Joshua Zamrycki’s Weblog

We spent most of yesterday picking out flats to see this week. Many people travel on the weekends so it’s hard to get a hold of them. We’ll stay in our hostels until we can get a hold of them. I’ve been sharing a room with 3 guys – one from Taiwan, one from London, and one from New Zealand. Then yesterday two of them moved out and three girls from Belgium moved in. I won’t start looking for a job until at least next week because today is the first day of la Merce Festival de Barcelona – the city’s largest festival of the year! It lasts for about a week and it’s filled with parades, dances, theater, fireworks, food, concerts (you might have heard of Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Des’ree, the Tuesdays, Depeche Mode, or Lou Reed), and easily more people from all over the world then are already filling the streets day and night. Should be wild!

I’m sorry if this letter was a bit long, but I got so excited thinking about all that’s happened in the past 6 days that I guess I got carried away. I hope to hear from you soon. I want to know what’s new in your lives as well. Believe it or not, even with all of these people here, I still feel a little lonely sometimes.

Wish me ¡buena suerte! as I wish the same to you in whatever you’re doing.

Adiós por ahora,
Josh

So, I slept late the next day and then took the metro to la Sagrada Familia, definitely the most famous church in all of Spain. Since you’re online right now, I suggest you look it up and check it out – it’s breath-taking. Well, the church is beautiful, but I actually went there to meet Michele and her sister Anna – two girls from Montreal who I’ll be living with while I’m here. They just arrived that day and we decided to meet there since everyone knew where it was. I met Michele online through a travel message board on Yahoo. She said she was planning on doing the same thing I was because she just graduated from college also and suggested we share rent in a flat. It seems that the Unites States is the only country where kids aren’t expected to travel for a while after school and not stress themselves out about a job right away. Pretty healthy if you ask me. Sharing a flat sounded great so I grabbed Steve and drove up to Montreal to meet her (Michele says “hi” Steve). Both she and her sister are awesome. We’re getting along famously. I was a little unsure until yesterday when we went to the beach and I found out that they had a semi-twisted sense of humor like me! Should be great.

It’s really sad that in the States, almost all of the news we hear has to do with our state and maybe some political scandal. International news is like an afterthought not even fully developed. Europeans know more about our country than we know about any of theirs. I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t know who’s been at war with whom or who’s running which country. So much for mass media.

Barcelona is beautiful. It’s everything I envisioned Spain to be: beautiful architecture, right on the Mediterranean Sea, delicious food, and tons of nice people. Of course, there were things that I didn’t expect, too: hardly any dirt roads, all of the signs are in Catalan and not Castilian Spanish (most people speak both), again everyone is very friendly (but they ALL smoke), there are millions of mopeds, and I don’t think I’ve met more than 3 or 4 Americans yet. Plus, this place is even crazier than Madrid at night. I’m not kidding when I say it has felt like Spring Break everyday here. I spent all that day walking around Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter with map-in-hand familiarizing myself with the area and asking tons of questions to all the shopkeepers I encountered. I even got a couple local newspapers and started my search for flats and jobs. I couldn’t believe that Bill Clinton took up about a quarter of every paper I saw!

I woke up early Thursday morning and hiked what seemed like 2 or 3 miles with all of my stuff to the bus station to go to the airport for my flight to Barcelona (Madrid was only a lay over so I chose to make it 2 days instead of 2 hours). I got there and found out that my flight was cancelled. Mind you, all of the signs are in Spanish and no one speaks English. This was about the time that I realized I know a lot more Spanish than I gave myself credit for. I’m definitely not fluent, but everyone I spoke to understood what I was trying to say. Plus, I was pleasantly surprised to find that even though no one spoke English, most people were very patient and willing to help (I think they liked my accent. Especially this girl in El Corte Ingles, but that’s another story). Anyway, I waited 2 hours for the next flight which was then delayed another hour. It’s not a good thing when you’re sitting in the airport longer than on the plane. So I get to the airport and, with the help of my Spanish and my trusty guidebook, I find the train station and the correct train to get me to the section of Barcelona that I had chosen beforehand practically at random – Barri Gotic, east of las Ramblas.

When we got to Madrid, I found a youth hostel to stay in with Shawn and this other guy we met, a 26 year old from Texas named Fred. Very tired, we all slept the afternoon away (extended siesta). We woke up for dinner and a walk around Madrid. The city of Madrid reminded me very much of Manhattan. Lots of buildings, traffic, tons-o-people, and sex shops by the dozen. The main differences that I noticed were that I felt safer, the streets didn’t quiet down at all at night, and no one spoke English (well, I guess that’s the same). Spain has the most incredible night life I’ve ever seen. Many of the bars and clubs (discotecas) don’t even open until 1am and it’s not unusual to be out partying until 5 or 6 in the morning. I got to know the city pretty quickly thanks to all the walking I did and my obsession with maps. We spent most of Wednesday at el Museo Nacional del Prado where I saw entirely too many pictures of Jesus and some other really fantastic paintings (my favorites were Goya’s black paintings like the one where the god Saturn is taking a huge bite out of the chest of his son) and had some wonderful Spanish food at various little restaurants.

Well, I flew out of JFK last Monday for my 7-hour flight to Madrid. On the plane I sat between this 19 year old kid from North Carolina named Shawn and this guy Enrique from Madrid (who looks a lot like Liam Neeson). We talked almost the entire flight (except when I watched City of Angels (very good)) and my mind was set at ease on many things. First of all, I seemed much more prepared than Shawn (who was planning on traveling all through Europe) and Enrique told me a lot about the area, people, and history of Spain. He also told me that finding an apartment and getting a job in Barcelona (my plan) shouldn’t be as tough as I thought it would be. Normally, Americans need a Residence Visa to live in Spain and a Work Visa to work there. I couldn’t get either – they make it very difficult because of the 20%+ unemployment rate in Spain. But he said, because I was from the States and not the Middle East or Asia, it shouldn’t be too tough (many people work under the table (well, not really UNDER the table)). Shit, should I be writing this ?!? Anyway, he was very helpful.

Hola mis amigos

¿Que tal? Yes, I am finally in Spain. I know I promised many of you that I’d write and let you know how I’m doing, so here it is. I’m sorry if this mass mailing is a bit impersonal, but the only computer access I have is at this internet café on la Gran Vía and I don’t exactly have a job yet (this cyber café is kinda expensive). I promise if you write to me I’ll write back. I’ll be checking my email about every week or so. OK, first of all, to all of you Doubting Thomases who didn’t think I’d make it (Joe, Lori, etc.), there was never any doubt in my mind and this is only the beginning. So, if you’d like to know what I’ve been up to for the past week… read on. If not, have comfort in the knowledge that I’m happy, healthy, and things are definitely on the up and up.