First of all, to start this blog, my sister suggested that I give a brief bio of Karin and Stephanie since I have been talking about them quite a bit lately. So here are their bios.
Karin graduated from Carthage, majored in German education with a minor in Spanish, and studied abroad in Germany. She likes to run through cemeteries, empty parking lots, and dark alley ways.
Stephanie graduated from Carthage as well. She majored in Spanish and minored in sociology. She did her study abroad in Argentina. She likes to read historical fiction novels and trains penguins in her spare time.
Okay, back to my day.
Well today was another day of apartment hunting. I got up this morning, ate breakfast, and again started calling people to see if I could view the apartments today. I had three people that I really wanted to answer and then I had five backups because a lot of people don't answer. A few of the backups were already rented out, but two out of the three answered the phone and I was allowed to make appointments with them. This gave me a really good feeling about today. I just had a feeling that I was going to find my place/make a decision today.
Early this afternoon, we started our search again for places, I met with Stephanie for an appointment that she had. It was a nice place, but I don't think either of us liked it all too much. Plus, she had first pick anyway. We all agreed that whoever makes the appointment gets first pick, then if we don't want it, it's up for grabs. The next appointment was mine and Karin met up with us for it. It was a great looking place! It was pretty big and had an awesome balcony, but two guys lived there, it was out of my price range, and it really didn't have a lot of amenities in the area (grocery store, bank, park). So that was out, but there was still hope. Stephanie left to go to a separate apartment and Karin and I called the apartment that I was supposed to see yesterday and it was free to see, so we checked that out. Again, two guys lived there and it was a little dark, but in my price range, but it was out too. Keep in mind, I still have one from yesterday that's on the back burner, so all of these that I looked at today needed to beat yesterday's. Anyway, it was on to my next appointment. This one was a little weird because we went to the wrong address at first and waited for like fifteen minutes and between calls and waiting, we were finally escorted to the correct address. This place again was nice and the landlady was great, but once again the apartment had two other guys living in it and I was like "Can we please just get one girl up in here?!" I was starting to wonder what happened to that good feeling I had in the morning?!
Karin and I started walking to the very well known park and I decided to give the third place a call that I really wanted to see. They answered! Woo, what a good feeling, one more chance to beat out yesterday's. I didn't know when I needed to make a decision for yesterday's, so I called them to see if I could look at it again just to get a better feel for it. The landlord said they wouldn't be there today and that I could see it on Saturday, so I knew I didn't need to finalize a decision today, which made me feel comfortable. Karin and I hung out and walked on the bike path for a bit and then headed to my last and final chance to make this morning's good feeling come true. As soon as the young girl opened the door with a big smile on her face I knew it was gonna be a good place! I met both of the girls I would be living with..yes, not one, but two girls..both Spanish-speaking and they were very friendly, down-to-earth, and helpful (from first impression). The apartment is great, too. Nice balcony, big rooms, right next to a grocery store, down the street from the metro stop, six minutes from the place Karin is probably going to live, and situated right in between the two parks that I have been to so far! It seemed like they wanted me to live with them just as much as I wanted to, but they said they have to talk to their landlord. I'm not sure what for, but I hope that all goes well and I should be able to move in very soon! Pray that I get this place, it's perfect. I couldn't stop thinking about it when I left.
Anyway, Karin and I were exhausted from walking so we took the metro back to where she has been staying and we just hung out for a little bit. We started looking into phone accounts and how to go about getting our abono, which is our transportation card that we will buy monthly which allows us to go on any public transportation (bus, metro, train). José, one of the guys she is staying with now, also helped us figure things out and told us some places in Madrid to check out. They allowed me to stay for dinner again, which was nice. We had some ham sandwiches (but some ham is different here), salad, and there was something on the table that looked pretty unappetizing and uncooked. José told us to try it before telling us what it is, but I would rather know what it is before putting it in my mouth. So he told us it was pig's ear. I was thinking..okay, well my dog chews on pig's ears and I've eaten guinea pig, but both those are cooked somehow. I don't know about these ears..they didn't seem prepared at all, but I gave it a shot anyway. I took the littlest of bites and the taste wasn't too too bad, but man was the texture gross. José tried explaining the texture before I ate it as them being hard in the middle and like gelatin on the outside. I think he hit the description right on the head..it was different, but at least I can say that I tried it. I try to try everything (maybe not EVERYTHING) once. After dinner, I went ahead and headed home and since then, I've just been thinking about MY apartment and roommates and hoping that I get that place! Buena suerte to me! Hasta luego.
*Logged 6 miles today.
**Karin actually likes running along Lake Michigan and Stephanie really doesn't train penguins.
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