Dealing with the change

Not one week passed yet, but I already miss Barcelona and my friends a lot....it is not like that, that I do not feel welcomed or lonely here...in fact I was really happy to see all my friends again...to eat at the cafeteria of my university again....I missed all that a lot when I was in Barcelona...the great food, the people, a hot shower or even heating...it's curious how these simple things come so important to you if you don't have them...but...I would never have thought that I will miss certain things...for example: It is strange, but I miss people talking Spanish on the streets...I just miss it...the sound of the language which became my favorite one. I mean I even thought in Spanish...I dreamed in Spanisch...and even when I wanted to talk in German, Spanish words came out...that is a really strange feeling...to miss a language...to miss the classes in Spanish..I am not actually missing the classes - well, some of them - but I miss being with my class mates, chatting, laughing....I mean they have spent half a year with me! Sharing many great experiences together, which I haven't shared with my friends in Germany...and nobody is here in my city who came back from Barcelona...they are now all over the world...it is just strange...I also miss the city, although I love my hometown. Barcelona is such a great city, with many sights, amazing architecture and so much more!! I just miss the city itself...and I also miss living together with my Spanish friends...it was so funny to cook together, laugh together...I miss my friends from Portugal, who always were sooooo happy and funny people!! I just hope that I will see all my friends soon...so that we can maybe chat about "the old times" ;-)

Goodbye Barcelona - Time of my life

So now it is offical and I can not avoid to think about it: I will leave on tuesday heading back to Germany! Five months!!!!! Where are they? At first I was so afraid of maybe not liking it, feeling lonely every day...and now I have to leave the city where I had the best time of my life!! It was not only an opportunity to get to know a new country, city and culture...it was about getting to know ME! And I have learned so much here! I learned how to take care of myself, away from my family and God knows that I was really afraid of being away from my family...I managed all the stuff from the university and the language...I have worked and studied hard...and I am proud of that! I am proud, that I found the balance! The balance between being a responsable student and enjoying the life here! Every day a new adventure, new people, new things...and I loved every minute of it!! I have met so many nice people here! Some of them became real friends to me and I know our bondage will stand the distance! Actually I would have thought to meet such great persons here!! I did not only meet people to go out and drink something, I really met people who I can trust and who I would love to see again! I am so grateful that I came here...I am grateful that also the people from and around Barcelona integrated me and were such good friends! I never felt alone, I always had someone who was there for me and showed me the city or gave me good advice....I can hardly describe what feelings I have for that country, city and for the people...I know thats sounds stupid, but I opened my heart for this new thing and for this city and I got back sooooo much....

I just had THE  time of my life...five incredible fantastic months...I enjoyed every minute of it and would do it again and again! I can only recommend to do such a thing...and I loved Barcelona...when I leave on tuesday...it will hurt...because Barcelona is now my second home...and the day I will come back here, it will feel like coming home....

THANKS TO ALL OF MY FRIENDS HERE! YOU WERE AMAZING AND NEVER WILL BE FORGOTTEN!

Special thanks to

•  my country "fellow" I have met here ;-) : Franziska, I have met you so late but the last weeks were soooo amazing! Thank you very much for seeing all that fantastic stuff and being such a good friend :-) 
• my flatmates Anna, Maria and Ariana: Thank you for being there for me and for being such good friends! I really like you all a lot and really gonna miss our life together!!!
• my university companions :-) Claudia, Mariana, Jessica and Luca: You are so nice persons and I loved to hang out with you all! I really hope that we will see each other again soon!!

Guide for Barcelona Part 2: Where to live in Barcelona??

I started very soon searching for rooms in Barcelona and I can definitely recommend the following pages to search for rooms: http://www.loquo.com/ and http://www.idealista.com/! But you should also look on facebook because there are also great advertisements of student who search for roommates. (alquilo habitación /busco piso – pisos compartidos en Barcelona → I found my room on this site on facebook). Although they say that you could come to Barcelona without having any place to stay...it is NOT that easy! I have a lot of friends, who did it like this but they were only changing their hostels and searching for rooms and not having a place to stay! So I would recommend it to search before you get here!

Barcelona is an expensive city. But not so expensive that you are not able to find a room for less than 300 € per month! My two rooms that I had in Barcelona cost 270/280 € per month, located in Gracia. The first was a 9m² room with a big bed and closet and was located right next to the Park Güell.The second one was a very big room (16m²) close to the metro station Fontana. So you see that it is possible to find rooms at an acceptable price! If you are searching on the internet, you should definitely search for rooms with pictures, because the Spanish habitants have another way of define „big“ and „sunny“ than we do! There are three different types of rooms: without window, window to a patio (interior) and window to a street (exterior). I would not rent a room without windows, because it is just strange and you will need more electricity and will not feel comfortable. A room „interior“ has the advantage to be quiet, but my experience is, that it also could mean that you have a small window to a very small patio in the middle of a house where they put their clothes. I would definitely prefer a room „exterior“!

There are different parts of Barcelona where it is good to live and not recommendable to live! My favorite parts are Gracia and Eixample! Gracia has a very beautiful neighbourhood with lots of alternative people and great bars and cafes! I lived there and I really loved it! It has everything you need, is very well communicated and the people are very nice and friendly! Eixample is right next to Gracia in the south and is more expensive but also more elegant. It is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Barcelona and lots of the sightseeing spots are located in this part of Barcelona. Les Corts are good for those, who will study at the UB (Universitat de Barcelona) and do not want to live far away from the university. For women I recommend not to live in Raval o Barri Gotic. Of course, there are always advantages and disadvantages of every part of Barcelona!

Guide for Barcelona Part 1: How to get to Barcelona :-D

As my stay here in Barcelona is going to end, I now want to give a few hints to those, who would like to study or live or visit Barcelona! :-) I hope it will be useful for you!

I can recommend you to start as soon as you can to plan your trip/semester/year in Barcelona because it is an expensive city, but you can avoid extra cost through good organization! To get to Barcelona you should use the airport close to Barcelona – Barcelona, El Prat. It is 30 minutes outside of Barcelona and the best way to get to the city. You can also use the airport of Girona, a city which is around two hours away from Barcelona.

I booked my flight on the internet page http://www.fluege.com/ which I can recommend to all the German speaking students, but the website http://www.fly.com/ also offers very cheap flights! It is all about searching a little and you should definitely do it! I can recommend this both sides, but there are still special offers and prices on other websites! So search for it! And do not book your flights separately! Normally it is cheaper to book the combination for getting there and return, than to book only one flight and then – later – the other. And how longer you stay, the cheaper you get the flights! Some of the companies offering a service which is called „Ticket Flex“ or something like this. It costs around 8,00 Euro and when you use this service, you can change your flight for free. I can strongly recommend it, because especially when you do not know when you exams are or if you do not know, how long excactly you want to stay, you can change the date of your flight for free.

Since you get to Barcelona, there is a cheap and very easy way to get to the center of Barcelona: the áerobus. It is a shuttle which transfers the people from the two terminals to the Plaza Catalunya and one tour costs around 5 Euros. After 30 minutes you arrive there (there are other stations like Plaza Espana) and then you can take a cab to your hostel or room (which I recommend to you if you are new to Barcelona and have a heavy suitcase!), they are right in front of the station of the bus. Of course you can also take the metro (Line 1, 3, 6, 7 and connection to the train Renfe).

Josep Maria Jujol and Colònia Güell

It was saturday and again a great day for doing a trip outside of Barcelona! Sun was shining, 23°C, nice people: Let's go! :-) This time our destination was Sant Joan Despí, a small village near Barcelona. You can take the train (Renfe) from Sants Estació to Sant Joan Despí and in 10 minutes you will arrive there! And then, when you leave the train station, you will be right in front of the first building from Josep Maria Jujol - the Torre de la Creu (1913). It is the first property that he built in the town. The design of these two symmetrical houses is based on the intersection of five cylinders that play with the proportions and heights as if the whole was a piece of sculpture with numerous different perspectives. You can visit the interior of this house booking by phone. He was THE student from Gaudi, so it is no surprise that his style has much in common with the design of Gaudi. We visited this building and some other important houses built by Jujol. All of them are of convincing architecture and special design. So for example the Can Negre, an old farmhouse which was remodelled until 1930. Jujol added the garret and created a new facade. The inscription of praise, the sgraffito like a metaphor of a mantle and even the balcony are all part of a hommage to the Virgin Mary.

After this new lesson of culture ;-) we took the bus and the train to Colònia Güell. It was a plant of textiles with houses for their employees because they did not want them to leave the plant, so they built everything what the employees needed: bars, theatre, hospital, church...and the church, how could it be different, was built by Gaudi :-) Unfortunately it was not possible to finish the church, so there is only one part of the church.. however, this part is very impressive too! Gaudi built the church fitting in the landscape with beautiful windows looking like flowers and butterflies...then we took the train back to Barcelona..

It was a great relaxing day with sightseeing, enjoying the warm sun and hanging out with funny people :-) Perfect after all this university stress...

Montserrat and the joy of nature

Last saturday I went to Montserrat which is one and a half hour outside of Barcelona and which is a fantastic mountain, 1200 m high!! It is known for its Benedictine abbey where they host the Virgin of Montserrat. The bus dropped us off right in front of the abbey around half past ten and it was really cold at the beginning...but also very impressive, with all that fogg it seemed like from a fairy tale...once upon a time...well, enough of my romantic waffle ;-) The "funicular" took us up to nearly 1200 m high and there was all the sun!! Wind was quiet fresh but the view was spectacular!!!! High and round rocks like made from Gaudi itself...so unrealistic was it! Absolutely great!! Blue sky, sun shining non-stop and funny, awesome people! Again a great combination! This time we were a group of around 80 people, it was soooo funny!! We walked all the way up to Sant Jeroni and then around the mountains to another peak...well...you should not underestimate hiking! I was lucky to have borrowed real hiking shoes from my room mate ;-) five minutes before reaching the top, I decided to turn back to the abbey...not because I did not like it in the group, but with so many people it is hard to stop for a moment or two and just enjoy the nature around you...and I LOVE to do this...and so I started earlier the way back down to the abbey...and I did not regret it! Once I was far enough away from the group, the silence was overwhelming! I know that it sounds like from a Zen book, but I am just saying what I felt...it was so perfect! The whole way alone...in the almost wild nature with its great trees and its yellow leaves...you could smell the autumn, the earth, the air...once again I stopped and just listened to the silence and sounds of nature...some birds, my breath, my steps...then reaching a point high up on the mountain with a breathtaking view over the valley....normally I am afraid of hight but this...no words...we all should do that more often...being out there...no speaking, just feeling...at least I would recommend it to everyone!

 

Then we visited the abbey together which is very impressive, but we were all very happy to get to the bus because we were all soooooo exhausted!! Incredible what a little bit of hiking, fresh air and sun can do to you!! But although I was the whole sunday exhausted too, it was one of the best trips I made so far!

Weekend with Family, autumn and strange feelings...

Last weekend I visited my family in Germany again, because it was the birthday of my mom and my grandmother. Yes, on the same day ;-) So Friday was my flight to Dresden and I was so excited!! I mean, for two month I did not see my family! Only my mom, when she visited me here in Barcelona...so I was kind of nervous...how will it be like to see my entire family again? Will I feel strange? I have to admit that I felt strange...when I arrived in Dresden and got back to our flat and my room..everything seemed so..familiar...It was like I have never been to Barcelona..like none of this happened..very strange feeling! But I lovveeeeed being there!! Especially because the weather was sooo nice this weekend! Sun, not too cold and these beautiful golden, yellow and red trees!!! I loooove autumn like this! We drove to a little village half an hour outside from Dresden and on this way we drove through beautiful colourful forests! It looks like you turned on a special light..but it is only the colour of the leaves that are making it so special! I just love it!

Then, together with my family, I felt good, but...strange at the same time...It is hard to explain...Family means everything to me, so thats why I felt so good and happy..but I also saw myself outside of my family...like I was a stranger or at least a observer...was a strange feeling...moreover, I was kind of missing Barcelona, which was also new to me. I mean, I love to travel but I like the feeling of coming home... but this time it was like I was away from home...I think it just means that from now on I have two homes...there are two hearts beating in my chest...a Spanish and a German one...what a combination...I am curious if the Spanish one was there before getting to Spain...

Gaudí and Family ...

Although I said that I am surprised that I don't miss anything from Germany...well..to see my mom again was sooooooooo great!! I don't have to mention that it was definitely a very emocional moment for us both ;-) I was really happy to see her again and not having to talk to her through Skype! Although I have to say that Skype is such a relief if you are away from your family and want to talk to them as often as possible! So, the same day I got back from Zaragoza, my mom and a friend arrived. They only stayed until tuesday, so I wanted to show them as much of the city as possible! For the first time of my life, I was the BOSS :-D I was the person, who knows the place and it's surroundings! This is my territory :-D At the beginning, my mom had to get used to it, but I think all mothers are like this: Oh, my little child, in such a big city....but it really felt great to be the guide and to show them my favorite places :-)

Our weekend together seemed to me like: Following the steps of Gaudí...because it was definitely one of the most impressing things for them to see his architectural masterpieces: Park Güell, Casa Mila and Casa Batllo...one advantage to be with your family is that they want to pay everything for you within these days ;-) So they really wanted to go inside of these two houses of Gaudí and I am so grateful that they took me there! I only saw and admired the houses from the outside, but you definitely miss such impressing views if you don't go inside! Well, to pay 15 euro to visit one house makes it an expensive event but DEFINITELY worth it! If you want to visit the Casa Mila, I can recommend you to choose the short tour of half an hour (if you want to see many things a day and have a full shedule) because it is full of information but you can still processing it ;-) The first house we visited was Casa Mila. Wow! I mean every little detail is the result of hard work during weeks and months! And if I say EVERY detail, then I mean every detail! There was nothing left to chance..it is a big, absolutely harmonic composition! They say, both houses are houses, that want to be touched..and you should definitely do it! Feeling the wood, the ergonomically designed chairs, door pulls and hand rails...everything was designed to fit perfectly in your hand...impressing! In fact, Gaudí designed everything, from the layout of the flats to the chair in the living room! And all of his designed houses are miracles of saving energy! I ask myself why is there no person who can build houses like this anymore? It is really a shame...After visiting the two houses we got home full of wonderful impressions...to experience such things together makes it twice as good!

Zaragoza and Lleida - Part 2

The trip to Zaragoza and Lleida was full of experiences and exciting things, so here is the second part! We left Lleida heading to Zaragoza...unfortunately the sky turned more and more dark and cloudy, so as we arrived in Zaragoza, the inevitable happened: RAIN!!! At first we thought: hey, some rain will not kill us! Moreover we were visiting that fantastic arabic palace called Aljafería! From the outside you could think it looks more like a Germanic castle but as we got inside....WOW...like you would imagine the palace of the Arabian Nights!! Great architecture with lots of squiggled pillars, which are surrounding the oasis of this palace: the garden! Rows of perfectly trimmed orange trees, hydrated by hidden waterpipelines! Such gardens were the symbol of prosperity and immortality and still are today...I must not mention that I was really impressed....as we left and started to walk to the center of Zaragoza, we noticed that "some rain" turned out to be changing into the Niagara Falls! We were forced to wait in the hallway of some houses and were joking around like: We have alcohol, we are in a dry place, lets have the party here! But all the laughing did not change a thing...it was raining and raining and raining....actually it did not stop for the rest of the night...so we just had to walk through all the water and were happy to arrive at the Basilica of Pilar. It was definitely worth it to go there because it is an impressive building! After visiting the cathedral and waiting outside in rain, we decided to not wait any longer in the cold and search for cosy place. Finally we found a Guiness and were all happy to sit there and relax. Was really funny though, because as the waiter asked us, what we would like to order, the following conversation was created:

I:              Could I have some tea, please?

Waiter:     What???? We do not have tea! Next!

Iryna:        Could I have Sangria?

Waiter (with a face of "you got to be kidding me"): WHAT? We do not have sangria! Next!

Next friend: What about cava??

Waiter (with open mouth and staring at us): What do you think were you are??????? :-)

Ok..finally we ordered beer, but hey, he made me a tea ;-) It was really funny and the Spanish guys all laughed ;-)

It was a great trip again!! Next one please :-)

Zaragoza and Lleida

Just another great trip to Spanish cities!!! Well, to get up so early sucks a little bit but hey... ;-) again I did this trip with the "Weekend Out Barcelona" group and again super satisfied! I mean: to meet nice, funny people coming from the whole world, worry-free travel, free buffet and seeing the most interesting cities? For me it is the best way to travel...ok but further...like usual, we started in Barcelona in the morning, first direction: Lleida. It is a nice, little city approximately two hours from Barcelona, which may not be so exciting and "metropolitan" but which is nevertheless an interesting city to visit, with a lot of historical backround. I really liked it! Mainly we visited the Cathedral of Lleida, which was built up on a hill and is again an impressing example of architecture! At least for fans of historical buildings like churches and cathedrals :-) We climbed all the stairs of the Tower - oh yes, we did! And as we climbed the last, we faced the fantastic view over Lleida! It was worth the sweating! After all that sport we needed something to eat of course! So the bus took us to a big restaurant with a big buffet. We all were starving, so we raided the buffet like a pride of leons ;-) It was pretty good! To be continued...

Tossa de Mar and more...

I know that I should write more often but there are so many things happening here that I just go to bed so tired every day...tired but always very happy!! I had again an awesome weekend! Absolutely incredible! On saturday we went to Tossa de Mar, a little village, two hours away from Barcelona. I went there with a group of other Erasmus students and the guys who are organizing such trips. After a bus trip of two hours we arrived at Tossa de Mar. It is a really cute, little village with a little "castle" and alleys with lots of restaurants and cafes...I really love that alleys in mediterrean cities and villages!! Just love it! And we also had luck with the weather: 25°C and sun shining :-) We had a quick lunch - quick, because it took so long to get our meals that we had to hurry to get to the ship we booked ;-) - and were picked up by a little ship. After a short trip through incredible blue water, we arrived at the beach we wanted to stay for a few hours. Oh my god that was great!! Blue, clear water and lying there on the beach!! Absolutely fantastic! It is October and we were lying there on the beach with bikinis on and enjoying the sun!! Thats what I call Erasmus life :-)

The sunday was nearly as good as the saturday! It was even warmer and we went to the beach of Barcelona to watch the "Espectaculo Aéro", which is a show of  planes and helicopters..well the show was a little bit boring, but it was really cool to hang out with the guys from the day before and again enjoying the sun!! I LOVE the beach!! :-)

And I am excited about the next trip I will make this saturday: Zaragoza and the "Fiesta of Pilar"!! Discovering the next part of Spain!! :-)

La Mercé

Today and the last two days I participated in the wonderful festival of Barcelona, also called "La Mercé". It is celebrated to honour the patrons of the city. There are a lot of organized parties, special events, fireworks and much more! It was sooooo awesome!!! Today I saw the best firework ever! Sitting right on the beach watching it so close surrounded by a huge crowd of people! It was absolutely amazing! It was the last of three fireworks, organized like challenge between Canada, France and Valencia. The last one tonight was Valencia and it really was the best of all! It was like a miracle! Like stars falling from the sky! I totally loved it!! It was one of these moments, which are so perfect that you wish, they would go on forever! Barcelona is an absolutely amazing city..with every day I fall in love a little bit more...Yesterday we went to the beach, walking bare-footed through the water and feeling the sand between our toes! I mean..in Germany they are all freezing right now and I am walking on the beach!! :-) Definitely a great feeling that has to be repeated! There are so many things that I experienced the last days...sometimes I don't have words for it..just: WOW!! I always wanted to study in the winter season somewhere with palmtrees :-) And now I am really doing it! Another little dream came true! But, what I maybe like the most are my new friends. There are soooo awesome! Funny, friendly, open-minded and sincere! I really like them and enjoying it to study with them in such a overwhelming city! I really could write a novel about everything I experienced here...there are soo many details that are totally fascinating! I am glad that I have more time to discover the historical and cultural secrets of that city!