Mi casa

Although it had been a tough week, the show must go on, and Friday coming around again meant not only a nice 3pm finish, but also that it was time to re-pack my suitcase and (finally) move into my flat! (To give this post a quick time reference, Friday was the 15th March).

On my way home from work I picked up the ingredients for an apple crumble, that I had planned on making the family as a thank you gift, and a couple of bottles of nice wine - one for the family and one for my new flat. After napping, making the crumble and packing it was already pushing 9pm. I said goodbye to the family and left with an open invite to come back to their house, and then they gave me a lift to my new abode.

I was moving into a flat with 3 other people, which is on the main road that goes through the city, and the same road as work (although due to the grid system and ridiculously long roads this still meant a 20 minute walk either way). The flat isn't particularly modern, but it's got everything you'd need and is nice and spacious, not to mention I've got my own little bathroom and balcony! The housemates are 2 Mexicans - Raul, a doctor, who is in his early 30s (although you definitely wouldn't be able to tell, he's still very young at heart!), and a girl, Cecilia who is 26/27 and works just outside the city, as well as a 24 year old girl from Cyprus, Burcu, who would only be here for the next month.

I had a little time to unpack before heading out to dinner with the 2 Mexicans, and one of their friends. We went to Gracia, an area which is about 15 minutes away. As there are no big monuments, it's got a lot more of a 'local' feel, as the tourists don't tend to go there as much. It's basically lots of little streets with tons of bars and cafes, it has a really lively and 'cool' (for lack of a better word) atmosphere. After trying a couple of restaurants that had huge queues, we settled for a Syrian restaurant. It was the first time I'd eaten Syrian, which I found quite similar to Greek, and very enjoyable! It was nice to start getting to know my housemates as well, especially as the girl was going to Mexico for 3 weeks the next morning so I wouldn't be seeing her for a while. We only stayed out for one drink after as she had to get back and get ready, and to be honest I was fine with that as I was knackered after such an exhausting week. I unpacked a tiny bit more and then fell asleep to the traffic outside my window (something I would now have to get used to living on a main road!).

After a huge shop to get all the basics in on Saturday morning, Raul took it upon himself to be my tour guide for the afternoon and we headed into the centre. We managed to cover most of the important buildings (from the outside anyway) and he knew lots of little facts about the areas we were walking round so it was a really interesting afternoon. This was my first proper time in and around the city, and I have to say that first impressions were very good. Although the city is not as breath-taking as some parts of Paris, nor as picturesque as Salzburg, it definitely has its own charm. In particular I fell in love with the barrio góthico (the gothic area), and I think that above all it is city’s atmosphere that is most appealing. For lack of a better word, it just seems ‘cool´. The size of the city means that is less intimidating than Paris, but that there is also a lot more going on than Salzburg, so it would seem I have found my happy medium for the last main leg of the Year Abroad.

We stayed out quite late in the end, so only had time for dinner and a quick change before heading out to meet some of Raul’s course friends from his Masters for a few drinks. Most of them were from Mexico, and I actually find that accent easy enough to understand. One girl, however, was from Chile. We tried really hard for about 5 minutes to have a conversation but I couldn’t get a single thing she was saying, and she didn’t speak English either so we mutually came to the conclusion that we just wouldn’t be able to talk that night. We went to about 3 different bars, and then called it a night at around 2am, as we were getting up at 8am the next morning for a day trip. One of the bars we went to, one which I would end up frequenting a lot, is called ‘Espit Chupitos’. I absolutely love this place. They have over 200 shots, each come with different instructions and are €2 each. Needless to say it is too easy to keep on ordering, especially as they are so much fun. This night I was introduced to the ‘nipple’, which is a shot covered by a piece of orange with whipped cream on top. The instructions are to lick, eat and drink with no hands. Amazing.

Cheeky kebab on the way home...

The next morning we woke up feeling a little groggy and so headed via Starbucks on our way to the train station. We met another of Raul’s friends from Mexico, and her friend from Germany. We travelled to Tarragona, a small town about an hour and a half south of Barcelona, to meet up with their friend (also from Mexico… at this point it looks clear that I am set to be in Mexican circle of Barcelona!) who is living there. Unfortunately the weather was pretty miserable so we headed to a café first to have a drink and see if it would clear up. It didn’t, so we ended up braving the rain to have a look around. It’s a very small town, but very pretty. It is right on the coast and there are lots of Roman ruins around, including the remains of a colloseum, where we bumped into a parade of ‘Roman’ soldiers marching along in proper outfits with drums and everything. After we’d seen everything, and I was able light a couple of candles in the Cathedral, we headed to the main square, Plaça Del Font (Fountain Square, which really merits its name… see picture below) for a typical Catalan meal. Raul had bulls tail, which I was sceptical about to say the least, but it genuinely tasted really nice! On the way back to the station we stopped and walked around an old Roman aqueduct as well. After a few delays, we got our train back to Barcelona after a lovely day exploring a very cute little town.

The fountain, after which the Placa del Font is named!

The main square

As it was St. Patrick´s Day, Raul and I headed out to meet his Mexican friends from the night before for a few drinks, as we couldn’t let it go uncelebrated, especially with my Irish roots! They were in one of the coolest bars I think I’ve ever seen. It was basically an indoor forest, with little waterfalls and everything. My pictures don’t really do it justice, it´s really cool!! We only stayed until about midnight as I was keen to get a good night’s sleep before starting another week at work the next morning.

After last week, it was nice to be kept busy all weekend, and I was glad that my first impressions of my housemates didn’t seem wrong – although only Raul was in the house that weekend, he had invited me to lots of things and really helped me settle in, which I appreciated a huge amount. Although my Spanish is still getting there, with this many Mexicans around the only way has to be up, so looking forward to progressing with that as well!