Matthew and I were moving into a new apartment, and my brother Bill F was helping us. Our apartment was on the fourth, and top, floor and the only way up was stairs. Each floor had just one apartment and the top of each flight of stairs was open to that floor's apartment. I didn't realize this until we started moving in and I found it uncomfortable. As I was going up the stairs I was thinking about the fact that everyone else could see all my comings and goings, or anyone that came to visit me, if they happened to be in that room when we were going up or down the stairs. Our apartment seemed to be two floors. The second floor or our apartment was a master suite. It was divided into four living areas by half walls. each wall coming up from the floor about three feet. From the top step, facing the room, the bedroom area was to the left. The sitting area was in the middle. A work or office area was immediately to the right of the sitting area and there was a dressing area to my right, in front of the office area. The people who lived there previously had left a lot of furniture and other things. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with all of it, whether I was going to keep it all, some of it, or what. I was thinking that it was time for a lunch break and that ice cream for dessert sounded like a nice treat. I was getting ready to go down and ask Bill F and Matthew if they wanted lunch when I saw some food sitting in trays in the sitting area. Each tray was a square that came up about 2-3 inches on each side to keep the food from falling off. It looked like maybe it was Mexican food, burritos or something like that but each tray also had an ice cream cone lying on its side. I thought I should try to take the ice cream cones out and put them in the freezer so they wouldn't melt before we were ready to eat them. I tried to pick one up but was having trouble doing so without getting my fingers in it or the other food. It also may have been stuck to the tray. I am walking around the bedroom area and notice a high shelf or storage area in the front left corner. It is about 3 feet deep and enclosed on all sides except the front. It was full of stuff that the prior tenants had left there. It seemed to be mostly cleaning appliances like various types of vacuums and such. Bill F came in and I pointed this out to him. Bill F would love finding treasures such as this. He was tall enough that he could reach up and get them down without a ladder or anything. We began looking to see what was there. The front wall section of the shelf had a square or rectangular cutout. I could see through and saw a lot of stuff on through there. I realized that it was the apartment of the people on the other side of that wall. That it was their stuff stored on their similar shelf. I began walking around to determine if I wanted to keep the layout the same. I noticed a wooden dressing table sitting in front of a double window in the dressing area. The table was a cream color and distressed. There were curtains over the window. I thought that would be great place for the office, as it would allow me to work at the computer in front of the window. I walked to the window and looked out. I was surprised and disappointed to find that the window was in a wall that connected to the apartment on the other side and looked directly into their apartment. I wasn't sure I wanted to put my desk there after all. Then I noticed a side window in what was currently the office area. It was a wider window, maybe triple, and had curtains over it as well. I walked to that window and looked out. Now, more disappointed that it too just looked into someone else's apartment. They had left a desk there and I began opening the drawers and looking inside. The drawers had a lot of office supplies in them, but I could tell they left them on purpose because of the way they were haphazardly piled into a few top drawers. I walked into the living area and began looking in the drawers of some of the furniture sitting there. I was pulling the things out that had been left in those drawers. There were two or three women sitting there chatting. I didn't know who they were or why they were there or how they got in. I looked up at one of them and she told me that they live over there pointing behind her back. What was the dressing area was now one of their rooms. They said we share this sitting area. I was very upset by this and that I had not been told about this before we signed the lease and began moving in. I did not like this lack of privacy at all. As the woman told me this she slammed a drawer shut that I had opened. It obviously had some of her things in it. She pointed that had moved the TV into their rooms for when I want to watch TV. My mind immediately began working on solutions and I thought I would just always watch my own TV from my bed. Still, with only half-walls, I would have no privacy. Now that room of theirs was a bedroom. This woman and her husband and one of their mothers lived together and all slept in the same bed. The man and the mother were in bed and having an argument over something. Now the bed is a double-length bed and one that we all had to share each night. I would sleep with my head at one end and they would sleep with their three heads at the other end. But the linens were each one long piece so we shared the sheets and blankets. I'm getting more and more upset about this whole arrangement. about the fact that I was not told any of this before I signed the lease and decided to move. If it weren't for this and the flights of steps being open to each tenant it was a lovely place. much newer than where we had been living.