5 Reasons why we love Barcelona

If you have read this post, you know that I’ve been living in Barcelona for 6 years. I don’t include my previous internship in this period because it was another experience, but to be honest it wasn’t that different from my day-to-day life today. 6 years ago I made a life-time decision. Why Barcelona instead of any other place? Here you have a few reasons why I chose Barcelona to be my home.

“Normal” life will never be normal

When I came here for the internship in 2013, I was living the Erasmus life. I quickly met all the touristic places all over the city – parks, restaurants, museums and of course night clubs. Five months were enough to visit the most emblematic places in the city. I was going to a different museum every Sunday and I was spending almost every Wednesday night in RazzMatazz. I used to go to Park Güell to write my diary and visit Los Bunkers once per week. There was not even one day which I would spend at home, I was always out&about.  I came back to Poland when the internship was over to finish my Master degree. As soon as I graduated, I moved to Barcelona again. A lot of things have changed since then. My Erasmus friends where no longer living in Barcelona and the only person I knew was my previous neighbor, who’s one of my best friends until today. This is when I started a real adult life. But “adult” in Barcelona will never mean the same as in Poland, because Barcelona has its own rules.  There is no way to have a “normal”, stable life. You always end up outside, sitting in a bar on Tuesday until midnight. It doesn’t matter if you work next morning. Life in Barcelona means to live on the street. You may be a student or a full time worker, but you won’t stay home. So did my life change a lot since Erasmus? At some points yes, but not that much. For example, today I’d go to Park Ciutadella rather than Park Güell or Los Bunkers, because there are less tourists. I know my city much better than few years ago so I choose less touristic places to meet with my friends. But the rhythm of life is the same, I keep living on the street.

You can be whoever you want

Many of us call Barcelona “The City of Peter Pan” because you barely see the difference between young and older people, apart from their physical appearance. People don’t judge you because of your age and neither because of your relationship  status. You can be single in your 40-ties, skateboard being 50 or dance salsa at the age of 70 and no one will give you a weird look. You can dress however you want and comp yourself as you like. This is the main reason why I chose Barcelona. This city loves and opens its doors for everyone. 

It’s the most multicultural city in Europe

My best girl-friend from Barcelona is French, my boyfriend is Venezuelan and my best guy-friend is Catalan. This brings me to the third point of my list – Barcelona is one of the most multicultural cities all over the world and definitely the biggest in Europe. When I moved here, I knew I wouldn’t have problems to make friends.. You meet new people anywhere you go. Dancing lessons, language exchange, couchsurifng events… I tried them all. Among my friends there are people from Spain, Poland, Italy, Syria, Argentina, Salvador and much more. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what matters is if you are a good person. That’s all.

Plenty of delicious restaurants

I’m a real food lover and one of the things I miss the most during the lockdown is trying new restaurants. Edwin and I use to dine out a lot – we both love coming back to our favorite places, as much as looking for new ones. We like to experiment and Barcelona is perfect for that. You have plenty of delicious restaurants from all over the world – from our favorite Italian to Asian, Latin-American and African cuisines. It takes us more time to choose the restaurant than to actually eat 🙂

Discovering new places

Even after 6 years, I still feel like I don’t know the city 100%. I discover new spots over and over again. New coffee shop, new wine bar with my bestie, new park hidden somewhere far away from the centre. Few weeks ago Edwin took me to a beautiful view point which I didn’t know before. Sometimes we discover a new place by accident, because you won’t find these places in a guide book. As you can see, I didn’t choose Barcelona because I wanted to make a career and succeed. This was never my reason. To be honest, there are better cities in Europe to climb the career ladder, with much more job opportunities. I chose Barcelona because of its spirit and values. My relationship with Barcelona wasn’t always easy, but I would never change my decision because my intimacy with this city today is one of a kind. Of course this city isn’t perfect, Barcelona also has its ups and downs. But to me, she’s perfect with her imperfections.  I hope this article encourage you to visit my beloved city as soon as the lockdown is over! 🙂