Apartments Part 1- The Hunt

Not having the funds to stay in a hotel forever I began my search for an apartment. I looked through the "to let" section of a free ads paper and found a couple possibilities...or so I thought. 510 euros/month! Cross that one off!! 370 for a place no larger than my big toe that's 20 minutes out of town?!?! I don't think so. The next few promising looking ones happened to be through an agency; the same agency. So I marched in there and using my best accent possible said, "Je cherche un apartment à louer" (I seek an apartment to rent) I was feeling quite proud of myself until the receptionist looked up and me and said, "Ouai...?" (Yeah...?) Oh boy. Now what? My turn again. Putting on my most apologetic face I explained my situation and that I wasn't sure who I needed to talk to. That part she could help me with, unfortunately the woman was with another client. Luckily she took pity on this poor American and we looked through the listings together finding only 2 in my price range. They are both in the same building, the only difference is size. The smaller of the 2 is 21m squared (I don't know the exact conversion, only that its larger than my big toe). They're both studios meublés (furnished) which means 1 room - nout counting the toilet. Isn't there a saying about eating where you lay?? Oh well. My 30 minutes are about up at the library. Stay tuned for part 2 - Murphy's Law.