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.