Arriving/Llegar

Hello to everyone! We have arrived in Spain and I miss everyone so much. Melanie and Antonio dropped me off at the airport Wednesday. They stayed with me for an 1 hour and they gave me some very special gifts :) (after writting on my chest whille the creepy bookstore owner watched.

After they left, I talked on the computer with some friends until Moniek showed up.

Around 1:45 on Wednesday, May 27th, we began to board the plane.

We took off without any problems. The trip was uneventful and we arrived in Miami.

From Miami we flew to Madrid. Moniek slept on the floor and I in the seat, it was quite comfortable. When we arrived to Madrid, the problems began. We tried to take out money from the ATM, but it didn't work for us (but it did for other people) So we went downstairs to look for another ATM. We talked to some people but they didn’t know where another one was (we always talked in Spanish to everyone by the way). Then we talked with an agent about the metro tickets and after some confusion, we tried to get some tickets without luck because the machines wouldn’t accept our credit/debit cards. We returned upstairs to exchange the little money that we had at the exchange station. We returned downstairs, bought the tickets with the cash, then made our way to the metro. We got off at our stop, went upstairs and out into the sun and fresh air, looked at each other, and then said, “Now what?”

We decided we couldn’t drag all our suitcases to Juan’s apartment (it was a BIOTCH to drag them, my bag, and and my laptop bag through the airport, they were SOOOO heavy, who let me pack all that?!!) so we took a taxi, it cost like 7 euros or so all together. We went upstairs at the apartment, knocked on the door a couple of times, but no one answered, so we rang the bell. Juan answered, looking very sleepy. Yeah, we had woken him up.

We apologized and he said it was ok- he had been up late the previous night playing poker and drinking with friends. He showed up his place, it’s really nice, and showed me and Moniek our room. We actually could have each slept in our own, but we just shared one. It had a big bed and everything.

We put our stuff in, and started apartment-hunting.

There were 2 we wanted to see. We got lost sooo bad each time. Not on the metro, but when we got out and were walking around.

After arriving quite late, the first guy we talked to was Sebastian. We had thought it would just be me and Moniek, but he was going to be living there too. He said usually the price was 600 euros, but for us it would be 500 because he wanted to better his Englihs. The place was really nice, 1st floor, little garden, etc., but we really didn’t wanna live with just 1 guy. Usually I don’t find people creepy either, but this guy was a liiiiittle bit creepy to me.

The next place we looked at was pretty nice, but the bed was too small for 2, so one of us would have to sleep on the floor. The girl was nice, her name was Susie and she was on a contract teaching English (she recommended us the website lingobongo.com if we wanted to find a job). We decided the place was nice but we wanted to keep looking so we came back to the apartment and Juan was trying to teach us some poker but our brains were frrried. He took us to the mall so that I could get a Spanish sim card for my phone. So now I have a Spanish phone number and I pay as I go for minutes, it’s worked out quite well.

(So we had arrived on Thursday around 9 am Spain time, which was 3 am U.S. time, so when we should have been going to bed, we had to start a whole new day, but it was better than getting in at night)
The second day (yesteday- Friday) here we slept in till around 1 pm Spain time and started apartment hunting again from the website idealista.com It’s a really good website for apartment hunting here in Spain. We decided to look at 2, and really that’s all we had time for.

The first one was located just a couple minutes walk from the metro stop which was really nice. The area is called "La Latina." I really liked the area, it was kind of busy with lots of stores, and reminded me of the area where my friends had lived in Rome actually. Then we turned down a quiet street filled with a bunch of antique stores- which I LOVE, so I took it as a bit of a sign. We looked in 1 little antique store while we waited, it was cool. We sat outside because the girl didn’t answer the bell, and watched people. It was weird because there were a lot of guys and men walking by, but very few females. Around 7:05 (we were supposed to meet at 7) we rang another bell, and sure enough, the one we needed wasn’t working, so some girl that answered buzzed us in which was really nice.

We went upstairs and knocked and a girl answered. This apartment was the house of 2 sisters, but one was in Salamanca at the moment. Another girl was there- Laura, and she was the one moving out.

We talked to them and we reallllly liked the place and the girls. They were so nice and seemed really cool. We talked to the one who lived there (forget her name! :() in Spanish because she only spoke a little English, and if we had problems, Laura translated for us. The girl asked how many days we’d been in Spain - 2, and if we knew anyone- no, so she was like, “Then you haven’t gone out! We’ll have to go to a party!” so that was awesome.

She said the price would have to be a little higher because there were 2 of us, so around 500 euros plus utilities so like 540ish I think (so about $764 which is $382 split). That’s not too bad split between me and Moniek, it’s still cheaper than what I pay at On50!!

We really liked those girls but we told them that since we had already told the other person that we would go see their apartment we should go. They asked where the apartment was located (Lavapies) and as soon as we said they both gasped and were like "ayy noo" They said it was dangerous at night because there were a lot of immigrants there and lots of problems with robberies and stuff. Laura said 2 of her friends had moved back with her because they went downstairs for a soda at night and one of them got her hand cut by a guy with a knife and they got robbed)
I don't think it is immigrants that make a community dangerous, but nevertheless if it's dangerous it's dangerous. I told her that Juan hadn't mentioned that and that he had said he had friends that lived there and that it was pretty nice. They said it was probably because he was a guy (I asked him later and he said he hadn't heard that it was dangerous but yes there was a big immigrant population).

We left and found the place without ANY problem, it was right across from the metro stop and RIGHT next door to the Carrefour supermarket which was really nice. We went inside and met up with the guy Carlos. He said it was him and a French girl and a couple from the Czech Republic. They weren’t there. He actually had 2 rooms for rent, one a little cheaper than the other, I think he said they were like 450 or 500 euros.

It was a bit dingy inside, and not well lit (which the other one was), and honestly a bit smelly. The guy was a bit older, probably early 30s, but he seemed realllly cool. His English was quite good, and he said he was a scriptwriter (which was evidenced by all the haphazard movies and books lying around) and a Spanish/German translator, and he said he had friends that were actors. How interesting is that?! Plus he had a movie of Snow White lying around (which actually turned out to be an old porn that he had bought out of curiousity and hilarity), so that, combined with the translator thing (which is something I’m thinking about doing as a career) appeared to me as ANOTHER good sign (like the way the antique stores had seemed like a sign at the first apartment). OH, and he also mentioned how he organizes trips with the University and around July 6 they were going to Morocco for a week. How was *that* not a sign?!?! That's where I really want to visit!! He said if we took the room or now, he would give us the information if we wanted to go which was awesome!!


I was kind of torn, but Moniek was not. She liked the guy, but said she’d rather live with the girls. While I really liked both, that was fine with me, so when we got back home we called the girl and told her we wanted to live with her. She said that was “superbien” (basically, “super good” and that she didn’t think we’d have any problems and I told her I agreed. So that was really good and I was really excited about that. :)

After that we were a bit worn out, but we were going out with Juan and his friends, so we had to get ready. We showered and got ready and while I was finishing up Juan’s friend “H” (pronounced in Spanish like ah-chay) (Hector) arrived. We sat down at the table and the 4 of us started drinking. After maybe 20, 30 minutes we went downstairs and his friend Kique (Enrique) showed up in his car and drove us to the park where the 5 of us commenced drinking. I hadn’t planned on drinking that much because I didn’t want anything bad to happen to us, but after I met the people, I decided that I thought it would be ok (it was). After a while to more of their friends showed up - Piña (short for something that I forget) and another friend who I forgot his name.

After thhhat another friend showed up- I think his name was Charles...or something with a C. I think out of everyone him and H were the nicest.

After a bit 2 other groups of guys showed up but they were separate from our party. After we finished drinking we went to the club. It was really expensive- 15 euros and it included a drink. The music was really weird- like the few other Eropean clubs I’ve gone to. For example, they played Beach Boys. Later Juan told us that he thought the music was weird too, but everyone in the club seemed to like it. We all danced for a while, but it wasn’t dancing like I’m used to with the reggaeton and hip hop, it was just...dancing. It was fun. After who knows how long me, Moniek, and Juan walked back to the apartment.

On the way back he told us about Spanish etiquette in clubs. He said that if a girl likes a guy she should never go and dance on him. And a guy will never go and touch or dance on a girl; it’s considered really rude. If he’s interested he will just talk to her.

That’s not what I’m used to in the States where guys are always grabbing you or just going up behind you and dancing with you in the club, so I thought the Spanish way was pretty nice.

When we got back I went STRAIGHT to bed, I wasn’t feeling that great. Thankfully though, I did not throw up!!! Yayyy, score 1 for Rebecca. Moniek stayed up just chit-chatting with Juan.

Today is Saturday and we woke up around 1 pm. I got up and came out and Juan was sitting on the couch watching t.v. as usual. I joined him for a bit then heated up the Chinese food he made for us last night for dinner and ate the bit I had left. Now it’s 2:46 p.m. and I am sitting here on the couch with Juan watching t.v. and typing all this. Moniek got up too, but she went back to bed, which is a good idea.

We are supposed to call our new roommate around 4 or 5 tonight to move in and we can’t wait!! Juan has been really nice to host us this whole time, but it’ll be really nice to have our own space.

Well, I think I'm gonna go shower and change and get ready to move out. I miss you guys so much and wish you were all here!!! (Also a Happy Birthday to Johnny, I know his birthday was yesterday)

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Part of trip: Spain '09

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