"Sky!" Nicole greeted Sky when she walked through the door of the cafe that Nicole told her to meet.

Sky smiled wide and hurried to give her friend a hug.

"I've missed you!" Sky said as she hugged Nicole tight.

"Me, too! I'm so glad you're living here now." Nicole replied as she let Sky go and both ladies settled into their table. "So, what kind of living space do you want?"

"That's what I thought you already got it planned out?" Sky replied with a confused look. "Didn't I mentioned it to you?"

Nicole scoffed. "No. You just told me you were arriving in Beijing a week ago."

"Heh." Sky let out as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Sorry."

Nicole rolled her eyes but dismissed it with a smile. "It's okay. Glad you have a local here to help you with ease."

"Is it that much harder than finding one back in America?" Sky asked as she browsed what she wanted to order.

"Honestly, yes. Living abroad is much harder compare to living in the states." Nicole explain, already sipping her Chamoille tea. "Here, you have to be completely clear in what kind of living space you want and don't settled for the first place the agent takes you to and the others that turn out the same because usually it's terrible and they want to rent that place out. Be demanding and ask for the conditions you want or you'll be living in a ty place for however long you stay here."

"OK. OK. Got it. You'll help me, right?" Sky looked at Nicole with pleading eyes.

Nicole just gave her a friend a blank look before speaking. "Duh. Of course. Anyways, where are you staying right now?"

"Um, the school provided me with an arrangement right now near the campus." Sky answered. "It's not that bad, but I would rather not stay in a hotel room throughout my living here for awhile."

"Don't worry, I got you, girl." Nicole grinned at Sky. "Now, let me teach you about renting in Beijing. You need to make sure to memorize this and never forget it. OK?"

"OK!" Sky gave her the O.K sign.

"Good. Now... let's order first because this is going to take a while." Nicole chuckled as she motioned for the waitress.

The two friends put in their order, talked a bit, and it finally arrived, did they continued about their previous discussion.

"Alright," Nicole began, "First..."

And she began her long explanation of how to rent an apartment in Beijing.

"Since you know me, I can already eliminate some of the stuff for you, since I did some research myself." Nicole said as Sky just nodded her head. "So, I've already set up an appointment with an agent, as he helped me find my flat, and so we don't have to worry about other agents out there."

Sky continued nodding her head and replying with, "okays" and "alrights".

"And even better for you is that you actually know how to speak Mandarin, so you'll be able to understand what he says too." Nicole pointed out. "Anyways, if it's a nice place, make sure you take it after making sure it's a good place. Also, you gotta make sure you're ready to pay with cash and the contract for living there for at least a year, too. And um, be patient, patient is the key to the whole thing going smoothly as some of the agent will take it personally."

"I'll make sure not to offend them." Sky acknowledged.

"Yeah, please do that." Nicole stated. "Again, I repeat, state the clear conditions you want in a flat so that they know you're set on something, because they will scare you into downgrading your standard so that you'll accept that ty apartment. So don't fall for it. Also, bargain a bit, be good at it, it helps tons!" Nicole smiled as she took a bite of her dish.

Sky nodded once more and also took a bite of her food. "Anything else?"

"Yes, many more things." Nicole replied. "When you do find one of your fancy, there is a thing about securing it. That means you have to pay a deposit for the apartmen