All my dreams, handed off to an ungrateful teenager??

Austrians often keep leases in the family for years and, as children grow up, pass them on. It's not unusual to keep grandma's (or great-grandma's) apartment in the family, sublet it here and there, and then take it back when needed.

Okay, I'm aware of this, and knew it when we signed a sublease a few years ago...but the idea that someday my apartment will be some college student's "WG" (Wohngemeinschaft, or "flat share," I guess they'd say in England? or "group house/apartment" in DC.) makes me insane!

We knew our landlord was holding onto the apartment for his daughter when she goes to university, but on the rare occasion that we realize that we won't live here forever, I get all fired up. It is so perfect...amazing neighborhood (Servitenviertel, in the 9th District - 10-15 minute walk to downtown), all windows overlook a quiet, tree-filled courtyard that is HUGE...seriously, the only noise we hear when the windows are open are birds...huge rooms, high ceilings, altbau, tiny balcony, huge bathroom with tub...I could go on and on...I LOVE this place. (Okay, it could use one more room and a real terrace, but in this neighborhood?? I won't push it.)

It is, in short, the actual apartment of my live-abroad-in-cultured-old-Europe dreams.

And some teenager is allowed to come in and install loftbeds and invite 6 of her closest friends to move in, and put a picnic table in the living room and never clean and let dishes pile up, and have random sex in my bedroom, do bong hits in my bathroom, sell drugs and weapons from my foyer, plan terrorist attacks in my kitchen...okay, I've gone too far, but you can see how much it means to me. (You could actually SEE it, too, if the Stasi...oh, I mean Roland...didn't censor my blog postings!)

Anyway, our landlord just came over and extended our lease for another year (summer 2010) and most likely another year after that, to be confirmed this fall. This is perfect...well, perfect would be summer 2012, when I supposedly will finish my dissertation and go on the job market. Who knows where we'll be after that...but, until then, I want to stay here, in my dream apartment. No teenagers!!!