Christmas market

Me and my flatmates thought to take a walk into town to visit the Christmas market here. I read somewhere online that it is one of the best in Europe. So, I had to go check it out for myself and also I wanted to see if I could buy my family something for Christmas.

Here are a few photos from my trip to the market, I walked around a lot today. The Christmas lights here are fantastic, I got quite distracted by them. I guess it makes up for not having any 'trick or treaters' on Halloween....or fireworks night. I have well and truly felt left out this year. I picked up a few good things from the market, a table decoration for 12 Euros, a pretty handmade pendant for 15 Euros and a Christmas stocking for 12 Euros. All in all, its relatively well priced and reasonable. Defiantly worth going to because you can get some really lovely stocking fillers for your family here and its all locally made. I really like the idea of buying local produce/products.

A new project on Eco Fashion...

I've not long come back from class, where I have been set another two projects, the main project is on Designing a garment that is inspired by eco friendly design. The side project is creating a fashion film. Both projects are set to run through Christmas and into the new year, this has both positives and negatives. The positive is that I will be able to work on my project at home using my machine, which is slightly more reliable than the ones I have been using out here. But then the negative being the fact I will be working all through the Christmas break, and this means that I wont be spending as much time having fun with my family. Something which has become increasingly difficult for me during my time out here, I miss them so much, and even though we have modern technology like FaceTime and Skype, its not the same as seeing them all face to face. Its only a couple of weeks and I will be home, I keep trying to remind myself.

This post was looking a bit bare, so instead of making a new post, I thought that I would just update this one. In my last class I had to come with three ideas for what area of Eco Design I would look into for my project. I proposed three ideas to my lecturer, the ideas that I presented were, Biodegradable dress, jewellery made from cable ties or reinvented clothing from charity shops. My lecturer preferred my last idea and to be honest, so did I, its more fun. At least I can go a bit crazy with the design. So anyway, in preparation for the class tomorrow, I have put together some inspiration on a board, that's the photo above. And I also designed a quick outfit, its only a very basic sketch but you can get the idea, I think I may use shirts to create the whole outfit, even the skirt, I will take different parts of them and make a new item, and I will do all of this with making sure that I do not waste any fabric in the process. This will keep well within the idea of Eco friendly fashion. This project will be very similar to a project that I have worked on before. Only the errors I made in the last one, I will rectify for this time around. Oh and the sketch that I did underneath, I have already changed my mind about it, I will still present it to my lecturer tomorrow, but I will be sure to be spending the whole weekend re-designing. I think the general idea of the design I have just done it way too boring and plain.

Project hand in and presentation in front of the whole class...

 

 

I was not too sure what to expect by walking into the classroom for my presentation today, as it's very clear to me that the students do things quite differently here. When you are used to doing things one way, it's a rather awkward feeling when you bring work that is totally different to anyone else's. Lucky for me, I didn't go first this time. During the past couple of weeks I have ben asking to look at other peoples' work, just to get some sort of rough idea of what kind of presentation is expected of me. I am used to portraying my ideas through materials, fabrics and imagery alone. Taking inspirations from various areas of design, almost everything but fashion. Here, they seem to like writing. For me this is difficult because I believe if you need to explain your ideas and thoughts then you haven't done very good research. But hey, I gave it a shot anyway, so this explains why this work is so different to things I would normally produce back home.

Then the poem that I remember from when I was younger, this inspired my design process, I thought, how could I take elements of this poem and turn them into a garment, by thinking of this it drew me on to other ideas,

Then I started on my mood boards and collecting images that I can use for inspiration. I would say that they are fairly self explanatory.

After my mood boards, I started to look and May queen inspired fashion, viewing some items by Dolce&Gabanna, and some fashion photography.

Then I remembered the Edinburgh Fire Festival, and how they feature several may queens in the display each year. I decided this was very relevant to my project and I loved the embroidery on the garments and the way the embroidered flowers only run along the bottom of the dresses, keeping the may queen in a way still traditional in the sense she is wearing mostly pale white. This then lead me onto the idea of maybe not hand embroidering the whole dress, maybe just the bottom, putting a modern twist on the traditional dress.

And now the 8 'looks' that I had to design for the 'May Queen' collection. I  don't think I have ever used such an awful mix of colours for designing before, but hey, it fits what I want it to do, so that's all that matters. This is another that I have noticed, I do things totally different, where I draw all of my illustrations myself, on the computer using various software packages, the students over here, they just take an image from a catwalk show of a model, they then draw the garment on over the top. But I really don't like this way of doing illustrations, it feels like cheating, but not in a good way either, they look like an obviously drawn on item, so really, you may as well draw the whole thing. I don't understand why not.

This was my technical drawing of my final garment. As you can see, I have changed my idea quite a lot throughout the project, I did try to do the PVC basket weave over the top of the garment, but due to lack of resources out here, and substandard machinery, I couldn't stitch the PVC together. I had to make a quick change of mind. no I knew that I wanted to use the PVC, I had to because it was the whole idea of using a modern material to represent a traditional technique. I made the decision to cut the PVC into really tiny strips getting larger at the ends and cut into shapes that represent leaves. and use the strips to make straps and shoulder decorations, and I have to say, I am very glad that I was forced to change my idea, because in hindsight, the PVC covering the entire white dress, would have been too much, and all I wanted it for was the representation of a thought.

Then came my embroidery research. I had to look at ways I could make this really beautiful but with as little time taken as possible, having done hand embroidery for many years, I know just how long certain things can take, and realistically, I am working to a very tight deadline here.

Then I was actively trying out a few techniques,  one that I have done many times before, it involves painting around the embroidery and making a smaller amount of work look much bigger, and I needed this because I was running out of time.

And here is how the bottom of the dress looked with all the embroidery and painting complete, and also where I sampled the transparency of the PVC before attempting the obviously impossible with the machines to hand.

These are the photographs from the photoshoot that I did, ok, they were fairly rubbish, but it was my intention to alter them so much that it really didn't matter about the background more about the light direction

Guess what? More problems...then a design breakthrough!

So my phone charger broke, in very predictable style of all apple products, for about 2 weeks I've been coping with my DIY jobby of stripping back the wires, twisting them together and hoping for the best...and up until now, this had been working just fine. So off the the apple store I go, feeling so poorly I had taken the day off uni, which is something I never do, I woke with aching in my whole body and feeling dizzy. 40€!!! For a charger!!! I feel like I've been robbed. This is probably why I exited the store and nearly passed out, the metro ride home was hell, it was so stuffy and hot, I made it home, just. Then slept for 12 hours straight, as I type this blog post I am still in bed. This is two days later! I just hope I'm well enough for Tuesday because I have history class then...

And not to forget the bunch of other work I have to do for Disseny de Moda projects...an update on that....I have developed my concept into a fairly good Idea I think anyway, I really love it...so much so that I intend on making the garment to my size so that I can wear it when finished with the project. The project will be based around May Day celebrations in engalnd. And a particular poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) called The May Queen. It really has captured my imagination for this garment and for the whole collection that will be designed based around it. I have presented my idea to my lecturer and he likes it, so now I have less than two weeks to get the entire project done. Made dress, and designed collection of 8 looks. Oh and also a description of the base of my project. The image above is a rough sketch of my design, its not finished and mega scrappy, I know. But at least I have my design down. There will be a plain beige cotton slip underneath that I intend on hand embroidering with a floral design to represent the May Day celebrations. The colourful structure surrounding it will be a PVC weave, basically strips of PVC hand woven together like a basket. This will represent the May pole. I am trying to take an old tradition and modernise it. So far, I think it works.

A short visit to Tibidabo

A few days ago I decided to take a short trip to Tibidabo, because in the two months since I've been here, I haven't actually done that much sightseeing. 

I took the metro to plaça catalunya and then switched to the train that goes to Tibidabo. From there I took the bus that stops directly up from where you exit the metro. I think it was number 96. But just ask at one of the stalls to the left of the metro...that's what I did haha. The bus takes you right to the funicular, then you have to pay 7.70€ I believe for a return ride up the mountain.

There is a beautiful church at the top of mount Tibidabo called Sagrat Cor, and to take an elevator up to the top it costs 2.50€ but really worth it because the view from up there will take your breath away. There are quite a few narrow stairs to climb to get right up and underneath the Jesus statue like I did, so be sure to take sensible shoes! And the exact height at where I was standing was 564.43m. The air is so fresh from this height. I didn't spend too long here though, the more I looked down the more nauseous I became. 

The fair looks straight out of the 50's era, with 50's songs playing through the park. I went for a little walk around and suggest you do the same, I suppose this is me missing the English countryside. But with all the stress and worry I have been going though with university and worry of how things are back home, it was so nice to just unwind for the day and forget all my troubles. Much like what I do back home. 

There is fantastic architecture here, something to do for the children, even a little area of wooden climbing frames and slides. Take a picnic and have it with your family in the park. It's a great family day out for all! 
 

What am I doing here?

 

This week has been somewhat difficult, I attended my 'Taller de Moda' class, with uncertainty as to my continuation with the class, or if I would look to swap to the 'Disseny de Moda' class which is less practical and more conceptual, like project work, also looking into trends. I presented my work and ideas for my collection, however throughout the class we were advised that a complete look has to be completed in toile by the following Monday, this just seemed such a jump up from the very basic ideas and research that I and everyone else had done, and I kept considering the amount of other work that I had to complete for the other modules. I had made my decision to swap. I had so much other things to do and revision for my history exam coming up soon, translating all the Catalan notes, doing all my pattern cutting classes, which is really hard to focus on because it is taught so differently here, then throw in a whole much of language problems I have, oh and not to forget textiles and a giant book I need to make full of knitting samples. Theory exams to go with that! I don't want to create bad work and I feel that if I am over rushed then my work will be substandard, so the swap was entirely necessary. In the photo above you can see some of my pattern cutting work, with some pages photographed from a really interesting book that one of the students had, called 'Pattern Magic' I must buy this book ASAP so that I can learn more of the tricks. There is also one of my toiles for a pair of overly baggy trousers with a skirt that I altered from a classic trouser pattern. It didn't really work so I turned it into a catsuit...as you do. 

The above photograph is proof of how late I arrive home...I pass the Torre Agbar every night when I come home from uni, it's so beautiful, I had to take a quick snap of this. The same day I went in search for fabrics to make another pair of trousers with a geometrical pattern. I discovered a great store nearby called 'Stocks Textiles' it's in Poble Nou. They have some lovely fabrics there and at a reasonable price. Because it's so close this will come in handy for me. I noticed most the well priced tweeds, I know I'm on a budget but I would really love to make some tweet classic pants in a toile....then maybe take them home and wear them. It seems a waste to make my toiles in calico right now...or maybe I just want more clothes for my wardrobe ha! And as you can see by the photographs of the pattern cutting, it's all from scratch. No blocks, really technical. Hard but I feel like I'm learning a good skill here...providing my Spanish improves and it starts sinking in finally! 

These mood boards were what I prepared for my new class on Friday, the one that I swapped to. I am fully aware that I am playing catch up here and I have a lot of work to do. The class is 3 weeks ahead of me, but even with all the work I have to do, I still tried to get some basic concepts and ideas together. Basically what I have to do for one part of the class is to create a final item of clothing influenced my a tradition that has become less popular, take it and reinvent it in a modern way. If that be a textile technique or taking inspiration from a festivity or event itself and working that into a modern fashion concept. I have to say that this really does sound interesting and fun as a project brief. I wanted it to also be something more personal to me, so I chose the English tradition of Morris dancing. Specifically during the event of May Day. 

I presented these two boards to my lecturer and he liked the idea. Obviously I am playing catch up and need to have way more work for next week with fabric samples of what I wish to do for my final garment. But all this aside it went well. And since speaking with my lecturer, I have thought of brining in embroidery, and using the idea of the May Queen wearing such a pale white dress, embroiling this dress with flowers from the celebrations, using PVC strips and weaving them into the white, giving a semi transparent image of the embridary below. In my head it looks brilliant, but it's hard for me to describe. When I get my act together with this I will post up some designs. 

Also for the class we have another project working in groups and we will work on trends, every group has been given a different fashion capital to base trend research on. For this my group, we are working on trends for S/S 2015 New York. This is the time I really could do with assess to WGSN. It would make life a lot easier for me, but oh well...another  challenge ahead...now we shall see if the trend forecasting events really help (I'm sure they do because they were so interesting!) the test of my trend knowledge eeeekk!! 

During the weekend I have had a homesick moment. That lasted the entire weekend. It involved me sitting in my apartment, moping. Seriously the whole weekend. I think that I was so traumatised by the busy weeks of highs and lows that I started losing faith in my abilities. Most days, I leave my apartment at 8am and I don't return home until 9pm. It's really really tough and has an effect on me mentally and phisically. I feel like a zombie. I am so frustrated with myself for not picking things up instantly, I'm letting it get to me way too much. Also it doesn't help that I miss my family, I didn't think that it would effect me like this, I thought that I was strong enough to be away from home for any amount of time. But I'm not, I guess it's fine when you're having fun, but when you're not, you just want some friendly faces around.  FaceTime doesn't seem enough right now...but who am I kidding? As if I would get any time to spend with friends or family if they did come to visit. 

I hope for a more productive and happier week starting tomorrow. I think I've sorted my head out for now. It's a challenge and I don't quit, it may be hard but I must keep going just to prove to myself that I can live in a beautiful hell and come out the other end. Quitters doing get far in life. I must keep going.

All work and no sleep...

I have been here since the 3rd September, during this short time I have noticed something..... I can't tolerate fake niceties and small talk. I especially don't like people who disagree for the sake of disagreeing. Children pretending to be adults and trying to come across as they know more of a subject than you, even when it's what you have been studying and working as for the past 7 years. And it comes to the point of not giving a damn to correct their misguided views, nor their manners.

Yes, today has been a bad day...I went to my class where I am working on the collection for Desigual, I had done so much work over the weekend, so much that I was very sure I had a good concept. The homework was to research into different printing techniques. And dying or what pre printed fabric I wanted, suitable for the final design for a whole look. So I did all this and 6 slightly different designs for this one look, however, because my Spanish is crap, I couldn't explain that back home we don't  just do one design...there is a process if development, something which here it doesn't seem told hold much importance . The lecturer told me the designs were very similar, but I hadn't yet got to the final design here, it's unnatural for me to pluck designs from minimal inspiration and research. This was my development process. Anyway, the long and short of it, I am feeling distressed, frustrated at my lack of Spanish vocabulary, the fact I am having to relearn all the pattern cutting I have done back in England in this Barcelona way....which is about 10 times harder. I want to go home. 

The lecturer wants a whole look made in toile by Mondays lesson with accessories, and also any printing done. Today is the day I decided that I will drop this class and take the fashion design projects instead. The main reason is that I'm on a budget, I can't afford this amount of fabric. I have already spent 2400€ since I've been here...buying materials, new pattern-masters, scissors, pens, paper, a new tablet because mine broke and I really depend on it, bed sheets, towels....you know....basically everything I could have brought with me but I decided to opt for a larger collection of different outfits to wear while I'm here...this is a problem with all fashion students. We love clothes more than perhaps more necessary items 

 

I had a textiles class today and I'm learning how to make jumpers out of wool with a knitting machine. In my English uni, we don't have these. We have a whole bunch of other stuff like laser cutters and sonic welders. Which I am so grateful I have assess to because when I tell the students here what I have at my uni the general reaction is one of amazement at how modern we are in Coventry. It is important to learn as many different crafts as possible, so even though its completely new to me at least I am gaining knowledge in other areas.

 

Another week of uni passes and I'm tired

For this week I needed to have some mood boards ready for my Desigual collection. I decided to look into what Desigual is about, what it portrays....happiness, freedom, expression, exotic colours and moods and I also looked into the patterns, their prints are amazing. And fabric print is something I really enjoy creating. So then I looked into history and what I can take from this, with the intention of brining it into future concepts. I focused on Russian traditional dress, and here are my mood boards for this

In Monday I showed these to the class, unlucky for me the lecturer made me go first. This was awkward for me, not because I'm afraid to speak in front of people but more because I didn't have any idea of what kind of work the others had done and if I was on the right track or had gone way off. I've learnt very quickly that the students have a different way of working here, very good, but very different to how I have learnt to do things back home. I've basically done mood boards as I would for a project back home, and I was so nervous thinking 'please like it'. After my presentation the whole class clapped me, and this put my mind at rest instantly. There were a few problems showing my work through the computer they had in the room because illustrator wasn't installed on it and it couldn't read 'ai' files, I had to show it from my laptop. The others had saved their work to 'pdf' format. I need to keep this in mind for the future. As I sat there watching the other students' presentations, yeah sure mine was quite different, mine were mood boards consisting of only images that set me mood and inspiration, whereas the others had selected catwalk images, styles and a lot of writing contained in the presentation boards. With several different concepts but not a lot of work on each, more like a taster of each idea. I probably should have done this rather than go straight in deciding on Russia. There was a process behind my decision but maybe I should have shown this. I'm sure I can relate some of my thought process later on. 

For class next week I've been told to bring 5 items of my clothing because we are going to have a fun lesson with clothing manipulation. Also I need to work on selecting some images and making them into print designs, looking into print processes and thinking about which fabrics I would like to use for my final collection...wow this project is moving fast, though to be expected, I need to have my collection completely finished by January when I come back. I like that I'm being pushed, but I know I will have many crying episodes along the way! 

For Thursday I needed to have a pair of Desigual style trousers toiled up with pattern obviously, I'm sure the last time I made trousers was in the first year, and being honest, I HATE making trousers, because I always mess up the pattern and stitch the zipper wrong. Now I'm being told to alter the standard classic trouser to a Desigual style trouser, on my own and make it without help. As you can imagine I was terrified. Worked on the pattern Monday and Tuesday, I was sure it was wrong. Made it on Wednesday. My sewing was diabolical, quite possibly the worst I've even done, but in my defence, the machines in the uni are old versions of the ones I use back home, back home they have an underneath thread cutter, with a computer operated pad to change the speed of the machine. The ones here have neither of these things, with a nasty habit of unthreading all the time. What shoddy work I did took me about 4 hours, when back home it would have been perfect looking. And done within an hour. I will never ever moan about the machines back home again! And obviously come class on Thursday, I find out that my trousers were rubbish and not at all in the style of Desigual (kinda expected that one though) I wasn't the only one, apparently everyone's trousers were awful. And for next week I have to make another pair of trousers. Oh well. Let's hope I get it right this time! 

My induction week at university...

Wow, ok, I don't really know what has hit me this week. My induction week that I fully expected to be fun and easy, lazy and laid back...has been quite possibly the hardest week of my educational life. I will now bullet point things that I want to refer back to so that I don't get caught in a rant!

• I am trying to locate my classrooms and get lost
•  I need to fill in a form from the uni to obtain a certificate to take to the police station and get an NIA...but the form is in Catalan, and my translator is shit. 
•  I have fashion history class in Catalan 
• I have to design and make a collection for Desigual by the end of Christmas 
• After that I will be designing and making a collection of my choice for the final part of this module, finishing in June. 
•  In my pattern cutting class I am learning the very techinal side of building patterns from scratch

 Now the more positive things...

•  All my lecturers are lovely!
• The university had a welcome party for all of us 
•  I realise that this year will be tough, these guys produce so much work, but I know that I will learn so much.
•  I am gaining a new perspective on things
•  My Spanish is improving, and will only improve more as I go along 
•  I have made lots of Catalan friends, they have helped me so much already, they are so very kind and have made me feel like a part of this great big design family.

These are a few snaps of my first week, what the studios look like, what the reception building looks like and the bottom left is what the start of the welcome party looked like. It started off quite sophisticated until the vodka guns came out!

 

And the photos above are of Friday night at El Bosc de les fades and some Irish bar off La Rambla, at this point I was looking slightly worse for wear after having too many drinks at the earlier uni party. The slightly more beautiful photos were taken at an art exhibition, in a gorgeous building near the metro stop universitat. It had the most beautiful gardens, I couldn't stop taking photos...I've missed the English countryside since being here (which is strange because I always complain about my area back home, I didn't appreciate the quietness and farms, now I miss them) and Barcelona city centre isn't very green, so to see this was a treat. There were local artists and designers selling clothing, jewellery, prints and illustrations. I couldn't resist this really unusual dress, of course it's black...like most of my clothing. Photo to follow, it's too late to get out of bed and take one. I have uni tomorrow...and I'm about to present some of my initial ideas for my first collection here, it's a live project set by Desigual, 6 outfits of womens wear...motto being 'happy' and apart from my work generally being the opposite of happy...I feel challenged but this is a good challenge, I need to be forced out of my comfort zone. I have decided to look at Russian tradition for my inspiration. So wish me luck for tomorrow, I have no idea if they will love it or hate it and my self doubt is creeping.

Sitges

Yesterday, me and my friends went to the town called  Sitges, its about 30minutes in the train to get there from Barcelona. We left our apartment for midday and caught the blue line metro to 'Sants  estació', this is the biggest station in Barcelona and you can catch the train from here to other zones in Barcelona, though be aware if you are travelling more than one zone, then you can't use your T-10 metro ticket that I mentioned before. You must go to the ticket booth in Sants and get another ticket specific to your journey, the ticket machines can be converted into English via the little flag icons on the bottom right hand side of the screen. The price was 8.30€ for a return journey, which is so good comparing it to train prices in the UK! Anyway, you don't mind paying out some money if you get to experience a nice place that you haven't been to before.

As you can see, Sitges is a very beautiful town, as you walk towards the beach from the train station, just follow all the people for the direction. You will see lots of charming little stores, noticeable much cheaper than the ones so often seen in Barcelona. I fully intend to return to Sitges with more money so that I can buy some clothing here. Today was just a trip to the beach...that was my intention anyway. The beach was perfect, very clean although quite busy, but yesterday (11 September) is a national holiday here, with many taking to the streets of Barcelona to take part in a demonstration pro Catalan independence, its called  Diada Nacional de Catalunya (the national day of catalonia) . I have been in Barcelona before when this demonstration has been on. Though never actually been anywhere near the centre when its been happening. The people form a human chain in the shape of a V. I'm generally not too good with crowds of people. And I was told that last year, more than one million people took to the streets to show support. Maybe even more people this year and with all the excitement building up to the Scottish referendum. From what I have been told, that many people of Barcelona look up to the Scottish as this is where we want to be, to be finally given a vote on if they want to be a part of Spain or an independent country of Catalunya. I find this politics and history very interesting and I love hearing peoples' opinions about this. Admittedly I don't know very much about this, I will have to find out more as I go along my journey here.

Be very careful not to miss the last train back to Barcelona, me and my friend were having some drinks in one of Sitges' fantastic gay bars, thinking that we had lots of time left and that the last train would be around midnight. We were very wrong, the last train was at 10:36, we ran all the way to the train station, making it for 10.36 dead on but the train had already left the station. We then had to pay 63€ to get a taxi back to Barcelona. the trains coming from Barcelona to Sitges run until 12 midnight, however the other way they stop early at 10:36, it doesn't really seem fair, but that's life I suppose, just make sure that you don't get caught out like we did!

 

Evening drinks and language exchange

Wednesday evening, me and my roommate went to a bar called 'Juanita Lala', we ordered two litres of sangria at 9€ per litre. She suggested this place because sometimes there are language exchange meetings held here, how perfect is that hey?..free language lessons and an excellent way to meet new people. Although, I think she got the night wrong and there was nobody there for language exchange. We spoke a little with two local women who were really lovely and we did a bit of language exchange with them. What I have learnt about speaking a language that isn't native to you, it can be difficult because of mainly confidence issues and for a long time this is what has held me back. I didn't want to speak in Spanish to anyone because I was embarrassed that my pronunciation was wrong, that I've conjured a sentence all backwards. But if you don't try then you will never gain the confidence in ever speaking it, and then what's the point in learning another language in the first place?
Check out: http://www.loquo.com/intercambio-de-idiomas/barcelona/
and have a look on facebook, there are plenty of groups on here that regularly meet for language exchange, type in the search bar: Intercambio idiomas Barcelona
 

A friendly face in Barcelona

Yesterday my mum came to visit me, she only came for 4.5 hours because she is on a P&O cruise, travelling around the meditaranian. I took her to a place called El Bosc de les fades, it's opposite the wax museum and just off a side street at the bottom of Las Ramblas. It's a lovely bar and restaurant that isn't very pricey, perfect location, being as it's just off Las Ramblas, you'd expect it to be much more expensive. It has a water feature and spooky looking trees with lanterns hanging from them. This place would be perfect for Halloween. If you go in the evening and are easily frightened, I do warn you to watch out for the giant dead looking guy, he creeps up behind you and loves frightening tourists (as a part of the attraction obviously). Also, this bar has a very dark interior and poorly lit, of you have an iphone, make use of the touch function here, especially when going into the back room. I highly recommend this bar, it's somewhere you must visit while here in Barcelona.

 

 

The photographs above are of me and my mum at some restaurants and walking about in the centre of Barcelona.

 

These photographs were taken outside El Bosc de les Fades, unfortunately I couldn't get any of the inside of the bar because the flash on my iPhone has been playing up and likes to paint my photos white?

 

 

And we also visited La Boqueria, this is another place you must visit while in Barcelona, its a giant market that sells fruit, ham, fish, alcohol, chocolate and pretty much any food you could want and my favourite...SWEETS!! and lots of them, all different sorts, and they are very beautiful, I kept looking at the cute little marzipan animals, however these were priced at 27.50euros for a Kg. Now I'm not too sure just how much a Kg is, but seeing as I can put on a Kg in weight in an afternoon, I'm guessing its not that much...therefore...not many sweets! My mum bought me some fruit from one of the stalls, they came in a little A5 size treys with a plastic fork, two treys for 4euros, which is a very good price, the fruit was lovely, a selection of dragon fruit, mango, kiwi, grapes, strawberries and different types of melon. Very refreshing if you've been shopping all day! The stall was called Vidal Pons and their business has been established since 1897.

 

 

Can you spot Marilyn waving to me? The above two photographs were taken walking down Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is lovely, it gets very busy with all the tourists milling about, but there is a lot to see and do. I like to hear all the different languages, because this place attracts tourism from all over the world. And you'll see why when you visit. I must warn you though, be careful, always watch your bags and belongings, its very easy for pickpockets to take things out of your bag if you are not being careful. Just to put this into perspective, I've only been here a week and I've seen people panicking after having just had money or a camera stolen. Ok so these did happen on the metro and one occasion two German tourists had money taken, they didn't even know until they were at the exit of the metro, I was with my roommate who is German, she translated what they were saying for me, the gentleman had one of these 'bumbags' on or I believe 'fannypacks' in American. the theif has just unzipped the front and very easily took all his money, he also had his passport in there, he was very lucky not to have that taken too. It sounds silly but the amount of tourists I see wearing these things is incredible, please be aware if you walk around with a fannypack or a camera around your neck, you are a target and also a very easy one at that.

 I will blog more specifically about thieves on the metro and around Las Ramblas in due course. Don't let the worry of being robbed ruin your time in Barcelona, its a fantastic city and with the most beautiful welcoming people. If you are aware of the thieves and know how to protect your things, you'll be fine. In all my time spent in Barcelona over the years, I've never been robbed. Though I know many people who have been.

 

 

Here I am with my roommates...This was taken on my friends' phone, inside El bosc de las fades...her flash worked, and probably the last time it worked...for her anyway. She had fallen victim to this street crime. She left her bag unattended on Barceloneta beach, only for a few moments, it couldn't have been longer than a minute. But that's all it takes, about 10 minutes later after we had been searching desperately in the sand one of the guys that sells beer on the beach said he found it and handed it over to her, she immediately checked the contents of her bag, everything apart from her house keys and rail pass were taken. She didn't have much money, probably only 5euros, but it was gone and along with her mobile phone. More than likely the guy that 'found' the bag was the guy that stole its contents.

 

 

 

 

 

My apartment

About a month before I arrived in Barcelona I started looking for an apartment to rent. I didn't want to leave it until the last minute and then find myself flying out to Barcelona with nowhere to live. I wasn't too sure of where to look other than do a google search for 'rent apartment in Barcelona', so I asked my friend who has been living in Barcelona for the past 3 years, I figured that she'd have a much better idea. She gave me some websites:

www.enalquiler.com

www.idealista.com

www.loquo.com
 

And she also told me to go check out a site http://movingtobarcelona.com/accommodation.shtml This site is really good for advice about coming to live in Barcelona.

During my search through all the rental sites mentioned above, I got a bit annoyed because everything was so expensive and way out of my price range. I decided to turn to Facebook, I thought to myself 'there must be plenty of groups on Facebook for apartment rentals, especially Erasmus pages', I did find a few Erasmus pages and yes...they did have rentals, however, most of the pages are companies that then require searching fees and all sorts of admin costs, basically they make money from you being desperate to find an apartment , one particularly sticks in my mind where they were offering a 'amazing offer of 15€  and they will send you a list of 10 available apartments that fit your criteria' What a rip off, you can find apartments yourself! So I went on, determined to find somewhere, I came across an apartment in one of the free advertising Facebook pages for Erasmus, and it looked a bit rough, but it was within my price range and it was about 20mins walk to my university. 320€ And all bills included. I contacted the person who posed it, all seemed fine when we were talking through Facebook chat, but then she seemed very keen on me sending a deposit, the deposit was only 200€, but she needed that in order to reserve my room for September. I had a look at her profile and there was no photos of herself , only random images she's pulled from the internet, of a cup of coffee? But nothing of her, I noticed shortly afterwards that I was the only friend she had, and the profile was created about 5 days before. I ignored her messages for a day, they kept coming, 'oh I need your deposit', I didn't bother getting back to her, there was something very strange about the whole thing. 

I would advise everyone to be careful because I later found out that it's more often than not a trick to get student to pay a small amount of money, so small that you think it's ok, and then, there is no apartment and no money back. You wouldn't want to turn up to a foreign country with no apartment, minus 200€ and have to then rush around to find a hostel for the night! Be very careful. 

I found my apartment by going back to the site mentioned earlier www.loquo.com, and this is the best one in my opinion. On the 3rd August I was casually going through the ads and came across an apartment offering one room for 240€ with all bills included! I couldn't believe my eyes! And even better, it's only 36mins walk to my university!! It was a Sunday, and I wasn't expecting a message back straight away, but I got one, and we arranged a Skype call for in a few days to see if we get along. We came to an arrangement that because I'm not in Barcelona and can't view the apartment, I could wait until I arrive and then go to the bank and pay my deposit and rent into her account. In total I paid 600€ because I had to pay a deposit if a month and a half. But compared to how much some student pay, I think I've got a really good deal here! From most Erasmus sites the average prices for a room to rent in an apartment is around 350-550€ some with bills included and some not. 

My advice is to shop around and do it now if you haven't already. Try to come to an arrangement like I did, where I didn't pay anything until I arrived. That way you are protected. Most landlords will not allow for this, but it's worth a try....and if you don't ask, you don't get! Good luck!!

                                                

   

Depart Birmingham, arrive Barcelona

So, today I embarked on a different kind of journey, something way out of my comfort zone. I've moved to Barcelona for a year to do an Erasmus programe. I will be studying at BAU escola superior de disseny starting in October. For two nights prior to leaving I've had no sleep due to general stress of the whole situation. Moving to another country was always going to be really tough. There was several concerns that I had:

• What is my apartment going to be like?
• Will my roommates be nice?
• Will I have enough money?
• Is my Spanish good enough to get by? 
• What is my new course going to be like?
• My navigational skills are awful, so what do I do if I get lost?
• What kind of clothing do I take? 

What exactly do I need to bring for my course or do I just buy it out there when I find out?

And this is just to name a few...and throughout my blog I will be posting anything from problems and problem solving, daily scenarios, any troubles that I encounter as a student living in Barcelona. My aim is to help anyone moving to Barcelona, through in detail advice and through my own personal experiences. Before moving here, I would love to have found a blog like the one I am creating because I wanted to know the good and bad of a move like this. Though, I didn't find one, so I'm now providing this blog for anyone who wants to know more about my life as a fashion student living in Barcelona.