Advertisement
Published: November 11th 2011
La Puesta del Sol
Remember what that means?Well hello everyone!
Happy 11/11/11! 😊
First off, I have no photos to go with this blog, so just enjoy a few of my favorite photos from my time abroad thus far! 😊
The last few days have been sort of odd, but they have had a nice ending. For about the last month I have been thinking that for next semester I would move into a “piso” which pretty much means “apartment” but more literally it means a “flat.” I thought it would be nice to be able to be a bit more independent; cook my own food, be able to do my own laundry, shower when I want to, eat when I want to, be able to have guests and such, etc. etc.. I have a friend here from Germany named Julianna who had a room that would be available in her apartment, but then her roommate decided to stay longer, and logistics just weren’t working out. I began looking around the university for announcements of people looking to fill spaces in their pisos and on Tuesday I called about 12 people; 9 were already occupied and 3 didn’t answer. Not looking too bright.
If I
Paraguas de Madera
Wooden umbrellas on La Caleta lived in a piso the coming semester all of my belongings would have to be out of Pepa’s house by January 18th, but I won’t be back from my Christmas vacation until the first week in February and since I’m leaving for Germany in December I sort of needed something that was available now. However, in Cádiz the semester doesn’t actually end until February, most of the Erasmus students get to stay all the way to the end of exams and such, therefore there really aren’t any openings until February.
Tuesday while I was waiting for Carlos (my riding instructor) to pick me up from the bus station I got a call from a girl named Francesca. She got my message that I was looking for a piso! I arranged to meet with her to see the apartment. It was BEAUTIFUL. So much light! It was in a great location in the center of the city, I would have my own room with a big window, 1.5 bathrooms and big kitchen to cook in, a living room, and Wi-Fi. Considering how big it was and its location it was reasonably priced, too. Francesca was really nice, and she is
from Italy! Her roommate is from England and is here in Cádiz teaching English. Both girls were really nice, the apartment was very clean and they both seemed very respectful and responsible. I even got the go-ahead from my padres back in the States. It seemed to be the perfect place to live.
I didn’t understand though, why there was something deep down inside that was really bothering me? For some reason I just had this gut feeling like I shouldn’t live there. It was really bugging me. I wanted to want to live in that piso
so bad. Why was I hesitating? The only thing I could think of was that I was kind of scared of being a bit lonely in the apartment because neither Francesca or her roommate are students or my age, they are both quite a bit older, but I am making friends here and I could have guests if I wanted to. Something just kept bothering me. I had to let Francesca know by the next evening if I was going to live there because she had other people looking at the apartment, so I didn’t have a lot of time to decide.
Obviously I did what everyone does, I called my Mom. She always tells me to just follow my gut, follow my heart, pray and sleep on it; a good combination when making decisions. If anyone has ever gone shopping with me, you know I am terrible at making decisions. I think
every decision is life altering. Good advice, and when I woke up in the morning I did feel better, but I still didn’t know what to do. Actually, I think I knew what to do, but I was just denying it.
I met with Juan to talk about it, and I wasn’t much help to him. He offered to come see the piso with me again later that day and maybe get the price a bit lower and he could also meet the girls that live there . He also helped me call other places to see if there were any other pisos to rent. SuperJuan at it again. 😊
I went home for lunch and talked to Natalie about it. I’ve been talking to Natalie about this a lot the last month and a half. When I first thought of the idea to move out at
Pont des Artes
The locks bridge in Paris the beginning of October I asked her, “If you were staying in Cádiz for another semester, would you move out?”
“Yeah, yeah I think I probably would, I just don’t feel comfortable here or at home.”
I felt the same way. I felt like I would never feel like Pepa’s house was my home. However, things have only been getting better in the house. Pepa seems to be a lot happier with us, and the house is more of a happy place now as opposed to before where we felt as if we were just nuisances. Pepa is always saying how lucky she is that she got such nice, respectful girls and that she is really happy with us.
I started to get this odd thought in my head. I asked Natalie again “If you were staying in Cádiz would you still move out?” Natalie sat there for a few seconds.
“Actually, I think I might stay. I’m starting to really like Pepa and Selu and I’m comfortable here…oddly enough.”
Yep. Just as I thought. My odd though wasn’t odd, it was just that things had changed and I didn’t really stop to think about it until it was actually
El Catedral de Santiago de Compostela
The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela time to decide to leave Pepa’s house. I don’t want to leave Pepa’s house. I’m actually…happy there. I know, “Whaaaat?!” Surprising, eh? Somewhere along the line I actually started to like/love my Spanish home and my Spanish family, I just didn’t realize it until and actually tried to leave. I think it really just took time. Pepa’s not the most open person in the beginning, and Selu has always been pretty welcoming, but only just recently have Natalie and I started joking around with him.
There are a few things I know I’ll be giving up, like getting to cook and such, but Pepa makes good food and I just have to keep working hard on controlling my portions. I spent a lot of time over the summer working out and watching everything I ate. When I got here I was really frustrated that I didn’t have that control, I think I used Pepa and the meals as a scapegoat when I started having trouble controlling my portions again. It’s my issue, not hers. I know I eat a lot less than her, and a lot of times she asks if I’m ok because I ate so little, or
she’ll ask why I ate so little, but I just have to say I’m not that hungry and brush it off, I guess. I’ve also been having pains in my legs, and when it’s early and you have class and your legs hurt its easy to say, “I really don’t want to run today.” So, the last two weeks I haven’t really been running. Again, my issue. There’s a lot of stuff I have to keep working on, but getting used to Pepa isn’t really one of them anymore. We are used to each other, and it turns out, against all odds (and not what I expected to happen) we get along quite well. Last night she even told me I reminded her of Kiki; Natalie and I agreed that that may be the biggest compliment Pepa can give you, hahaha! So, next semester I will have the same address, same family, new roommate. She’ll get here while I’m still in Germany.
I think next semester will be a pretty good semester. I will already know the ropes around the house, I’ll be able to understand my classes better, and there will be 8 new API kids to get
to know, so it should be pretty fun! It’s amazing to think that this semester will be over in just six weeks! It seems like we’ve been here forever, yet I also can’t believe that we’ve been here for so long already!
Studying abroad is a pretty amazing and surprising thing sometimes. No, I don’t love every single minute of it, but close, real close.
Talk to so soon!
Love always,
Devin 😊
Advertisement
Tot: 0.067s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0297s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
