We arrived in Barcelona, Spain from Taos, New Mexico. The contrast of the two places is stark, and it would take anyone a little time to adjust to the change.
We landed in a ikea furnished Airbnb on a small street with constant scooter and car traffic. Airbnb's are more and more rare in this city as they are driving the housing market up through the roof and pissed off the Hoteliers. And in Barcelona, if something is unpopular and not working for the good of the people, they take measures to deal with it-there are steep fines for those who run unregulated Airbnb's.
The noise pollution was the first thing I had to work around, with a good set of earplugs to wear at night. The city really picks up after 6PM and it goes seemingly all night long, my country living sleep schedule needed some tuning as well.
The sheer volume of humans in this City is impressive. With over 1.5 Million within the City and almost 5 Million people around the "suburbs"; that made Taos, with it's 6000 people, smaller than a tiny section of a Barcelona Barrio. OOUF.
To live here one has to grow a thicker outer layer of proverbial skin.
One month has passed and I'm well into reading George Orwell's"Homage to Catalonia", and slowly soaking up the complex historical essence of this amazing place.
This web-log will serve as my journal as an expatriate, living and creating abroad, and hopefully, keep my friends close as we stumble gracefully into the future together.
We landed in a ikea furnished Airbnb on a small street with constant scooter and car traffic. Airbnb's are more and more rare in this city as they are driving the housing market up through the roof and pissed off the Hoteliers. And in Barcelona, if something is unpopular and not working for the good of the people, they take measures to deal with it-there are steep fines for those who run unregulated Airbnb's.
The noise pollution was the first thing I had to work around, with a good set of earplugs to wear at night. The city really picks up after 6PM and it goes seemingly all night long, my country living sleep schedule needed some tuning as well.
The sheer volume of humans in this City is impressive. With over 1.5 Million within the City and almost 5 Million people around the "suburbs"; that made Taos, with it's 6000 people, smaller than a tiny section of a Barcelona Barrio. OOUF.
To live here one has to grow a thicker outer layer of proverbial skin.
One month has passed and I'm well into reading George Orwell's"Homage to Catalonia", and slowly soaking up the complex historical essence of this amazing place.
This web-log will serve as my journal as an expatriate, living and creating abroad, and hopefully, keep my friends close as we stumble gracefully into the future together.
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