Fredrika from Sweden

Name: Fredrika Tham

Age: 19

City and country of origin: Gothenburg, Sweden



1.When, where and for how long did you live or have you been living in Barcelona?

I have been living in Barcelona for almost eight months now (how did that happen?), all the time in Raval. Came here in june 2009. Bought a one way ticket home for the 13th of December, but after talking to my grandmother (of all people) I changed my mind. She asked me "Fredrika, why are you going home?" I didn't even have an answer, so a bought a ticket back again.
I'm glad, and thankful to my granny, that I did it, after spending my holidays at minus 15 degrees.


2.What made you move here?

Actually, it wasn't something that I had planned for a long time, it just sort of happened. I was broken after years of non-stop studying and I needed to get away.
My intention was to move to Madrid (mentioning it might get me killed in this town...), but when two friends of mine got a job here I thought “oh what the hell, why not?”.
Got the job and just left.



3.What made you leave / stay?

The fact that I am happy here. I have everything I need; a lot of fantastic friends, a job, an apartment. I'm not in love with the city, but I am in love with how the city makes me feel.



4.What you like the most about Barcelona.

The possibility of taking the Renfe to a beach outside Barcelona, the ocean that looks as it never ends, taking a coffee in the sun at our favorite café, sitting at MACBA for hours eating ice cream watching people skate (wich I am doing at the picture!), the juices for 1 euro in la Boqueria. Oh and of course, falafel at Carrer de Joaquím Costa.



5.What you dislike the most about Barcelona.

The smell. What is that smell? A mix of pee and garbage, which the heat doesn't make any better... The stealing. I've basically lost everything that I could lose. And I hate the fact that I'm sometimes scared when I'm walking alone.



6.Name a special place in Barcelona.

The back of Montjüic, where you can see all the cruise-ships and containers. So ugly, but yet so beautiful.



7. Name one word you would relate to Barcelona.

Relaxed

Josefina from Chile

Name: Josefina Cerveró
Age: 25
City and country of origin: Santiago de Chile



1.When, where and for how long did you live or have you been living in Barcelona?

14 months


2.What made you move here?

In Santiago I felt like one of those seagulls that get lost from the sea and end up in any possible city, with no orientation, tired and completely out of place. I knew that here I would find an immense ocean where my liberty of expression would be understood (Santiago, as one might know, is a place with a lot of repression, I don’t blame it, it’s just what my country had to go through unfortunately). I knew I would be welcome here, that Spain would like me.


3.What made you leave / stay?

Here it just feels right. You can have one of the darkest days of your life or one of those best ones you will never forget. This city won’t let you fall asleep, you constantly see yourself in situations where you have to face yourself, there’s no one next to you who will tell you what to do. It’s very easy to lose control, to feel how blood pumps through your veins and how your heart beats faster… there are so many different paths to take, quick ones that take a part of you away, slow and hard paths or even the correct ones that suddently appear when you thought you were already lost. Life becomes completely unpredictable and that very much depends on yourself. Your horizons broaden and you cannot picture anymore how things are going to turn out.


4.What you like the most about Barcelona.

The city’s constant movement, the people, anecdotes you hear, the incredible pictures I can take here, where I can capture life, lifes I can see, feel and even smell while they float around.
As a photographer I think I am in the right place, there’s so much material to work with, here every day you find someone who has got a story to tell and who usually wants to share it with you and create things for the sake of art (even though that will eventually turn into benefits $, to be completely honest and realistic)


5.What you dislike the most about Barcelona.

Thiefs, bad people


6.Name a special place in Barcelona.

My room, my shelter, my hiding spot.


7.Name one word you would relate to Barcelona.

Freedom

Ana from Portugal

Name:Ana Azevedo
Age:19
City and country of origin:Portugal


1.When, where and for how long did you live or have you been living in Barcelona?
I came to live to Barcelona in the beginning of September 2009. Im living in Vallcarca (near Parc Güell) and I’m staying just 3 more weeks, too sad.


2.What made you move here?
Erasmus!


3.What made you leave / stay?
I’m obliged to leave because of university, but it makes me very sad! And also Barcelona is quite expensive compared to Portuguese life.


4.What you like the most about Barcelona.
I love the friends I made here mostly. And I like that there is always a thing to do if its day or night, rainy or sunny. And I like that Sunday is still a real Sunday, and people are relaxed... and so on..


5.What you dislike the most about Barcelona.
Hm.. difficult one.. I don’t like when it is too full of tourist and I think the beach could be cleaner, and I don’t like that they waste all the water they can at night “in order to help the environment”, and I REALLY HATE the mice running around in the city center.


6.Name one special place in Barcelona.
Gràcia.. (just one more: las plazas de la ciutat vella donde hay siempre música!)


7.Name one word you would relate to Barcelona.
Ta-se bem (my portuguese word) and amigos, música y cañas!.(sorry, its difficult to name just one)

Emily from England!

Name: Emily Holden

Age: 23

City and country of origin: London, UK





1.When, where and for how long did you live or have you been living in Barcelona?

I lived in Barcelona from June 2008-September 2009

I lived in 3 different apartments - the first one on Muntaner con Maria Cubi, then another place very close, Laforja con Via Augusta, and the last one down by Drassanes, the infamous Carrer Santa Monica.


2.What made you move here?

I wanted to improve my Spanish, and needed a change after University in Paris. I applied to do a Leonardo da Vinci programme for the summer 2008 and stayed on afterwards. The internship was a total joke! I found work in a variety of different places afterwards - a business club, an auction house, and finally as an English teacher. None of them made me any money!


3.What made you leave / stay?

I stayed until the point where I felt Barcelona wasn't giving me as much as I was giving her. In the beginning I tried really hard to meet people, make friends, and integrate, but I found it hard to find caring, honest people. I met a lot of "fair-weather" friends. I didn't want to keep working and making no money, and wanted to save up money for travelling in the future, so I decided to go back to London on a money-mission. So far it's going well! I also never felt like I truly was part of Barcelona, that anything was holding me there. It was a very different experience to living in Paris where I felt 100% Parisienne despite my English roots. Barcelona just wouldn't let me in!


4.What you like the most about Barcelona.

The way of life, walking down unknown streets, having a drink on a plaza, the beach, the bars, the mountains, the views, the architecture, seeing crazy people do crazy things in Barceloneta, getting home at dawn, ice cream, the walk from Colon to Barceloneta, Bicing...


5.What you dislike the most about Barcelona.

The prostitutes; the crime; the fact that I met a lot of people who were only interested in what I could give them or something I could do for them; the feeling of always being a "guiri"; not speaking Catalan; finding "presents" on my doorstep (vomit, dog shit, human shit, stink of piss); seeing people buy, sell and take drugs in the street; the shameful behaviour of my compatriots.


6.Name a special place in Barcelona.

Montjuic - for hidden corners, the runs with Cristian, the picnics, the Sunday walks, the views.


7.Name one word you would relate to Barcelona.

Temporary. Temporary jobs, temporary friends, temporary flats - it was good, but too good to last! The only thing I've kept from Barcelona is Cristian :) We'll see if that turns out to be temporary or not!