Well, after waking up at 3:00 am last night because of the time change I managed to keep myself busy and only take a 3 hour nap all day! What did I do? Well! First I decided that my sense of direction would be good enough that I could wander around without the map for a while and just check out the immediate area. Right - so that ended up being an hour and a half of wandering trying to figure out just exactly where I was and how I was supposed to get back!
If you haven't looked at a map of Barcelona, you should. Just do a google maps for "21 ripoli barcelona" - that's where I started. You'll notice that there's a really large blob of crazy misaligned streets that make East Coast Canada look like kids play! VERY easy to lose yourself in little narrow streets which look remarkably similar. So this all leads to the point that I didn't really take any photos today - I was too busy trying not to get lost, or pickpocketed.
So the apartment hunt continues!
Apartment #1 - Good sized apartment, the room has nice exterior light, huge balconies and the one roomate I met was very nice. The downside? It's really not that close to school. It's not a distance which I would walk on any kind of regular basis.
Apartment #2 - Better location, great infact - I'm looking at another one a block over in the morning. Didn't get to meet any of the roomates and it's quite dark throughout - but I think that is quite common here. It's just bound to happen when everything is crammed in that tight. Not bad though. I may call back after the 3 tomorrow.
Apartment #3 - Everyone has been telling me that El Raval (say Rabal) is not a good area to live, but I went to go look anyway tonight. I was there just as the sun was setting and it wasn't nearly as sketchy as they all made it out to be (at least where I was, which borders on the not sketchy area) but it would be very very noisy ALL the time to live there. And the girl who I was supposed to meet either didn't show up or couldn't find me.
So there are a few ways to pick out a foreigner in Europe. Most noticably- their shoes. No one wears proper runners or flip flops, they wear cute little ballet flats or what I'm going to call "City Sneakers". Evan is shaking his head right now. But my shiny white adidas definitely stick out. Time for some new shoes - the good news is that they are quite cheap here!
Anyhow, it's been a good day! By the end of all my adventures I can happily say that I no longer get lost the moment I step foot out the front door! Did I also mention that Gaudi's cathedral is 4 steps to the left of my front door? It's STILL under construction but it's quite magnificent.
Hope everyone is doing well, thinking about you lots!
<3
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