Oh it has been quite a week! I can't believe that I just arrived one week ago today because it feels like so much longer. Right now, I am sitting in my new apartment. By far, the most stressful part of this week was the apartment hunt. It was probably more stressful than I anticipated. I'm guessing it was the combination of responding to probably 50 ads online and not getting responses, calling advertisements and getting few responses or finding out the place is already full and seeing apartments that were really just awful (really dirty, messy, bad locations, small, smelling like smoke, etc..,). I was not the only one going through this, so it was nice to commiserate with others in my program who were staying at the same hostel.
What I learned through all of this is the need to compromise. Nothing is perfect and that's ok. Hopefully, I won't be spending a ton of time sitting in my apartment but rather out working, exploring the city, hanging out with friends, or traveling. All I really need is a bed, bathroom, and perhaps a kitchen for the occasional times I decide to cook (though I hope for the sake of my bank account that I start remembering how to cook again).
I moved into my apartment earlier this week. I am living with a French girl and a Spanish girl. The French girl seems nice, our schedules have been off so I haven't seen her much. The spanish girl is still on vacation so I don't think I'll see her until sometime next week. I have a very tiny room (pictures to come, but i'm still in the unpacking phase and it's a little messy...) but am surprised at how little space I actually need. Otherwise, the apartment is clean, non-smoking (more difficult to find, especially if you want to live with nonamericans), and close enough that I can walk to the bus stop (at least 30 minutes of exercise a day, what a plus!). It's fine for right now, and I am only committed month to month, so am free to go somewhere else if I find a place I like. It's just a big relief for it all to be done!
Aside from that, this week has been a lot of errands and getting things organized. Definitely have been doing a lot of walking (for example, went to 5 different banks before I could get someone to cash my traveler's checks--probably won't be using those again!). I also opened a bank account, went to IKEA for the first time ever, (what a crazy store), rode the bus to see how to get to my school, and went to orientation. It's been nice being busy.
Today I went to temple in my 3rd Spanish speaking country--Peru, Chile, and now Spain (L'shana tova everyone!). It was definitely a lot smaller than I was used to (probably 50 people in total?), and longer! I left after about 4 hours and I'm not sure how far from the end we were... I do think it is cool to see how services are in other countries. I also get especially excited when I recognize a melody.
I'm hoping this weekend I will do some exploring of the city as well as meeting new people. I'm fortunate that I met a lot of really nice people at my hostel, but am also hoping to meet others. There are about 1400 people on my program here and I've probably met 30...I've got some work to do!
Will try to update soon, hopefully with pictures! I start work on Monday so I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about that...
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