otto, Reginald the Cat, etc - oh yeah....and their owners!

Thank you
Yes I have tried a few things on that list - no luck yet but something may turn up
best wishes

Thanks very much.....any help is great and I am very happy with student accommodation. It is what I currently live in (in Antwerp).

Interesting deal. We will see..
thanks

There's a link in my post above that takes you to www.immostreet.fr that brings up available accomodation in St. Louis. Otherwise, try doing a search on immoblier St Louis in google.fr.

thanks very much