A new place to call home
Today we have officially been living in Barcelona for 1 month. Whaaaat? It’s crazy to think how quickly the time has flown. The theme for the past week has definitely been based around ‘settling-in’, and I am beginning to feel very at home. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the weeks leading up to now have felt very much like a whirlwind and I’ve been operating in a bit of a dream-like state. However this week, I’ve focused on organising my life and making myself feel at home. I’m beginning to learn (very basic) Spanish and Catalan phrases (I can totally order my take-away coffee with sugar now and I don’t even think the barista knows I’m a fraud!) and I signed up for bicing! Bicing is a great bicycle sharing service that works really well in Barcelona - everyone uses it (unlike the ones we have in Melbourne) and it's incredibly easy and convenient. There are bike stations set up at almost every second corner, and a quick app download allows you to see your nearest stop based on current location. It’s super cheap (providing you don’t exceed the 2 hour time limit) and I simply had to pay a one-off fee. Can you tell by my rant that it’s my new obsession? I probably sound like I’m being paid to promote the bike brand! It’s really great though and it beats the peak-hour, sardine tin, squishy, sweaty metro :-)
In terms of my weekdays, work has been fantastic lately and I’m lovvving what I’m doing. I’ve been involved in lots of visual comms design work and have some really exciting projects happening at the moment, including the creation of visual collateral for an upcoming event that Boeing are holding at RMIT Melbourne. Amazing stuff and I’m feeling very honoured to be doing this work for RMIT. I’ve also written a LinkedIn piece to be used as an update, and interviewed a PHD student for an upcoming news piece to be posted on the RMIT Europe website. There are lots of other things also happening in the background, however those are probably my highlights for the past week.
Outside of work, I’ve had a few exciting evenings - including going to the football! (or Soccer for you Aussies). We saw Barcelona vs. Atlético Madrid at Camp Nou. It was a draw, and Messi was right there in front of my very eyes! The game was so fun to watch, and couldn’t believe how incredible the atmosphere was! I’ve never in my life seen a sports match with so many people in the one stadium and each person just as passionate about the match as the next. However with a crowd so big, getting home proved to be an interesting adventure and we were still strolling the streets of Barcelona at 1.30am in search of a cab.
In other news, a new development this week is my (other) new obsession, which is a neighbourhood in Barcelona called El Borne. It’s so amazing! It’s very similar to Barri Gòtic (cobble stone streets, low-lit laneways, gothic architecture) but it’s not as busy and not as many touristy crowds. The restaurants, bars and galleries are incredible and it was love at first sight the moment I first stepped foot within the it’s boundaries! Although in saying that, I can’t forget about our beloved neighbourhood Sant Pau, which we have formed a profound love for. There are very little tourists (unless we venture in the direction of Sagrada Familia), and one night this week, when we decided to have a laundry evening, we met a lovely Spanish lady who didn’t speak a word of English, but somehow managed (purely with hand gestures) to explain to us how to use the washing facilities and where to insert our money. Not only this, but we returned after dinner to find her taking our clothes out of the dryer and neatly folding them for us. I was shocked! What a kind lady! I think that simple act of kindness was the defining moment that I declared my love our neighbourhood and the moment I felt at home. Another unique quirk of the neighbourhood is that it’s filled with these old little bar-come-cafes. The cafes aren’t much to look at, in fact, when we first arrived I was reluctant to go anywhere near them at fear of dying of some sort of bacteria-ridden, food poisoning related incident. Okay, that is a dramatisation - but I’m trying to express just what these places look like. But after a few weeks, we began to notice the large amount of people that flock the many old looking bar/restaurants spotted around the streets of Sant Pau. So...we decided - perhaps we are too ‘Melbourne-ised’ and expect too much from interior design in restaurants? There is obviously a reason everyone frequents these restaurants. Perhaps the restaurant owners neglect their decor in order to spend more time and energy on perfecting their food? Long story short, after a couple of dining experiences at these cafes (the first being out of pure convenience), I’ve now decided the food is very authentic and tasty, just minus the flashing lights - and I’m yet to be poisoned. I’m not sure if these bar/cafes are a secret Barcelona thing that only locals know about, but I’ve decided I like them. So my lesson for the week: Don’t judge a book by it’s cover…or a restaurant by it’s ikky brown tiles.