Looking for My Auberge Espagnole

I sent out my first little queries to people renting apartments in Pamplona last night. Oddly enough, this is the part of planning that's been freaking me out the most... because, I dunno, it's the sort of thing that you don't really do long distance - and I have to do it long distance. And because I've never looked for and signed in apartment before, period, not in English, not in America, nothing, so I have to cope with complications even as I tackle the basic concept for the first time.

I find that I really don't care much about the apartment. What I mean is, I've never chosen where to live before, really, and I know I'm not all that picky. If the apartment is drafty, I'll put on more clothes. If it's hot, that's a bit tougher but I'll be there in fall semester, so I can cope for a bit - just pretend I'm at summer camp and wear lots of deodorant. Yummy. If the apartment is untidy, I really really don't care. If the apartment is actually dirty, even then I don't mind terribly unless it is smelly or unhealthy (the kitchen or the bathroom is filthy and resists efforts to keep it to a reasonable standard)... and I'm living with girls, so I doubt it'll be too big of an issue. Spanish apartment prices are pretty low, so while I'm looking for a reasonable value, I don't have to spend hours trying to find the lowest possible rent.

I'm looking through the pictures and the listings and I can imagine myself in all of these different apartments. It's only for a few months, anyway, I feel I can handle anything for so long! Obsessing over finding the perfect perfect place probably would only increase my chances of disappointment if the place is not perfect, and of course it won't be. But if things are good, then how nice, it's luxurious - if they're not so good, then meh, it's a bit of a character builder, an experience - if they border on the comically horrific, then it's still a story, right? And it's still only for a few months. "One time, I lived in Spain, in a Maison Ikkoku, an Auberge Espagnole both literally and figuratively..."

Still, I had to draw up at least a few preferences to narrow my choices down - it was that or flip coins. I looked through the ads on the Unav website. First I searched for shared apartments who were looking for a female roommate. Then, I asked Jorge about good areas, compared walking times, and started my search by looking in Iturrama, with the idea that the closer the places were to campus, the better, and they also got a few points if they were near the Parque Yamaguchi. Internet was the one facility I absolutely could not compromise on, so all places without internet were automatically out. Then, I took out any apartments that were in the overpriced range (seemed as if they would top 350 a month with utilities). Now, this was all I felt that I really needed - girls, close to campus, internet, not too expensive. And I only had about 40 ads to wade through! :) I had to get pickier.

I spent some time chatting with Lucia and trying to decide how else to sort through the pile. I decided to cut out all the ones that didn't have pictures - this was about half the listings. Although it would be easy enough to ask for pictures, by the time I did so they would know that I would be agreeing to the apartment long distance - I feel that pictures posted in advance of this knowledge might be more trustworthy, and anyway I still had enough choices to be flexible. I went through again and scrutinized lists of facilities, ruthlessly cutting those that, for example, had no central heating. I looked at the fine print and canceled the ones that seemed just too complicated - one seemed to be saying that it was for rent every month but October?

In the end I'd become pickier, and ended up with about 12 listings. Not terrible. I sorted these into good (4), better (4), and best (2) piles. The good ones were fine, but the better and best ones had slightly more ideal locations, sometimes lower prices, and sometimes even perks like a sauna or a private balcony. I emailed the 2 listings in the best category first and I'm planning to give them a few days to respond before I start emailing the better people too. I'm asking for more info, whether they'd be okay with an international student staying only one semester, what I would need to do before arriving, for more pictures, etc.

I'm lucky to have such great friends helping me with everything I do - Jorge for Pamplona advice, Allan for big kid advice (finding an apartment? Oh noes!) and Lucia for Spanish correction etc. ^^ It really is a comfort.

I'm very excited and yet not at the same time, at least in the stereotypical sense. I am 100% confident that I will love being in Spain, but I do believe that I'm going and it does feel real. I've been preparing for this for a long time, in lesser and greater ways, and I've travelled enough and learned enough about what I'm capable of that it takes some of the radical, chaotic nerves and excitement out of the situation. I'm not jumping up and down and shrieking about going to Spain - it's more of a big smile of anticipation.

Besides, I'm enjoying my life right now too in a way - the preparation time was much needed, it's nice to rest up, to cook for my family and help around the house, spend time with mom and dad and Tidbit, and see Melissa graduate high school. We moved her into college today and that's in most ways a bigger step than I'm taking by moving to Spain, I'm not going to miss any of that by being too blinded by excitement by what's coming up next.