We had another orientation at 10:00am describing what we would have to do to receive a "Residencia card" (in order to stay for the entire year) and also what we had to do about classes and piso (apartment) hunting.
As soon as it had finished, I went back to my room to look at my list of numbers, locations, and prices for pisos spread throughout the city. Ideally, I wanted to live in "Centro" or "Ronda" the first, as the name implies, right in the center of the city. Here in Granada, all of the places of interest: museums, tapas bars, discotheques, not to mention the majority of the facultades (colleges) for the University of Granada are all within 10 minutes walking from the "Centro." "Ronda" is south of "Centro" and offers cheaper housing. Many colleges students try to live in that area although it fills up very quickly. For the permanent housing process, we are basically on our own. The UC center recommends what areas are good to live and those that are not, but all of the searching, negotiating, and signing of the contract are all up to the individual student. Its a daunting task that becomes unnerving as more and more places fill up as the end of August and beginning of September bring thousands of students in the same situation to Granada.
I called a few numbers but no one I talked to could meet today, so I went with my friend Blake to visit a piso that he was going to in "Ronda." My map of Granada has helped me a lot as I have a tendency to be very disorientated and lost without it. From my dorm in "La Cartuja" to Ronda was a 30 minute walk. My dorm is relatively far away from the city.
We made it to Ronda a few minutes before his scheduled meeting time, so we explored the surrounding area that was packed with tapas bars.
We met the land lord of the apartment downstairs in the lobby and we took the elevator all the way to the top on the 9th floor. The apartment was small, dark, and dirty with no central heating or internet (I mention central heating as, although it is quite hot in Granada right now, everyone I have talked to says it gets really cold during the winter. Granada is part ski resort. Those people who didn't have heating in their apartments almost all purchased personal heaters for their rooms). The one thing I really liked about the apartment was its amazing "terraza" (outdoor patio) that was as almost as big as the apartment itself. Being on the ninth floor, I could see over all of the buildings and was impressed by the phenomenal view of the Alhambra. Since I hadn't been the one to call this apartment, I didn't look at it too closely (thus the benefits and problems with piso hunting with a partner. If we both like a place, what are we supposed to do? I did find it helpful initially though to have another person there to catch more of the Spanish and remember to ask questions that I had forgotten to ask).
Despite the awesome view, the apartment itself was nothing spectacular and I thought almost a little expensive (~220 euros) for what I would have received. Its important to note that Granada is significantly cheaper than the rest of Spain as the prices for pisos range from 150 euros a month (for a closet in Cartuja) to over 300 for an amazing place right in the center of the city. Even if the exchange rate was 2 to 1, I would still be paying less for an apartment here in Granada than I would be paying in California.
We left the apartment and walked over to a tapas bar on the next street. This might have been the least inexpensive tapas bar yet as a drink and tapa was 1 euro. While we were eating, another student from our program and his new Spanish roommates came into the same bar. We said "hi" and told him that we had been piso hunting. He said that they had an extra room in their apartment and that we were welcome to take a look.
Our friend's apartment was a good size with three bedrooms, common room, and kitchen. The room he had gotten was fantastic, with one whole wall being windows offering a great view of the street. I realized that what I really wanted for my piso was good natural lighting, and for the most part I had only found rooms that had windows looking into the wall of the apartment next to it (the apartments in Spain seemed to be built with in a square with the center cut out, so some rooms have windows that face into the other side of the building). The room in this apartment we were looking at was just ok. I liked the layout of the apartment but not the room. Although our friend who showed us the room is from California, he speaks perfect Spanish and would be the kind of guy who would maintain Spanish at home. None of us really want to room with one another as we know that it will be difficult to maintain Spanish at home. Personally, I want to live with Spaniards, then students from other countries in Europe, and lastly Americans. I'm here to learn Spanish and I know speaking the language at home will galvanize my ability to learn and speak much more.
We both liked the apartment, but Blake did more. He didn't sign anything, but we did get the verbal agreement that our friend would call us if anyone was seriously looking at it; giving us the chance to step up and rent it. There's something to be said for nepotism.
Back at the residencia, we spoke with the other kids about their search process. Although the majority hadn't found anything, a fair amount had. I was not sure how many had signed the first one they'd seen, a tempting idea as each day without a piso only made it more difficult to find one the next.
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