The Tapas (pintxos) in San Sebastian. Supposably the best in Spain!So as I have stated in previous postings, I have fallen quite badly for San Sebastian and because of this I have decided to stay here for just a bit longer. Actually, at the moment I will be staying here for the month of July as I have gotten myself and job and a place to live!
It all started when another traveler wanted to stay a bit longer at the hostel as well and so ask if she could work for her living expenses there. At this point I was looking madly for a nice, small hostel to stay at in Bilbao (my next destination), with no avail. One day I jokingly said that I too wanted a job, and they gave me one.
The only problem that they had was that they had no free spaces for me to stay at the hostel, for the month. July is their craziest month due to the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, otherwise known as the Running of the Bulls. Many people come to stay in San Sebastian and than travel each day to Pamplona, which is just an hour away.
So I started scanning newspapers and their equivalent of craigslist for a shared apartment. I send out tons of messages and only heard back from one person who turned out not to be too keen on having somebody just for one month. I started to think that this was not going to work out and that I would have to move on. At that point I decided just to let whatever happens happen. I decided that if nothing came about in regards to somewhere to live than I would move on, and that that would be just as good as staying in San Sebastian.
After making this decision, whilst lying on the beach sun tanning myself, I returned to the hostel to let the owner, Paul, know that this may not be possible. When we started talking he said that if nothing turns up that I could always sleeping in his camper van which was parked about 25minutes away from the hostel. This idea actually excited me; only the idea of having to walk such a far way home after the bar at 4:00am (usually time here) made me not jump at the idea. We decided that if nothing showed up before the 1st of July I would go live in the van until a bed came available at one of the two hostels.
That evening Paul contacted me and told me that he knew somebody who was looking for somebody to rent a room in his apartment with him in the old part of the city, where the hostels are both located. At 11:30 that night I went to have a look. The apartment was beautiful and newly renovated, and above all it was quiet and not filled with a bunch of drunk and rowdy people. I was home.
So now I have been in San Sebastian for the past 2 weeks and working for the last 4. I have become a bit lazy and have not done as much surfing as I once did and do tend to end up on the beach every single afternoon after work, and in a bar every single night, but I’m having fun. I have made some friends, especially Pame, who is the sister of the owner of the hostel and my coworker. She is a very sweet and kind-hearted Argentinean who can become quite feisty whilst watching Argentina play in the World Cup as well as when she feels that a guy is acting inappropriately at a bar. I have had to hold her back a few times from getting up to much in the face of somebody who has stepped over the line, in her opinion. But besides that she is honestly probably one of the sweetest persons I have ever met and would, and has, bend over backwards to help a friend out.
And so life continues here: working, sun tanning, partying, and trying to get a grasp of the Castilian Spanish they speak here. Life in all is good.
It all started when another traveler wanted to stay a bit longer at the hostel as well and so ask if she could work for her living expenses there. At this point I was looking madly for a nice, small hostel to stay at in Bilbao (my next destination), with no avail. One day I jokingly said that I too wanted a job, and they gave me one.
The only problem that they had was that they had no free spaces for me to stay at the hostel, for the month. July is their craziest month due to the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, otherwise known as the Running of the Bulls. Many people come to stay in San Sebastian and than travel each day to Pamplona, which is just an hour away.
So I started scanning newspapers and their equivalent of craigslist for a shared apartment. I send out tons of messages and only heard back from one person who turned out not to be too keen on having somebody just for one month. I started to think that this was not going to work out and that I would have to move on. At that point I decided just to let whatever happens happen. I decided that if nothing came about in regards to somewhere to live than I would move on, and that that would be just as good as staying in San Sebastian.
After making this decision, whilst lying on the beach sun tanning myself, I returned to the hostel to let the owner, Paul, know that this may not be possible. When we started talking he said that if nothing turns up that I could always sleeping in his camper van which was parked about 25minutes away from the hostel. This idea actually excited me; only the idea of having to walk such a far way home after the bar at 4:00am (usually time here) made me not jump at the idea. We decided that if nothing showed up before the 1st of July I would go live in the van until a bed came available at one of the two hostels.
That evening Paul contacted me and told me that he knew somebody who was looking for somebody to rent a room in his apartment with him in the old part of the city, where the hostels are both located. At 11:30 that night I went to have a look. The apartment was beautiful and newly renovated, and above all it was quiet and not filled with a bunch of drunk and rowdy people. I was home.
So now I have been in San Sebastian for the past 2 weeks and working for the last 4. I have become a bit lazy and have not done as much surfing as I once did and do tend to end up on the beach every single afternoon after work, and in a bar every single night, but I’m having fun. I have made some friends, especially Pame, who is the sister of the owner of the hostel and my coworker. She is a very sweet and kind-hearted Argentinean who can become quite feisty whilst watching Argentina play in the World Cup as well as when she feels that a guy is acting inappropriately at a bar. I have had to hold her back a few times from getting up to much in the face of somebody who has stepped over the line, in her opinion. But besides that she is honestly probably one of the sweetest persons I have ever met and would, and has, bend over backwards to help a friend out.
And so life continues here: working, sun tanning, partying, and trying to get a grasp of the Castilian Spanish they speak here. Life in all is good.
My Apartment
No comments:
Post a Comment