A portrait of the artist as a young man: how I started to read it and comments so far

The  first time that I read James Joyce´s A portrait of the artist as a young man was in spanish.The book was good enough for me to finish it, but somewhere along the way I found out that there were some meanings lost in translation so I undertook the task of finding the book in English, which was not so easy to do in Santiago as there were only two bookstores where you could find books in english. I got lucky, t here were only three books left and I just had to buy it (now it only sells school books).
When I got home I found a small notebook and I decided to take quotes and analyze them, as well as finding the meaning of new words, using an english dictionary. For me, it has been a good way to know whether I am understanding the book.
At the beginning, you have the voice of a child with a playful set of words, and I knew that I would like it as I moved along the pages. All those tiny details that make your reading worthwhile, looking through the eyes of a kid. Amazing result! Includes the good and bad ways of dealing with school and the teachings of the Church.
I was able to imagine feeling the same devoutness and the fear of going to hell as our lead character, Stephen Dedalus, does. Is could not help cursing the teachers for bringing upon him and his fellow mates the punishments for misbehaving, it would absolutely raise up some hairs nowadays.
I was able to see the changes that happen to him, not only from changing schools as well as the dramatic fall to poverty, and how to deal with that new reality. A blow in the face, falling-off kind of thing that leads his family to a new town and new kinds of mischief, of course!
I enjoyed as Stephen discovered sins as he grew and the depth of his remorse after that, specially after what the priest had to say about what happened in hell if a person does not behave according to what the Bible says. Really creepy way of making yourself familiar with religion: through fear and a particular understanding of what is written in it.
As he continues to grow, you can see how his way of thinking changes and assumes a more grown-up voice. I felt his sincere intention to join the clergy as well as when he actually takes the time to search deep into his soul to know whether it is his true calling or not, and well I was not really surprised at the outcome because he  wasn´t that interested in following strict rules and social behavior conducts. I was able to sense his relief of being sent to the university instead and how his way of acting towards people changes drastically.
He feels that he is above everybody else because he has education and to disdain them just because of their accent, their way of answering to the teacher´s question.
This book so far has been a quest to find the artist within me, and since I have not yet finished it, I will leave the rest of my comments when I am done with it and hopefully you´ll read them as you´re doing now.