Arriving to a new place can be a symbolic event in life. This is the end of a journey but the beginning of a new one at the same time. Making mistakes is part of the growing.
The following 3 weeks after my official arrival to Barcelona were about realizing my situation in a new city. My situation consisted of three basic elements: financial, physical and emotional situation.
Financially I was more or less in a stable status as I won Campus Mundi scholarship which covers 80% of all expenses/1 month. Even though at the beginning I counted to be "rich" I overstressed my financial situation. This caused totally the opposite of my determination according I planned to save as much money as I just could. On the second week I had to go to a private dentist clinic with tooth problems which caused extra expenses. This episode proved, that my efforts to be financially forseeing are totally worthless. I began just simply enjoy my new responsibility of managing my financials on my own. By the way this topic is one of the basics to discuss among Erasmus students. After two weeks everybody knows which is the cheapest supermarket and where to find the cheapest beer in the city for maximum 2 Euros. Your brain switches to survive-mode which opens doors for the best experiences and opportunities you have ever had in life.
“ I began just simply enjoy my new responsibility...”
Culture shock
A cliche which I never believed, but Barcelona surprised me just like a mean cat which is staring at you from the bottom of a huge box waiting for the right moment to jump on your unworldly face with that typically moron tourist-smile crossing Passeig de Gracia in search of Arc de Triomf. I felt like an idiot tourist until about the end of October when finally I got used to the cultural - and every kind of - diversity of this amazing city. I tamed the cat, but I admit I was fighting hard. Firs against the climate, which caused climacteric syndromes like sweating, headache and extremely sensible nerves. Everyday habits of my landlady of my first apartment also caused some interesting moments.
Later on I discovered a more gentle face of the city when I began to walk despite using metro and bus lines. I lose hundreds of euros in exchange for practical and useful knowledge of locals living in Barcelona but all the experience were worth the price.
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