Expatiperro

So now that you know about the dining habits about my apartmentmates, I should probably tell you all about how I came to be living with them in the first place. They are the same people that I was discussing in my second post as I was looking for a place to live, and despite my uncertainties about the next-day meeting, I was lucky enough to be the one they chose to fill the fourth bedroom. They are three girls from the Barcelona area, in their mid 20s, all students or new professionals, and they are extraordinary kind and willing to be amused by my attempts at Spanish, or even lamer attempts at Catalan. I wish that I could tell you all their names, but in spite of how much I like them, I haven't gotten their names down yet. Does that make me a bad person?

My initial feelings about the neighborhood were spot on- this is an awesome place to be. It's not that the neighborhood itself is particularly cool, but it's perfectly located- I'm a 10 minute walk to Las Ramblas through the Raval (the bohemian area where I had been staying before), I'm a block away from a stop on the main subway line that can get me anywhere I want within 10 minutes, and I'm a 5 minute walk from Montjuic, the park where most of the main events from the 1992 Olympics were held, and which is great for running, biking, and swimming (at the Olympic Pool, € 30 per month). I can also get pretty much anything I need within three blocks of my building- fruit stands, hardware stores, a manicure, a massage at the "Massage Club" across the street, you name it. And if I ever get a Barcelona resident's card, I can make use of the free bikes on the rack directly outside my front door.

I'm also quite pleased with the building I'm in. I haven't quite pinned down the age of it yet, but it looks like 1940s era San Francisco apartment building, eight stories tall with bay windows. There's a tall, narrow inside atrium (which our guest bedroom looks out into), and an elevator, which luckily we don't need because we're on the second (or as they say here, the first) floor. Our apartment isn't huge, but comfortable- 5 bedrooms, none too big; a cozy kitchen; a huge full bathroom; and what basically amounts to a toilet closet, in case the real bathroom is occupied. My room isn't anything special, probably about the same size as my junior year room in Hartley, except with a 12 foot ceiling and tile floor.

Pictures of my building and room are below. The pictures of my room were taken right when I moved in, so things have been moved around a bit. Also, I'll hopefully be painting the room tomorrow (a really nice blue-grey pastel color, if I can say so myself), so by the time you read this, the whitewashed walls will be no more. Also, if anyone wants a guided tour via webcam, just message me on AIM or Skype- if I'm home, I'll be more than happy to show you around! And for those Google stalkers, and as a reward for reading this entire entry, here's my building on Google Maps.

My building, from across the street.

The BiCiNg rack in front of my building. My windows on apartment is on the second floor, right about the Citroen showroom.

My room, before moving furniture and painting.