So after all of the
first surge of adrenaline died out with my energy as I neared the end of my
journey, the reality set in… I have brought myself to a country where I can
communicate only as well as a 3 year old, and understand when I am using every
ounce of energy within me, I am a minimum of a 10 hour plane ride from my
friends and family, a 7 hour time
difference from them, and I am homeless.
I woke up the morning of Friday, the 23rd with a feeling of dread. Apartment searching in Spain is nothing like
in the United States. There are various
ways to go about it: the internet, word of mouth, and walking around calling
numbers posted on walls around the city.
There is nothing like calling people you don't know in a foreign
language when they talk a mile a minute and you want to find out the details of
an apartment. Talk about stress!!! So, I decided to ease in to it by beginning
on the internet. I set up a profile on a
website called EasyPiso and then looked at a few of the options, but
unfortunately the internet at the hotel was not cooperating. I set out in the general direction of where I
was interested and started writing down numbers I saw posted on walls and
locating them on the map. After walking
around for a bit and letting my anxiety rise, I decided to make my first phone
call before I got too worked up. I made
an appointment for 2pm. After having my
first appointment made, I had got the ball rolling and so texted a number of a
guy on couchsurfing and had another appointment for any time between 3 and 430! I was feeling quite overwhelmed at this point
and decided to go take a breather at Alex's apartment to use his internet and
have a little calm down talk. But before
I did, I saw one last number that I called and made an appointment for at
430. YES! 3 appointments made, I was going to be
okay! I got to Alex's house and we made
general plans for lunch and I checked the thousand "notifications"
from EasyPiso before heading out to my 2pm appointment. After making my way to the street, I realize
that there must have been something lost in communication because there was not
a third floor for the apartment where I was.
I called the person and found out that indeed I had misunderstood and
then went to the correct piso (apartment).
The apartment was in a great location, right by one of the cool areas of
Sevilla that I was interested in, and the cost was in a reasonable price
range. However, the place was a
dump. The guy I would be living with had
L shaped chops on his face and was explaining that his mother, who was also
there showing me around, came by every day for lunch and dinner because she
worked nearby. The rooms were dusty,
dark, and had broken light fixtures lying around. The kitchen was under construction, which she
failed to tell me before I opened the door to a room full of dirt and dust, and
there was a board on the floor of the bathroom covering some kind of hole? Ummm… no thank you. She also wanted me to sign a contract which
is what I was not wanting to do due to my bad apartment experience at the
beginning of last year. I politely said
I would keep them in mind and then raced to 100 Montaditos for lunch with Alex,
which is a sandwich shop that has many locations throughout Sevilla . Well, the fun doesn't stop there, because
what should have been a quick lunch turned in to over an hour because the
computers were not functioning for a while and when we finally asked where the
hell our food was it turns out they didn't know we had ordered anything at
all. So, that was also the case for
about 5 other groups, so the kitchen got slammed. After finishing our mediocre lunch, I headed
to the couchsurfing apartment. A French
girl and Chinese guy lived there and both spoke perfect English. They seemed really awesome and the apartment
was big and in good condition, and also near the same area as the last
one. I was really leaning towards this
apartment, but a little disappointed that they spoke English at home because I
want some Spanish practice. I moved on
to my next appointment and was also pleasantly surprised. The guy was really nice and from Bolivia and said he lived there with
his girlfriend. He was so friendly and
patient with my Spanish and seemed like he would be a great roommate, but I was
a little hesitant of living with a couple.
It was still a good price and in a great location for my bus stop! I
called Alex to discuss my options on the two apartments that I was thinking
about. Although he thought I should go
with the Bolivians to practice my Spanish, I called the couchsurfers back to
say I would like to live there. They
seemed like they could be good friend and I think I would have been more
comfortable there. He said that he would
talk with the girl and give me a call later on that evening. Needless to say, later on that evening, I got
a call saying that they weren't in a rush to rent out the place so they were
going to conduct more interviews throughout the week and maybe call me then, so
basically "sorry, we didn't think you were cool enough". I wish they would have told me this way
earlier on in the evening instead of waiting until 1030 to tell me!? But, alas, there was nothing I could do but
to return to my hotel and go to sleep and try not to freak out. Day 2 of looking left me with the first task
of moving from my hotel into a hostel, because it would save me a lot of
money. After making 2 trips to the
hostel down the street with my luggage, I got on the hostel's internet to look
at some more apartments. As I was
searching on the computer, I started getting some phone calls from people
asking me to come look at their apartment.
One of them was a girl Isabel that had pictures put online which looked
great! I called and made an appointment
with her at 1pm, but before my appointment I called the Bolivian guy and said
that I wanted to look again at the piso and to meet his girlfriend. She was really nice, but I got the impression
that they both weren't there very often and kind of kept to themselves. They were a bit older and I'm not sure would
be as social as I'd like to be. When I
went to Isabel's apartment I was floored!
I had never seen anything this nice at any apartment in Granada or
Sevilla. It was beautifully decorated
and Isabel and Marcos seemed really nice and a little hippyish. There was art all around the apartment and
lots of light, as well as a rooftop that looks over the city of Sevilla. I really wanted it, but thought it was a bit
more than I wanted to pay. After
thinking about it and discussing it with my parents, I decided it was worth it
and I called Isabel back and said I wanted it.
She said there was somebody else that wanted it, but if they didn't call
by the end of the day then it was mine.
She called me about 8pm and told me it was mine and I could move in in
the morning! Yay! Not homeless!!! After
moving in, I discovered that Isabel and Marcos were a couple, unlike what I had
previously thought, but so far it has been really great! They are both from Sevilla and speak some
English. We speak a mixture of English
and Spanish so we both get our practice and they are both really friendly. Marcos is an artist and so it is his art
everywhere and Isabel should be starting school any day now to study to be a
sound technician. So alas, here I am in
my new apartment in Sevilla, Spain. I
feel like a giant weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I have a place
that I feel comfortable in. Thank
goodness!!!!!!
