Moving to Barcelona, Spain

In 2014, while I was doing an internship in Estonia's ministry of foreign affairs, I met a young colleague, who had been studying in Barcelona and because I was just looking for universities around Europe to do my Master's degree, he suggested that if I'm interested in international relations then I should head to IBEI - Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals. I was accepted and in the end of the summer I was moving to Barcelona. I was extremely excited, because I had been there before and I loved the atmosphere. For the first 8 days I lived in a hostel and was trying to figure out the city, how to get around, where is my school located and most importantly where I wanted to live. Barcelona has 10 neighbourhoods - Barceloneta, Barrio Gotico, Ciutadella / Vila Olimpica, Eixample, El Born / La Ribera, El Raval, Garcia, La Rambla, Montjuic and Poblenou. I was first living in Gracia, in a hostel, which was located in an area with lots of bars and cafes, and it was always crowded. Maybe I also had the feeling, because those streets where very narrow and filled with young tourists and students all around the world, who were attracted to Gracia, because of the variety of bars with cheap beer and small tapas restaurants. Once I started my search for a home, I decided to move to another part of the city, Eixample, that is literally translated as "extension", because it is very distinct with its spacious streets and elegant atmosphere. The main street is Passeig de Gracia and it is lined with designer stores and some of the world's most famous architects such as Gaudi's and Montaner's houses that are a great tourist attractions on that avenue. I found myself a little room located the street of Valencia, which probably cost me more than living in Barceloneta or Poblenou, but I was very happy with my choice, because every thing was close to me and I soon realised that I will be saying no to transportation. Every day I walked to university, which took me around 50min, but I enjoyed it, especially when it was early in the mornings when I could see local catalans reading newspapers and having their espressos. I felt like I would miss out if I would use a metro (although very easy to use and have great connections), because there was a lot to see and I walked through couple of neighbourhoods on my way to school that had a lot of history. My university was located next to one of the main parks in Barcelona called Parc de la Ciutadella, also called as Barcelona's urban "green lung". Some of the main attractions are Castell dels Tres Dragons, a waterfall and a lake designed by Fontseré, and the beautiful plant house, the Umbracle, and glass house, the Hivernacle. Since 1892, there is also Barcelona Zoo and of course the Catalan Parliament. Therefore, definitely a place worth to visit.

My first month in Barcelona I was focused on school and with the help of my local Spanish friends I was figuring out what should I do with my time, where should I go, what to see and how to live like a catalan. For now I only talked about how I settled in, but later I will write about what were my favourite tourist attractions, more information on different districts and what they have to offer and overall my amazing experience living in Barcelona.

#barcelona #travelling #studies #Gaudi