Piso translates to flat, like a room, but it means a lot more than just a flat. When I first got here to Valencia I reserved a hostel for a week. I gave myself 7 days to find a place to stay for 6 months. To some people this seems completely absurd and to others perfectly normal. I still don’t know what I think about that.

Regardless, finding a piso has been the center of my stress and usage of the majority of my time since I have been here. Originally I had no idea of how the entire process worked. I had a feeling I should just wait until I got to Spain and because of this feeling [and my propensity towards procrastination] I did wait. At the Red Nest Hostel [somewhere I would totally recommend if you happen to come to Valencia] nearly everyone staying are students studying at the University of Valencia or Polytécnica and need to find a flat. Eventually it consumed all of us until we had no lives but to search all day for a piso.

When looking for a piso, one has priorities. Some vary but mine were: 1. internet 2. proximity to university 3. all girls and 4. relatively good price. The girls part is mostly for my boyfriend but I guess living with all girls can’t be so bad. While these priorities all sound normal and just, they were extremely difficult qualities to find in a piso.

You don’t want to pay more than 300 euros for a good piso, so I’ve been told. I set my limit at that and began my search. This is how the process goes: you search on www.loquo.com [other websites just suck] and look at pisos until you see one that interests you. You call the number on the screen and set up a time to see the place. You go to the place and tell the owner that you like it and will call them if you want it. Don’t be fooled. It truly isn’t as easy as it sounds.

I think the most difficult part is working up the courage to call someone to ask to see their piso. It doesn’t sound like that big of a deal but for some reason we all dreaded it. But it was just something that had to be done.

Today I found my piso. Not the piso of my dreams, mind you, but the piso of my reality and necessities [and what very bare necessities they are]. My roomies are two Moroccan girls. There is internet and 1 bathroom for the 3 of us. The piso is on the 8th floor. Yes, the 8th floor. Thank Buddha there is an elevator. It is relatively close to the University. Good enough for me. And the best part: 170 euros. Yippee.

I feel like Step 2 is completed, Step 1 being find a móvil/cell phone. Step 3… classes on Monday, another weird process. The registration process here is also more than a little different… You attend classes for a month and then register. At my home university you register the semester BEFORE. Regardless, I am excited to start classes. I’m hoping to be involved in a tandem program where I am paired up with someone studying English and we get to practice both English and Spanish and have the other person help us. I also want to volunteer in the English classes to make some friends.

I am starting to feel more comfortable in the city. I think I have the metro thing down. I have 2 main maps I go off of and then there’s always Google Maps. This should be my last night in the hostel and then it’s off to the piso… the awaited piso.

Wowee. I am in Spain. I mean, I AM IN SPAIN!!! I wish I would have started blogging sooner because I have so much to say! I’ll attempt to start at the beginning.

My flight left at almost 9AM. Not too bad, right? Well I live almost 2 hrs away. OK, 7AM. I can do that. Oh wait, it’s an international flight.. you have to be there 3 hrs early. Sweeet. So my boyfriend and I left at 4 in the morning to drive up to LA. I tell you, coffee works miracles. We were really disappointed when we found out that he wasn’t even allowed in the airport at all. I’m not sure if this is a new thing but if you’re not on a flight, you can’t come in. My last kiss for 6 months took place on a ghetto sidewalk in a weird hallway thing that had zero privacy. Pretty sad.

The flight wasn’t too bad. I had 3 flights, one from LA to Chicago and then Chicago to Dusseldorf, Germany and then Dusseldorf to Valencia. I slept a lot on the first 4 hr flight and then watched a movie on the second flight. Dusseldorf airport was a little weird. I’m not gonna lie, I could not figure out the paper towel machine for the life of me. I know absolutely no German so it was kinda interesting buying water and getting food. During the 3 hr layover I saw the guy that was sitting next to me on the last flight and found out we were going to the same place. It was kind of cool to be able to pass the time talking about our hopes and worries for our next 6 months in Spain.

The last flight to Valencia was not too bad. I got my luggage [I overpacked; I always overpack. I try really really hard to not overpack, but I do.] and found the metro. A taxi was 15 euros and the metro was not even 2. It’s scary at first, but if you’re trying to save money, go the metro route. [Throughout my blogs I plan on giving lots of advice but if anyone has more questions, feel free to send me an email or comment and everyone can see it.] The walk to my hostel, Red Nest Hostel [I would also recommend this as a great hostel to stay at in Valencia.] was only 5 minutes.

I am staying in a female dorm with 6 beds. There are 2 girls from the US [Missouri and Texas], a girl from France, and 2 girls from Korea. All very nice. As I checked in to the hostel a guy that works at the front desk asked a bunch of us to dinner. He said meet at 9:30. I went into the hostel and settled in.

Katie, my roommate from Texas, and I learned from Rachel [Missouri] that she got a pretty good deal on a cell phone from Vodaphone. So Katie and I went off to find the place and get one of our own. We found it and got the cheapest phone there. The guy that was helping us was having an issue setting up our “favorite number [cheaper rate to one number of your choice] so he said to come back tomorrow. We went back today he was still having issues and said come back tomorrow when you receive a text message with some number. We went back later today though and as it turns out he gave us the wrong plan altogether. They don’t have a plan for calling the US and we couldn’t return the phone so we are stuck with it. So don’t go to Vodaphone if you’re looking for a cell phone to call the US.

Today I slept in and went to the market and also to see a flat. But that’s another long story. It’s 1:30AM so I best be going to sleep now. I wanted to get my blogging started though. Thanks for reading!
Jhonni

Born and raised in San Diego, Jhonni Carr will be completing her last semester of Cal State San Marcos abroad. She is extremely excited to be going to Valencia, Spain and is also planning on traveling Europe afterwards. This spunky Spanish major has also studied French, Italian, and linguistics and will be pursuing graduate school next year. Along with her passion for travel, she enjoys photography, community service, and being fully engaged in all of her activities. She looks forward to sharpening her linguistic edge and is excited to make new friends and help teach English.