A Very Eventful Afternoon

Today I was feeling so tired all through class, with the heat, sore muscles from walking everywhere, and lack of sleep. I was planning on just coming back to the Colegio after classes to take a nap and relax, but as soon as I got to my room I checked my e-mail and realized I had several housing appointments to go to. From the University bulletin board I had written down several phone numbers from people looking to rent out rooms to students, and one residence had three numbers. I made an appointment with some lady over the phone to check it out, and headed off by metro across town to check it out. It was over one stop from La Sagrada Familia, the amazing cathedral and popular spectacle of Barcelona which I have yet to explore or even see from a distance. I get off at the metro and walk over towards the piso (apartment). I was thinking to myself that for only 180 euro a month it was a very nice neighborhood, in fact I turned the corner and was surprised to see a beautiful cathedral situated right among the residential neighborhood, with a line of outdoor cafes. (pictured)

I was about 15 minutes early so I sat down on the bench to soak it all up. As I got up to continue, I turned the other direction, and La Sagrada Familia was right in front of me! Well not right in front, it was a ways away, but it still towered above, and it was the first time I had seen it after reading so much about it, that I was so overcome with excitement that I had accidently found this beautiful landmark! So here is where the adventure comes in....I got to the base of the apartment building and called the phone number. The lady had one of those annoying answering machines that trick you to think you are talking to them by recording themselves saying "Hola....Hola??? Hola???....hahaha dame un mensaje!" So I was really confused and left a message on her machine saying "Hola....soy Meghan.....estoy aqui, enfrente del edificio....hola?....hola?????" It wasn't until I called back 5 minutes later to receive the same message that I realized I had left a really long and confused message for her. Well, I never heard back and I am still confused about the situation, but continued on my housing hunt. Next, I called this lady who was the most difficult person to talk on the phone to I have ever experienced. She spoke in a high-pitched baby voice and sounded like she was in a wind-tunnel. We spent about 20 minutes repeating ourselves over and over not getting anywhere, trying to figure out where the other one was located. At one point she said that she would pass me to a man with her who speaks French, at which point I hear "Eh...hhhhello?...eh.....eh....you speak French....eh....ehhh" Anyways it resolved in her telling me to go to the University and then calling and she would come find me. So I did just that, but then we fell into another 10 minutes of useless chatter, her saying "I am wearing a black dress, what are you wearing" and me saying "I have a red shirt on and a red back back." Then she said again "okay great, I have a black dress. So where are you? Where? That's not right.....What?" Well she eventually found me, and I was very surprised when I actually saw who I had been talking with all day. She was at least 85 years old, long stringy grey hair and a rather mal-fitting set of dentures. Although we got off to a rough beginning, this lady turned out to be one of the neatest people I have ever met. She took me up to the 7th piso, and although the rooms were ancient and the size of a small bathroom, the balcony and the view were astonishing.

Literally, the apartment was directly in front of the university, this is the view to the right, towards La Plaza Catalunya, but to the left you see the the school spitting distance away. After seeing this room, she took my up a floor to another available room. This one was a little bigger, and also with a balcony.

This is where I met the current tenant and the one who had tried to speak French to me over the phone. He was a really tall recently graduated traveler from the Ivory Coast. I also met her, well, husband would be my best guess, but who knows.....who only spoke Catalan. I tried out my new and very minimal Catalan skills with him, and somehow that turned into a two and half hour visit with the landlady, guys from Africa, and old Catalan man sitting around the kitchen table laughing and talking about all sorts of things.  The old man was intent on teaching me to be a proper Catalan speaker and took my around the house pointing to objects and telling me to repeat after him. All the while the guys from I.C. with a name I speak 5 minutes trying to pronounce but could never in a million years spell, was trying to teach me French, and asking me all kinds of questions about California, and the old lady telling me endless stories about all of her crazy tennant stories from the last 20 years. They were all so chatty that they often we trying to tell me different things (In 3 different languages mind you) all at once. It was hilarious and so much fun, and I feel like that experience was one in a million, and the odd combination of people made for a great afternoon!

After I parted ways with them, I met another person named Arantxa who is renting out a room. She came and found me at the University and took me 2 blocks away to a beautiful building directly behind the school. The apartment was on the 6th floor, no elevator, and was a sort of bohemian palace. It had a balcony over a courtyard by the kitchen with a great place to sit and eat breakfast, a small but charming kitchen, medium sized salon and 3 bed 2 bath. My (possible) room is a perfect size, comes with a closet, desk and small table, and has a large window over a center between buildings (i don't know what they are called) that you hang laundry up in, and it seemed like I really good fit. We are meeting again in the next two days so I can meet the other lady, and that everyone agrees on the terms and situation, but I am definitely keeping my fingers crossed, it would be a great spot for a year, and the lady seemed really easygoing and good to live with. Tomorrow we are taking a break from classes to go on an excursion to Parc Guell, La Sagrada Familia, and Montjiuc. I think we are riding in one of those open-air doubledecker tourist busses around town, but either way I will get some great photos!