my (very Spanish) apartment

I live up on the seventh floor in an apartment building close to downtown. Down below is a very dangerous neighborhood: there's an ice cream shop on the corner with the most incredible hazelnut gelato, a croissaint shop across the street that smells of fresh baguettes and chocolate filled pastries, and a cafe around the corner with cafe con creme (coffee with cream), chocolate con churros, and WIFI (where I'm sitting right now). I practically live in Cafe Colon in the morning, because both my roommates have morning classes while mine are from 4-8 PM. I always order my morning coffee for a euro, and sit in the same seat by the window. The owner must know me as that-blonde-girl-with-the-tiny-bladder, but in my defense, i drink coffee everyday (and lots of water). Unfortunately, the cafe is also a bar, which means people can suck on their cancer sticks and send nasty smoke my direction- i promise I'm not bitter, just concerned for their health! I always order in Spanish, but since the owner lived in Florida for 15 years, he ALWAYS answers me in English- so much for immersing myself in the culture :) With that said, I have to restrain myself daily from buying coffee AND ice cream AND a chocolate filled croissant- because believe me, I would.

But back to my house: it sits at the end of the hall, and has a huge living room with full-length windows looking down on the street below. We sit on couches instead of chairs when we eat, and there's a giant flat-screen TV on the opposite wall. The living room/dining room is furnished with antique furniture, old photographs, posters of Prague and New York (Carmen's favorite places), and ancient paintings. An old camera sits on the shelf next to photo albums and musty books, and even though the room has big windows, it still has that dark, dignified feel to it. Down the hall is Carmen and Paco's room and bathroom, and a small kitchen that has an adjacent laundry room. Further down the hall (close to the front door) is Rachel's room, our bathroom, and me and Hannah's room. When you enter our room, you first have to walk through a tiny, dark hallway. We have two twin beds, a window that opens up to the laundry room ( don't worry, it's bright), and closets on the far wall. It's kind of fun because I can hear Carmen humming to herself every time she does laundry. There's a clothesline right outside, that looks like one of those Tibetan prayer flags when it's full. Every time Carmen hands me my clothes through the window into my room, it reminds me of a drive-through fast food joint... I'm thinking of calling it McLaundry (sorry, bad joke) Our room is pretty dark most of the time, since the lights are rather weak and we are in the back of the house. But it's not that bad- it's kind-of like a little cave: very private and cozy, with paintings, posters, and mirrors smothering the walls.

I don't want to drag this on, but i do want to say that the shower is the oddest part of the house. It's like one of those stand-up boxes magicians use to make people disappear- you literally can't move it's so small. I just hope I don't ever get stuck in there :) The other day I broke the wall attachment for the spigot, so now it's like one of those nursing home showers where you just have the sprayer to hold above your head. Actually, I take that back. I don't think nursing home shower water is quite as cold as ours... it definitely wakes you up in the morning! Did I mention that I also broke the the string attached to our overhead light in the bedroom? Yeah, I haven't had very good luck with household appliances on this trip. Luckily Carmen likes me, or feels sorry for me, or a little bit of both.