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Trip Start May 04, 2006

Trip End Mar 05, 2007

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Flag of Spain Barcelona, Spain
Thursday, October 19, 2006

Finally I have arrived to Barcelona, a cornerstone of inspiration for my journey throughout Europe. Living in Spain to practice and study my Spanish was a driving force behind my idea to travel throughout Europe. Surely the experiences, sights and sounds of backpacking all over the continent was the principal purpose of the trip, however, passing a lengthy amount of time in Spain was a strong desire to be woven into the experience.

I have studied Spanish all through junior high, high school and some of college and have also spent time abroad in Mexico but everyone warned me, while poking fun at the Spanish lisp, about the different kind of Spanish used in Spain. What better way to learn a language than to immerse yourself in it. That was my plan...or as far as I had gotten anyway. I wasn�t sure which part of Spain I wanted to spend my time in but I had an idea that I wanted to pass the time in a bigger city, most likely Madrid or Barcelona, because not only is the big city what I�m used to but I thought it would also be easier to find work and have things to do and see

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. My ideas for work were to try and find a job bartending or maybe teaching English, even though I had no real experience with either. After traveling through Spain in the early parts of my travels in May, I found that I did not enjoy Madrid all that much but did enjoy Barcelona as a city and it�s location close to the sea and the rest of Europe. So it was decided, my return to Spain, whenever that would be, would be back to Barcelona, and so here I am.

Spending roughly 5 months on the road bouncing from city to city, hostel to hostel, bed to bed, I was so sick of sharing space with people, not having any privacy and always having to be aware of my belongings that I couldn�t possibly imagine spending any more time than absolutely necessary in yet another hostel once I arrived to Barcelona. Therefore, upon my return, my primary objective was to find a room in an apartment so I could have my own place, privacy, personal space, security...you get the picture. I spent every morning searching Barcelona�s version of craigslist for rooms in apartments, calling people, arranging appointments to see places and checking places out. Each one that I saw was suitable however I was one of about 60 people looking at the same place. I was only looking to live for about 2-3 months while a lot of the rest of the crowd was willing to stay 6-12 months. To be honest, I wouldn�t give the room to me either because then I�d have to go through all the nonsense of finding another occupant in 2 months

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. So after a week of no luck and nothing but frustration I decided that I would have to reset my expectations. After all, as Rick Steves says, if things aren�t to your liking then change your liking, right Ingrid?

With the apartment search failing miserably, my plan morphed into trying to find a job at a hostel in exchange for a free place to stay because at the time I was spending my time running around town looking for a place to live, meanwhile spending €20 a day for a bed. If you do the math that come out to €600 a month which is about $770, in other words, a quick drain on my funds especially when I had been looking at rooms for max €400 a month. I tried first at the hostel I was at which was one of the coolest places I had stayed at in Barcelona but they just kept telling me they were waiting to hear from their boss yet days passed and nothing happened. I was just booking a day or two at a time until one day I went to extend my stay and they were booked solid. I left my cell number and while they told me they would call in the next day or two when they heard back, I am still waiting for the call.

This forced me back on the move and so I booked a different hostel across town for three nights and decided to scope out that spot and see if they had anything for me to do. Immediately when I arrived to the hostel, situated on a dodgy street, I checked in and knew that it wasn�t somewhere I�d want to stay for even the three nights I had booked, not to mention work there and live for a few months. I tried to make the most of it by taking plenty of time to relax and read but was ready to give another spot a try. Quite honestly by this point I was so worn down and tired of the run around and frustrations that I was considering majorly altering my plans and cutting the trip short and heading back to the States for Christmas

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. I even had lengthy conversations about my situation and state of mind with a new Swiss friend at the hostel and after talking at length, she asked, "Why would you stay? You sound miserable. Go home." The thought of returning home to all that is comfortable; my family, my friends, a settled life with my own things, a set place to live...the list goes on...sounded so appealing that I seriously considered going through with it. At the time, the main thing that kept me from jumping ship was the fact that my Dad and Colin (my bro) had surprised me by booking a trip to both come and see me the week of Thanksgiving. Being only late October, that meant I would have to stick it out for another 5-6 weeks. This fact alone was my motivation to continue the quest to sort things out because if I was going to be here that long anyway, I needed to do everything I could to make the most of it. With that in mind I again set out in search of another potential new home.

In searching the Internet, I found another hostel in a good location that received good reviews and so I booked 3 nights in what would overall be my fifth hostel in Barcelona. I walked in the door with all my bags and right away had a feeling that it was a good place. It was brand new, the staff was super friendly, they had a bar, flat screen TVs with satellite, free Internet, a kitchen, a gym, a pool, jacuzzi and a free massage parlor. Well...no jacuzzi, pool or massage place but 7 out of 10 aint bad. When I checked in I asked at the front desk if there was anything I could do around the hostel during my stay to help pay for my stay. I talked to the manager and she told me that there was a guy working there that was planning to leave towards the end of October and I could start working in his spot once he left. "Once he leaves you could start working behind the bar if that would be something you would be interested in." That was pretty much exactly what I was looking for so of course I told her I was in

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. I had to pay my way through the end of the month but now I get free accommodation for working 5 nights a week from 7PM-1AM which is not bad at all considering even when I want to go out, 1AM is just about when things start to get good anyway. My only compensation is free accommodation so I don�t actually make any cash other than what tips I get and backpackers aren�t the best tippers in the world, although, surprisingly so far I have made enough to break even living very frugally. With no rent to worry about my other expenses are; food, which is very cheap when bought from the grocery store or markets; alcohol, same story; and going out, which is always going to be expensive regardless which is one reason why, besides my health and sanity, I can�t do it every night. Not to mention the laundry list of other perks: a constant stream of people around from all over the world; free Internet; free laundry, including a dryer which I haven�t used in months; satellite TV that gets pretty much anything you would ever want to watch and more including NFL games(YES!); a great staff, some of which are native Spaniards which provides me a free and easily accessible place to practice my Spanish; and just recently my "own" room shared only with one other staff member so I can feel safe with my belongings and not constantly have to deal with new people moving in and out of my room.

Now that at least my accommodation is sorted and I feel like I have a place to call home, I am very glad the way everything has unfolded and that I didn�t in fact drastically alter my plans and leave

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. Thanks to the wonderful surprise of having two of the most important people in my life coming to visit, I had the much needed motivation to push through and now am somewhat sorted, enjoying myself and looking forward to my few months here soaking up as much of the language, nightlife, food and culture that I possibly can. To see my Mom and Stepdad in Stockholm in July was an unexpected and marvelous treat that renergized me. Now being able to see my brother and Dad in Barcelona will have afforded me two separate instances of much needed and uplifting infusions of family in the midst of my solo journey throughout Europe.

Now that I am "settled" here in Barcelona, I am not only going to have some family come and visit, but also have the first group of people coming through this weekend to visit. My friend Jackie, who I stayed with in Stuttgart, is wasting no time in returning the favor of putting me up for a week. Although I don�t have my own place to offer her, she, along with 3 friends, are coming down from Stuttgart to spend what promises to be a rowdy weekend.

I sought to get a bartending job even though I had no experience and have succeeded in doing that. Now that my blog is caught up after slacking for almost three months, leaving several of you emailing me bugging me for an update, the next step is now to try to get a job teaching English for a few hours a week just to make some money to spend around town and maybe even save some to help fund what remains of my trip. I�ll have to fill you in on how it progresses because I gotta go pour some beers. Heineken anyone?