Tag Archives: Spain

Guggenheim Bilbao

Basque Country Report

After the conference finished, we flew west to Bilbao. Our flight was super-early which sucked, but we took a taxi through the suburbs of Vienna while the sun rose which was pretty spectacular.

After arriving, we went for a walk along the river while we waited for the apartment to be readied and the rest of our friends to arrive (they had spent a couple of days in Madrid on the way…). It was as hot in Bilbao as it had been in Vienna, but we were looking forward to some seabreezes later.

After our friends arrived, we walked across the city to see the Guggenheim, but planned to visit the following day. We had a few drinks and were joined by Roger, a local friend from my Ironhack course. It was so nice to see him and have a catch-up!

Puppy, Jeff Koons
Puppy, Jeff Koons

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Pirinexus Ruta

Pirinexus Ruta Report

A few months ago, my lovely friend Nicole told me she was coming to Europe – specifically to Spain. This was of course very exciting because she would be super close and we could catch up together. The last time I saw Nicole we were exploring Oslo together and we had such a great time, she’s one of my favourite people to travel with: so calm, friendly and happy to take a chance.

Not long after giving me some vague details about her plans, she asked if Tom and I would be interested in doing a bike tour, to which we responded with a healthy “YES PLEASE”. After looking at a few route options, Nicole suggested the Pirinexus Ruta and that’s how we found ourselves cycling through the Pyrénées from Spain to France in May.

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Amsterdam Canal

Travel Plans: BCN & AMS

Next week Tom’s brother and his girlfriend will arrive in Europe. They’ll be here for just over two weeks only, so we’ve decided to take them to two of our favourite places – Barcelona and Amsterdam.

We’ll spend a few days here in Montpellier, but although it’s a nice little city, it’s not very interesting for visitors. They will be our first visitors since we moved to France and I’m super excited for the chance to return to both Barcelona and Amsterdam.

We don’t really have any plans for what we will do, but I’m guessing we’ll be mostly focussed on eating delicious food, drinking delicious coffee and tasting lots of beers and wines. I think we’ll rent bikes in Amsterdam and maybe (if the weather is ok!) ride out to Haarlem one day. In Barcelona I would like to visit a museum or two since we have about a week there.

I’m also particularly looking forward to seeing all the BCN-based Ironhackers again! I miss their faces!

Flats in Barcelona

On Shareflats

At the moment I am living in an AirBnB flat with four other students from Ironhack. It takes me back to Year 9 at school a little bit. The high school that I attended sends their Year 9 class out to their campus in the country for the whole year, with students returning home for every term holiday.

We lived in ‘houses’ of between 10 and 12 girls and the whole year was a revelation for everyone who attended, I think. The principles of living with other people never really change, of course, but every new group of people will always have their own dynamics.

I know that I can be a difficult person to live with. My flaws begin with a stubborn personality and include mostly kitchen-based preferences like an aversion to strong smells and a tendency to clean dishes as soon as they have been used. I like to think of these flaws as ‘quirks’… On the other hand, I like to think that I am someone who is happy to make compromises so I hope I’m not too difficult.

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