The first days (in words)

Today it's raining a bit in Barcelona, which gives me the opportunity to review the first few weeks in words.

After my first entry, I received some loving and concerned messages. Sorry, I didn't mean to give the impression that I'm an emotional wreck. I'm doing great here - although I still think a lot about home and the people there.

What do my days look like here?

Actually pretty awesome. I usually leave the house in the morning and don't return until it's already dark. In the meantime, I explore the city, buy SIM cards, bikes, or whatever else I need, take care of administrative tasks, do sports on the beach, play beach volleyball, meet new people, do daydrinking, and attend game nights. My connections here are mainly Maggie and her boyfriend Luiz, as well as Rami, who takes me beaching and introduces me to a bunch of cool people.

What do I like about it here?

Everyone, simply everyone, loves this city. No matter who you ask here, everyone raves about it. About the beach and the sea, about the lifestyle, about the openness of the people, about the short distances, about the art and street art, about the beauty of the city, about the joy of life. Everyone wants to be outside, be together, do sports, enjoy life.

Furthermore, I already have the feeling that Barcelona is as unconventional as Berlin. What do I mean by that? On Saturday, we celebrated Eric's birthday at the beach during the day with beer, wine, and beach volleyball. He turned 44 and still lives the life of a twenty-something. Here, nobody says: 'You are now this age, you have to be this and that.' Me gusta mucho!

Moreover, here traffic lights are seen more as rough recommendations by pedestrians and cyclists, which also plays into my hands. Cycling in general is a lot of fun here, there are separate bike paths everywhere, everything is well developed. And the city skates! WHY DIDN'T I BRING MY INLINE SKATES? Oh well, I didn't even have space for my favorite sweater. So, whoever visits me first has to bring me my inline skates ;)

Corona

Many of you have asked me about the current Covid situation. Let's put it this way: I can understand why the numbers are so high here. The measures and the commitment of the citizens don't really match. During the day: everyone wears masks, always and everywhere (even when you take a walk on the beach). The only exception: when you do sports. This has been going on for a whole year. Somehow strange. However, restaurants, bars, and shops are still open, so you occasionally see 10 drunk Catalans sitting close together in a bar at noon (haha). In the evening: everyone hangs out in the plazas, sometimes in large groups, drinking, smoking, making music, masks are gone. From 10 PM: strict curfew (which is being followed). The curfew is shitty for me because I can't leave my AirBnB after 10. But then I go to bed early and don't drink as much, which also has its advantages.

However, one thing I really like about the current situation is that the city is as empty as I will probably never experience it again. For the people here who depend on tourism, it's certainly difficult. But personally, it's fantastic. For example, yesterday we visited Casa Milà (La Pedrera), the famous building designed by Antoni Gaudí. A landmark of the city and the subject of countless postcards. Normally, it's crowded. But we were alone (!) there, totally VIP digga. I was really enchanted by this magical building and this impressive architect.

Spanish & I

I try to deal with everything in my non-existent Spanish. And although it should be obvious even to a blind, deaf, and mute person that I'm not even at A1 level, people consistently speak Spanish to me, no one switches to English. It's funny sometimes (I don't understand anything), but it's also good. I'm confident that I will learn Spanish well here. On Friday, I watched four Germans playing beach volleyball. They spoke Spanish to each other.