My Time in Barcelona: The Good

I’ve wanted to write about my time in Barcelona for some time now. It’s such an important part of my story. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite know where to begin, plus I had also been depressed for some time now so I didn’t have the energy to write about it (you’ll see why at the end of this series). But now it’s time. Today I want to share all about my exciting, wild, crazy/beautiful six-month stay in the city of Barcelona, Spain. Because I want it to be as real as possible about what it was like living there, I’ll be splitting it up into three parts: the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. Ready? Let’s go!

Codeworks

Codeworks is a leading software engineering bootcamp located in Barcelona, and was the main reason why I went there. At the end of 2017, I wanted to delve further into the realm of programming and improve my web development skills. After doing some research into coding bootcamps, I found out about Codeworks. They impressed and intimidated me by the fact that it was an intense three-month bootcamp solely devoted to JavaScript curriculum which was taught six days a week, twelve hours a day. Yes, I know. It was also one of the most expensive options as well compared to the other bootcamps that I researched in Barcelona. After doing interviews with Codeworks and two other bootcamps, Ironhack and Le Wagon, I decided that it was definitely worth the cost, to my savings, and potentially also my sanity.

I’ll speak more in detail at some point about my Codeworks experience on my web developer blog. For now, I’ll simply say that it was everything I was hoping for and more. It was a truly international experience, with classmates from the likes of Hong Kong, Italy, Brazil, England, Ukraine and more. I was proud to represent my island nation, and the Caribbean region on the whole, although it so happened that I wasn’t the only one! Would you believe that one of my other classmates was from Trinidad and Tobago as well!

At Codeworks I got just the stellar education I was looking for. I was also considered to be one of the best in my cohort, and I was glad that I was able to hold my own amongst some of the other brilliant coders in my class. I was so proud of the two final projects that I built during the senior half: one solo, one group. With these new skills in my arsenal, I couldn’t wait to show the world what I could do.

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My new Barcelona family

At the end of my time at Codeworks, I was truly sad that it was all over. I couldn’t believe three months had flown so quickly! I was going to miss these people. They truly felt like family. At the end of those three months, my batch of 10 classmates (7 at the end) had endured so much stress together, but in the end we had all grown and learned so much.

I had also made some friends outside of my class. One of my new friends was one of the first alums from Codeworks. We got to know each other online before I arrived when she found out about my crowdfunding campaign and wanted to help me. Then during one awful week at Codeworks, when I started stressing out because I was falling behind in one of the topics, she came to visit me and offer words of advice and support. Even after Codeworks, she has still been one of my greatest supporters, and I’m truly grateful.

There were many other people who I met post-Codeworks who were all so sweet and lovely to me. I really want to thank them for making my time in Barcelona so special. We may not talk as often any more, but know that you are missed.

allWomen

I don’t know if I can say enough about this company, nor thank them enough for all that they’ve done for me. allWomen, formerly FutureFunded, was the company who helped me with my crowdfunding campaign for my Codeworks tuition. They are now the first AI bootcamp for all women, while also offering short tech specialisation courses. They have and continue to also be one of my greatest supporters, and I feel so blessed to have met them and gotten to know them in the last year.

On top of it all, allWomen gave me the opportunity to build their beautiful new website for them, a website I couldn’t have also built without the brilliant designs from their designer. I am so grateful to have been a part of their rebranding story and new journey. It was so great and fun working with them while I was there, and I also consider them to be part of my Barcelona family. I miss them terribly!

City living

Living in Barcelona was my first time living outside of my parents’ house and living with roommates. For the first two months, I lived with my Trinidadian friend in a student residence, along with another roommate from Bilbao, Spain. We lived in the sleepy neighbourhood called Maragall in Guinardò, which was roughly 40 minutes away north of Codeworks by metro. Despite the long commute, I was able to use the time productively at times, viewing online courses or watching Youtube videos about web development. At other times, I used the time to catch up on my podcasts or listen to music.

Using the metro was a much welcome alternative to me, as I was accustomed to driving everywhere I needed to go to back in Trinidad. In place of traffic was instead sitting with or standing up against strangers speaking either Spanish, Catalan or other languages, depending on the nationality. Barcelona also has well-marked bike lanes, making riding to school an attractive option. However, I missed the opportunity to rent a bike so I could do so.

From August onward I lived in Gràcia, a beautiful, lively neighbourhood that was much much closer to the city centre and even nearer to the all-famous La Sagrada Familia. There I lived with three other girls: one from Ukraine, one from France and another from Chile. Again, it was truly an international experience. They were all really nice to me. It was here in Gràcia that I really felt like I was living in the city and began to enjoy life in Barcelona. My favourite part of living there was walking through the park on the way to my metro stop, Verdaguer.

Barcelona

Which leads me to Barcelona the city. Barcelona was the first European city that I had ever been to. My first impression of Barcelona when I arrived was … meh, I don’t feel like I’m in Europe. However, by my second day there, my opinion quickly changed. On my second day, I got to see more of the exquisite architecture that has made Barcelona famous, most notably by the late 19th century architect Antoni Gaudí. It was then that I began to fall in love with the city.

During my time there, I got to experience some of their celebrations, such as the festival of Sant Joan and La Mercè, and partake in their nightlife. I also enjoyed some of their local foods (although I didn’t like their paella, sorry!). When my cousin visited in November, I also enjoyed visiting some other cities outside of Barcelona within the region of Catalunya, such as Tarragona and Sitges. I enjoyed some of the other neighbourhoods, such as the chic, artsy Born, the beach area of Barceloneta, and the areas of Poble Sec and Poble Nou, the latter where I spent most of my time while at Codeworks.

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But my most favourite part of my stay here? It would have to be finally visiting Park Güell, and sitting in the same bench that had been my daily inspiration for so many months before I finally went there.

To be continued …

I have so many fond memories of my time in Barcelona. But along with the good does come the bad, which I’ll have to share in my next post, as this post has been rather long! Do stay tuned.