My digs in Barca

Here's my apartment in Barcelona, taken the day of arrival. It's a fairly roomy place with a somewhat cramped kitchen, which you can see to the right in the pic. In the pic you see the dining table (where I've since set up the laptop), with a "two-story" closet directly behind the table. It's somewhat strange: when you open the sliding doors, there are two levels, with the top level too high up to reach from the floor. Presumably, one is meant to use this from the loft above the table. There's a bed up there, but it only has about two feet of headroom which makes it a touch cloisterphobic. So I sleep on the "ground floor" where there was a kind of couch that could be opened up into a two-mattress (side-by-side) bed. There's a fan above, which is another reason why I chose that sleeping location. Overall the place isn't bad, it's location is excellent, but it's a bit dark with only one window. And currently, I can't really open the window up in the morning cause there are guys out there working on the scaffolding. I hadn't expected this scaffolding there, and hope that they finish up before I leave...there's a nice porch out there that I'd actually like to use.

My impression of the kitchen was initially somewhat low as it lacks a full-sized oven (although I knew about this when I rented the place, I just didn't think it would make such an impact in person). It does, however, have a small "desktop" oven (like a toaster oven) that actually works fairly well...I baked fresh cod in it a couple of days ago and it turned quite well. There's also a small baking pan that fits inside so I think I'll be able to make simple casseroles in there without too much trouble—so long as I can find all the ingredients. One major redeeming quality about the kitchen is that it came equipped with Bialetti coffee makers (there's three of them here—two small and one tiny). It's also equipped with other basic things that hopefully I won't need to add to. So far so good. The fridge is small, but also seems to suffice.

Here is the bathroom and laundry. The shower has pretty low pressure and is supplied by a small water tank shared with the washing machine. To the right of the washing machine you'll see "the dryer"—two clothes lines outside the sliding glass doors. The world's slowest dryer: it takes two days for stuff to dry. This poses a bit of a washing schedule challenge. It's best to string wet stuff up in the morning to maximize what little sun filters in back there. I think I have this figured out though: run the machine when I go off to lift weights at the gym. This takes me about 90 mins within which time the machine finished, especially when on the "Quick" setting. My first try I started the machine after my workout while I hopped in the shower. Not only did I get the hot/cold water fluctuations but I ended up waiting two hours for the washer to finish. I must have used the wrong setting, but still, I've never seen a washing machine pull so many cycles. I think the best approach with this machine is "early and often". Do laundry early in the day and don't let the clothes pile up.