Joshua Zamrycki’s Weblog

I have so much more to say but I think I’ve written entirely too much already so I’ll start to wrap things up. As much fun as I’m having here I really miss everyone at home. I wish I could just hop on the metro near my house and go to New York for the weekend (even though that’s impossible on so many different levels). If you made it all they way to the end of this letter, thank you. I’ve wanted to keep a journal for the longest time but I just don’t have the discipline to sit down and do it. Then a couple of you pointed out that if I keep writing these emails, I could just save them as a sort of cyber-journal. I think that’s what I’ll do. It’s easier to sit down and write this all out if it’s for someone else. Again, I’m sorry this mass-email thing is so impersonal, but I don’t get to use a computer very often (I’m developing withdrawal symptoms). If you’ve written to me and I haven’t gotten back to you yet I’m sorry – I will very soon. I promise. I hope everyone is happy and healthy end enjoying life.

¡Hasta la vista!
Josh

Well, just like at home, volleyball has served me well in meeting some really cool and helpful people. I found a beach with a bunch of people playing some really great vball and speaking Spanish (duh). I asked if I could play and, as luck would have it, the one guy I chose to speak to was from New York! His name is Bob and he introduced me to his friend Xavi who was also playing and is from Barcelona. This was about two weeks ago and Bob and Xavi have come to be my closest friends here in Spain. They introduced me to this great little local place called la Champaneria where you can get a glass of champagne for 50 pesetas. It’s a very popular place to meet and snack on tapas before a long night out on the town at either our favorite discoteca (Penúltimo) or the best little bar in the area to play pool (Borroq). In fact, I’m off to la Champaneria right after I send this email. Bob might even be able to hook me up with a friend of his who works for a graphic design/web development company here in BCN. I won’t know for another week or so. Until then, I’m playing volleyball indoors twice a week at this gym I found. It’s great – the level of play is high and no one speaks English!

Last time I wrote, I told you all of the approaching Fiesta de Barcelona and everything that it promised… well it delivered! I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people in the same place in all of my life! The parts of the fiesta that I remember most (or just remember (sangria!)) are the Cataluñan folk music, the flamenco music, the fireworks over Plaza de España, and Lou Reed. Yes, the Spanish seem to love Lou Reed! It was probably the most widely attended part of the week (although I didn’t get to see the crowd at Ace of Base and Des’ree). I had these 4 Spaniards singing Walk On the Wild Side right behind me during the entire concert. Their accents made it funnier and funnier each time I heard it. During the Cataluñan folk music concert, all of the old people (and some others) joined hands in these large circles and everyone did the same exact dance. It was so interesting to see them kick and bow and jiggle. I guess it’s like their version of the Electric Slide. I’d never listened to real Flamenco music before, either. It’s basically one guitar player and a singer who sings and moans and wails with this incredible pain and emotion that you can’t help but feel if it’s done well. The entire plaza was silent for that one. I loved it. But the most memorable for me were los fuegos artificiales over Plaza de España. The fireworks were choreographed to be synchronized with music and the colored lights in the huge fountains there. The spectacle ended with a Frank Sinatra medley that offered me my first chance of the night to sing along. Good Times. One of my new friends from here in Barcelona asked me if we had anything this large in the United States. I told him that I really don’t think we do and that bothered me at first. Having all these people get together and celebrate this common cause is a wonderful thing for nationalism and moral. But then I realized that the reason we don’t have anything this huge is because the US is made up of so many different types of people and the cultural variety more than makes up for the lack of one gigantic festival. Happy thoughts.

Boy, finding a flat was a bitch! Anywhere else in Spain, if you see an ad in the newspaper and call the number you’ll speak to the owner (as you’d expect). Well, in Barcelona, about 90% of the phone numbers next to these apartment ads will lead you straight to an agency who wants you to pay 28.000 ptas to help you find a flat! I wanted to beat the system so I decided to NOT pay them a damn peseta. At first, we were looking for a 3 bedroom place for Michele, Anna, and me. Then we met Olga (from Ireland) and Amelie (from France) who were going to study Spanish here in Barcelona and were also looking for a flat (Josh and 4 girls, oy!). So then we were looking for pisos con cinco habitaciones. It took us a while, but we finally found 2 that we were choosing between. 1 was unfurnished, very cheap, and needed a lot of work, but was right in the heart of Barri Gotico (where all the action is). The other was completely furnished, a little more expensive, and about a 15 min metro ride from La Rambla in barrio Sants. Michele and Anna really wanted the furnished place, Amelie really wanted the centrally located place, Olga just wanted a place to sleep, and I was torn. The furnished place was very nice and still quite affordable, but the unfurnished place, even though it needed a lot of work, would be a really cool challenge. I was kinda looking forward to painting my own room and furnishing it myself (I had already planned which furniture to buy and which to build) but we decided on the more expensive furnished one. I love it, but Amelie decided that she couldn’t live so far away from downtown so she split. The four of us took it and quickly put up signs to look for a new fifth. After showing the place to about 8 different people the next day (my phone was ringing off the hook) we decided to take on this guy named Chris from Cambridge in England. He’s 27 and he teaches English here in BCN. The rent is only 120.000 a month total for the five of us (you do the math) and I got one of the biggest rooms (yay). By the way, if anyone wants to see Barcelona and needs a place to stay we have plenty of room and I’d love to have you! Seriously!!

OK, with that out of the way, the big news of the month is that I have found a flat and no longer have to live in youth hostels! (big round of applause here) I actually enjoyed staying in hostels and meeting new people from all over the world. During the 2 weeks I spent in the hostel, I shared a room (4 beds) with 2 guys from England, 3 girls from Belgium, 1 guy from Taiwan, 1 guy from New Zealand, 1 guy from Australia, 1 girl from Italy, 1 girl from Romania, 1 girl from Sweden, 1 guy from Hong Kong, 2 girls from Korea, 1 girl and 2 guys from Ireland, and I even think there was 1 partridge from a pear tree somewhere outside Argentina. I spent most of my time with Michele and Anna (my 2 Canadian chickies) and our “gang” staying at my hostel. We went out just about every night and we even played soccer a few times during the day after everyone eventually woke up (I’d never played before and I was sooo bad (especially next to the guys from Brazil and Spain)). The down side to the hostel was that it was getting pretty expensive. $1 US = 140 pesetas (this is something that I have to constantly keep in mind (thank goodness I’m a math major!)). One night in the hostel that I was staying in cost 1.600 pesetas which isn’t too bad considering I’m from New York. But staying in a hostel also meant that I had to eat out for all my meals which ranged from coffee and a pastry for breakfast (250 pesetas) to a cheap but nice dinner (1.000 pts). Having a refrigerator makes everything cheaper (but it’s so hard to find peanut butter here!). And then, of course, there was the obligatory hostel partying… And get this: not only do I have a flat to call my own; I also got a mobile phone (which I never thought I’d get). I remember thinking that it was completely unnecessary and I’d never need one (right Jovan?). But like the microwave and the computer, I can’t imagine not having one now. The reason I decided to give in was that, staying in a hostel, I had no way of having people call me while I was looking for a flat or a job (and this is essential). I don’t think I could have found a place to live without it. Plus, most of my friends that I’ve met here have one and it’s a great way to keep in touch and make plans at the last minute. Now you can finally send any of those house-warming gifts you have just lying around (like American peanut butter) or you can call me and increase your phone bill three fold! Be the first to have a letter arrive in my mailbox and receive a free Barcelona T-shirt upon my arrival in the States! (one size fits all)

¡Hola familia y amigos! So much has happened since I last wrote; I can’t wait to tell you all about it (so this’ll probably be a painfully long one). But first and foremost, I’d like to thank everyone who’s made an effort to keep in touch. It really means a lot to me. I love knowing what’s going on while I’m gone like Roosevelt Hall winning Dorm Wars at Binghamton for the second year in a row; the success (and otherwise) of all the shows that people are working on (Steve, Dan, Lori, etc.); life in Sevilla and other parts of Spain kicks ass; the movie Duct Tape that I starred in will premier in Lecture Hall 1 in Bingo on 10/15 and 10/16 at 9:00 (I heard it sucks); and Columbus, Ohio is for lovers. This isn’t to say that all of you who haven’t written to me are bad people – you just obviously don’t care about me as much as I thought you did. I mean, I’m only living in Spain, right? (please ignore this shameless attempt at guilt if you did not receive my first letter).