Joshua Zamrycki's Weblog

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!!