My Flat Was Flooded and This Is What I've Learnt

It happened two weeks ago.

It was 8 AM on a Tuesday. I was lying on my small comfortable couch, reading a book, eating my breakfast. Everything was peaceful—I still had a lot of time before I needed to set off. It was the second day of Freshers’ Week and I was excited to go and finally get my Student ID card, discover all the societies, experience Speed-mating and explore what Language Café had to offer. The day ahead of me was full of possibilities.

But nothing prepared me for what was actually going to happen.

As I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom, I heard a shower turning on in the upstairs flat. Then the pipes made a really weird noise. And then… a small stream of water started leaking from the ceiling, running down the bathroom wall.

What the hell? I remember thinking. I waited. And waited. And it didn’t stop. So I went to the kitchen for a bowl and I placed it on the bathroom floor, so that it would catch all the drops. Done.

Except that it wasn’t done at all. Because all of a sudden, I heard drops from my to-be-a-flatmate bedroom. I went there and saw that the water started leaking in there as well. And then the hallway. And then water was everywhere. And pots and pans and bowls and mugs. The shower upstairs was still on. I ran there and knocked on the door—nothing. I knocked some more. Nothing. Either they didn’t hear me, or they ignored me. I ran back to my flat—it was completely flooded. Water was on the ceiling, on the walls, on the floor and the carpet, it even started pouring from the actual light bulbs. I kept running upstairs, banging on the door and buzzing, and then running back to my flat, exchanging pots and pans so that the water wouldn’t overflow. I panicked. I was all alone in there, my flatmate was supposed to come in three days, and my flat was slowly becoming an ocean. I remember dreaming about having water everywhere in our flat when I was little—I wanted the space to turn into a swimming pool where we could swim and dive and float on pieces of furniture.

Well, now I had it. Except I couldn’t swim nor dive nor float on furniture because it was more of a large puddle, so it just sucked.

Eventually I decided to run to try the flat above the one with the shower on (yes, the person was still showering! It was the longest shower on earth, I’m telling you) and the man gave me a number of the woman who owned the devious flat. So I called her. In a total panic mode. The first thing I said was: "Hi, are you home?"

You can imagine her confusion. I was just super impolite, even for a Czech person, because I was so panicked that I forgot all good manners. Plus I spoke in a foreign accent, so the woman must have been just totally confused and I felt like an idiot. But oh well. That happens sometimes. I found out that even though she owned the flat, she wasn’t actually living in it. She rented it to somebody else.

She came in 15 minutes. I was already quite late for Freshers’ Week. The water was now literally pouring from everywhere. A part of the ceiling in the bathroom actually FELL OFF into the bathtub. It was so loud that it made me jump. A wooden shelf in the bedroom fell off as well; however, that’s thanks to my stupidity. Who leaves a big pan on a shelf to catch water and then forgets to check it? Ladies and gentlemen, me. Yes. Me.

The light bulb was furiously blinking and there was an orange sparkling behind the light switches in the hallway. The woman got to her apartment and the FREAKING shower was finally turned off. I swear, people, it lasted for like an hour.

But the switches were still orange. And I was really scared. So I ran to their flat, even though she told me to wait, and I dragged a random man down to my place to show him what was happening. Needless to say that my English was almost incomprehensible because I still couldn’t calm down.

Which is when we finally turned the electricity off, because I didn’t know how to do it (here’s to my best practical adult skills ever!). Oh and I also wanted to turn it off with my bare hands, to which he responded by frantically turning his head NO and he asked for my broom. And then he managed to do it. I felt like the dumbest person ever. I really wanted to touch wet electricity. Wow. I applaud myself.

Then the plumbers came to seal the pipes upstairs. I finally called my landlords. I was told that the electrician and the joiner would come at lunch time and that I needed to wait for them. Well, that was too bad, because I had half an hour before they stopped giving out Student ID Cards to people with their surname beginning with my letter at the university. I stood there. Should I run to uni? It was half an hour by foot if you tried to walk in quite a fast pace. And I had only half an hour. Okay. I took a deep breath. And I ran out of my apartment.

I ran and ran and my lungs wanted to explode. I cursed myself for being so lame at running and I cursed the world for doing this to me. But I made it. I made it in twenty minutes and I got my card. And then I spent another half an hour getting home and hoping that 11 AM is not a lunch time.

The joiner came. And the electrician. I thought they would just exchange the light bulbs, repair the damage, and let me finally go to the Freshers’ Fair. But no.

They actually told me that this was too much of a damage to repair it now. They told me that the walls would need at least a week just to get rid of all the humidity, the carpet would need to be completely exchanged, and last but not least, the electricity was ruined, and it was super dangerous to try to turn it on. They told me I would have to move.

"When?" I asked.

"Today." OH, THAT’S JUST GREAT.

Did I tell you that it was my Name Day? (Name Day is a celebration of one’s name in some countries. It’s assigned to everyone according to the calendar and it’s similar to birthday.)

And I did move that day. They moved me to private halls five minutes from the university. On Friday my flatmate arrived and they sent a van to help us with moving everything else.

I’ve lived here for two weeks now. The room is small and dark and we need to use the communal kitchen and bathrooms, but on the other hand, the university and the library are super close. And our landlords were just extremely kind and helpful. Everything has its pros and cons.

So why am I telling you this story, anyway?

Because if there’s one thing I’ve learnt from this whole experience, it’s that life always has a way of sorting itself out. No, I didn’t go to many events during the Freshers’ Week, and yes, moving all of our belongings was a pain in the ass, especially when I fell on the stairs with all of my luggage and I almost twisted my ankle. I swear I almost started crying at that moment.

However, I made it. I got the number of the woman who owned the flat, I called my landlord, I ran to get my ID, I spoke to the joiner and the electrician, I moved to a different place. In one day. And I know it might not seem like a lot to some people, but trust me—for a shy introvert, that is a lot to handle. And for a fresher who has just recently moved into a different country to live an adult life, that is quite a challenge.

But I did it. I did it because I had no other choice. I did it because I had to. Life threw me into this and I had to swim because otherwise I would drown. And I did not drown.

Even the most horrible things will end eventually. Even the most complicated troubles will resolve themselves. I am a true planner—I like to know what is ahead of me. I like to be prepared. But sometimes you can’t be ready for everything. And that’s totally okay.

Because at the end, there is always a solution. And sometimes you just need to grope in the dark and wait for the light. And if there is one certainty in life, it’s that the light will always come.