Movin' on up

Hello Everyone!

I am writing you from my new desk in my new bedroom in my new apartment. I just moved in today and am enjoying pondering the possibilities of blank walls, a new neighborhood, and more spare money in my pocket. It wasn't the easiest decision, but I think it was the right one.

I really enjoyed living with Kike (my host family, whatever) while I did. I would definitely suggest staying there to others. It was a very comfortable, spacious place to live, with plenty to eat, internet, etc. And most importantly, Kike really helped me to get acquainted with Oviedo and Spain, how to get around, where things were, what to do. I still have the map he gave me my first day here, which I can remember consulting every time I left the house. Having guaranteed interaction in Spanish was also priceless. Aside from Skype calls, for the first month or so I don't know that I spoke a word of English. And it shows. I learned the basic survival language frantically fast. I think I probably had the best homestay of anyone, honestly. I could come home whenever I wanted, sleep as long as I wanted, and skip a meal if I wanted, as long as I gave fair warning, it was no problem.

Nonetheless, once you've lived alone, it is so difficult to go back to a family-like situation. Despite all the benefits and good intentions, I just felt like I was an adolescent there. Living by someone else's rules, no matter how reasonable, is exhausting! You wouldn't believe the number of little guidelines I was compelled to comply with, about cleanliness and order and organization. I mean, I'm a very fastidious person, but I felt like I had a checklist of things I had to do upon leaving or entering any and every room of the house. Despite my best intentions I just couldn't do all of them, which made me feel slovenly and irresponsible. At times it was suffocating!

The last straw came when Kike announced he would be raising my rent to 600 euros a month. Now, I get varying opinions on whether this is reasonable or not. Consider, ~$83o for rent, bills, and food, for one college student, in one bedroom, in a less-than-central location. I decided it was too much. Moreover, with the end of my scholarship money imminent, finances were becoming a serious concern. I still need a plane ticket home for goodness sake!

So here I am,

C/ Luis Braille 3, 4i
33011, Oviedo, Spain

As with anything it has its benefits and drawbacks. It's quite a bit smaller than my previous home, and I will really miss the view from my bedroom window. But it has all the things I need in a clean, cozy space, literally 2 minutes from class. And at less than half what I paid before, I had to take it.

Also on my mind was the realization that this is not only an amazing study abroad experience, it is also my last year of college. I want to live the student lifestyle to the maximum possible. This invariably means living with people your age, doing what you want when you want, being a bit irresponsible, and still somehow passing all exams. I reckon living here I'll feel less like a teenager and more like the Senior in college I am.

I now live with a guy named Diego. He's in his later twenties, born and raised here in Oviedo. He has quite a few things in common with my former roommate, and best of friends, Adaline. He is into photography and vinyl records, so I'm hoping he's somewhat as cool a person as she. He is employed at some photography store and has loads of books and magazines on the subject. He is also into Kendo, a Japanese martial art involving sword fighting. Other than that I'm still getting to know the guy, but he seems nice and down-to-earth.

PHOTO EVIDENCE

My new bedroom, where I am currently writing this. No ocean views or anything, but I get the Viajar ("travel") channel so I'll survive.


The living room (with aforementioned records and photo publications)


The kitchen (dishwasher! And this mysterious device which is a microwave, convection-, and regular oven combined.)


And maybe best of all, I finally have someplace to put my extensive magnet collection ^_^.


So, now I've been in Spain for 4 months, traveled to the largest cities and the teeniest pueblos, and lived in or visited various homes. Thus, I kind of thought it'd be interesting to compare how people live in the USA to how they live in Spain.

For many of you this might seem extremely inane, but this is one area where the U.S. differs greatly from Spain, and I thinks it's just a fascinating reflection of cultures. In the U.S., almost everyone lives in a neighborhood like this:

Of course, this is a bit of an extreme example (most streets do have sidewalks). Lots of people live a more urban or a more rural life, but still the vast majority of Americans live in a suburb not unlike this, 1-2 stories with a little yard, two-car garage, and a mortgage. It's very quiet, very spacious, very safe. And in my opinion very very boring.

This is a picture taken just around the corner from where I live now. Many people have the impression that everyone in Europe lives in breathtaking 18th Century architectural gems. This is very much not the case.

As you can see, most buildings are from the last half-century. I actually looked at one apartment in the historic part of town and though it had a beautiful façade, it was falling apart inside. Though it pained me, I chose beautiful on the inside (the more you know...)

So how do the Spanish live? Well the buildings all have at least five stories, most people (in northern Spain) don't even have a balcony, much less a yard, and if you happen to own a car you're parking it at least a few blocks away. It's not always quiet, we're crammed in like sardines, and I have to remember to close the blinds because my neighbor, 10 yards away, could very easily spy on me. And does.

Most people look out their windows at brick, concrete, and clothes drying. The blue thing is like an umbrella for the clothes, since they would sure take a long time to dry getting rained on every day.

It's maybe not the most romantic view of Europe, but it's not so bad. I love that anything I want or need to do in my daily life is no more than a 15 minute walk away. I can go to school, the gym, the supermarket, the mall, the park, bars, and all my friends' houses much more quickly and easily than I could at home even when I had a car. And it's still very safe. Somehow there are no homeless people, and crime (property or violent) is lower than even little Salt Lake.

It's also really interesting when you compare these two lifestyles with that of England. While England is, obviously, still very European, you can kind of see how the American mindset descends from the British. In England most people live in houses. They might be subdivided, squished together, with little or no yard (perhaps why they call the yard a "garden"...), but they're still houses. A greater percentage of Londoners likely live in houses than do Asturians. It's just a matter of priorities, I guess.

One more side note to this side note, when I was looking for pictures of American suburbs I found this one. Only, when I looked at the website, I saw that this picture was actually taken in China. This freaks me out a little bit. What is this world coming to??

In summary, my new home is indeed pretty sweet. I think I'm gonna go make me some lunch and practice my Spanish food cooking skills so I can impress you all when I get back.

ttfn!