Student Visas and Such

The week has started on a good note. Some of you may know that I have been having room mate issues. There's quite a bit of turnover here so I've had some interesting ones, but yesterday was by far the most painful. 3 of the smelliest boys you have ever come across in your entire life. I do not exagerate. I have been around people who work in barns all day, and I would have preferred that smell. Anyways, they got moved to the boys room this morning and I can now breathe inside my room. So yes, we're off to a great start!

So the student visa process.... it is certainly not quite as simple as I expected. You basically have to go through the process twice. Once in your own country and then again when you get here. There are a lot of requirements to apply for them which are kind of difficult to get - especially because they put it in pretty tight time limits. Basically, I need to find a place to live and get that all sorted out so that I can get my "NIE card" - which is a 1 yr visa. It's a bit stressful, especially because a lot of the documents and such are in Catalan. So I'm working on that this week - it requires I have an address. I've started searching out some other ways to find places as well, so I think this may be the week!

So here's a few photos for your enjoyment - although they aren't amazing photography by any means, it'll show you a bit of life around here!

So this is on the very busy street Las Ramblas - kind of like the main tourist/shopping area in the city. It's located straight through "The Center" which is the are of crazy mixed up teeny streets - or Ciutat Vella. This woman was being a bag because she wanted me to pay her before I took the photo, so she was hiding her face. (click to enlarge photo). So these people dress up all crazy like all the way down the street.



This is the Gaudi Cathedral which is right across from my hostel, I haven't been inside yet but I peeked and there's a whole forest inside!



This is the Arc de Triomp - in BCN. Not quite as humongo as the one in Paris, but still a really nice area (this is 2 blocks from the apartment that I want to live in).



This is at Placa de Espanya - this is the old Bullfighting Arena. I guess they have been working on this project for about 6 years to convert it into a shopping mall and so it has just opened in the last few weeks. I was inside quickly and it's really nice, but all that remains of the arena are the exterior walls!



Well, I guess that's all for today! I should get some work done - they're not going to pay me otherwise. Hope everyone had a good weekend!