{"id":65274,"date":"2016-03-25T08:10:55","date_gmt":"2016-03-25T07:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/?p=65274"},"modified":"2020-09-16T12:24:45","modified_gmt":"2020-09-16T10:24:45","slug":"live-in-barcelona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/live-in-barcelona\/","title":{"rendered":"How to make Barcelona feel like home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">So, you\u2019ve sweated your way to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ShBarcelona<\/a> dragging your life in a 22 kg case behind you, picked up your keys and arrived at your<strong> new apartment<\/strong>. The first week of your fresh life in <strong>Barcelona<\/strong> will likely feel like a holiday, but soon the novelty may wear off and you may find yourself struggling to settle into this <strong>new city<\/strong>. It can be daunting moving anywhere new if you have no social connections\u00a0and if you don\u2019t yet have a job in place or your language skills aren\u2019t quite up to scratch it can be easy to end up feeling lonely and not at all at <strong>home<\/strong>. Here are some tips on how to settle into life in\u00a0<strong>Barcelona<\/strong> and make yourself feel at<strong> home<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_17 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-grey\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class=\"ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1\"><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/live-in-barcelona\/#Make_time_for_home_comfort\" title=\"Make time for home comfort\">Make time for home comfort<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/live-in-barcelona\/#Walk_the_streets\" title=\"Walk the streets\">Walk the streets<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/live-in-barcelona\/#Build_a_social_network\" title=\"Build a social network\">Build a social network<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Make_time_for_home_comfort\"><\/span>Make time for home comfort<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Homely.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-65283\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-65283 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Homely-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Homely\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>The westernised English-speaking countries of the world seem to have a much wider variety of food products in their gigantic supermarkets than <strong>Barcelona<\/strong>, and losing out on some of your favourite<strong> home<\/strong> comfort foods can make you feel that you are away from <strong>home<\/strong>. The key here is to broaden your usual go-to meals and start cooking more from scratch. Expanding your weekly routine menu will help you forget about the things you are missing and get into new, more exciting dishes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As well as shopping for new meal ideas, make sure you put just a little money aside to make your apartment your own. Adding some artwork to your bedroom wall or a throw to your sofa are inexpensive supplements that can really make a big difference in making your apartment feel like <strong>home<\/strong>. The best place to do this on a budget would be to take a short trip to IKEA by bus \u2013 they will have everything you need and more, including the Swedish meatballs you\u2019ve probably enjoyed at <strong>home<\/strong> for a little taste of familiarly.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Walk_the_streets\"><\/span>Walk the streets<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Having an idea of what\u2019s where, how to get there and where to go to find the things you are interested in is a great way to start <strong>settling in<\/strong>. Exploring your neighbourhood by foot will help you stumble across the best supermarkets, the quaintest bars and restaurants and the nicest places just to sit and read a book. Becoming very knowledgeable\u00a0of your surroundings will help with feeling more comfortable and <strong>familiar<\/strong> in your area, in turn making it feel more like <strong>home<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Once you know the ins and outs of your neighbourhood, expand your exploration to areas of the city you may not have reason to visit. For example, a couple of month\u2019s into living in <strong>Barcelona<\/strong> you are likely to know exactly how to get to a few of the tourist hotspots, but have you walked through the artistic streets of Gr\u00e0cia<strong>, <\/strong>or walked along the beach in Sant Mart\u00ed<strong>? <\/strong>Finding your way back to your apartment\u00a0or to\u00a0\u00a0<strong>familiar<\/strong> destinations from unknown areas will allow you to see other communities and acquire a sense of city knowledge that should make you feel a little less like a tourist.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Build_a_social_network\"><\/span>Build a social network<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Lonely-in-new-city.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-65284\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-65284 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Lonely-in-new-city-297x300.jpg\" alt=\"08892 009\" width=\"297\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A lack of friends can prevent you from getting out and enjoying the things you love, as well as causing feelings of loneliness that can make you feel you are not truly at <strong>home<\/strong> in <strong>Barcelona<\/strong>, despite living here. An excellent way to start in tackling this problem would be to take a Spanish lesson. Not only will you get a chance to perfect your Spanish and improve your general ability to communicate in <strong>Barcelona<\/strong>, you are likely to meet people in the same boat on a regular basis and begin forming relationships with ease. Another great option is to check out adverts on loquo.com \u2013 you will find many Spanish speakers looking for an English speaking buddy in order to swap lessons for free on a casual, chatty basis &#8211; perfect for making a new friend.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Attend some of <strong>Barcelona\u2019s<\/strong> many food or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BarcelonaVintageMarket\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">vintage clothes markets<\/a> and find a surprisingly social environment with live music and tables to sit, drink beer and chat. These markets are a great opportunity to speak to strangers and surround yourself with like-minded people interested in fashion, gastronomy, or other market fare, giving you an easy way to meet new people and integrate with the community.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Finally, some simple things that you might overlook in terms of <strong>settling in<\/strong> \u2013 make sure you <em>fully<\/em>\u00a0unpack your case, check if any of your friends from your past <strong>home<\/strong> have random connections in <strong>Barcelona<\/strong> who you could meet up with, don\u2019t lock yourself alone in your apartment, and say yes to everything!<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s helped <em>you<\/em> <strong>settle in<\/strong>?<\/p>\n<div style=\"display: none;\"\n    class=\"kk-star-ratings kksr-valign-bottom kksr-align-left \"\n    data-id=\"65274\"\n    data-slug=\"\">\n    <div class=\"kksr-stars\">\n    <div class=\"kksr-stars-inactive\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"1\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"2\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"3\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"4\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"5\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"kksr-stars-active\" style=\"width: 0px;\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 25px; height: 25px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n    <div class=\"kksr-legend\">\n            <span class=\"kksr-muted\">Rate us!<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So, you\u2019ve sweated your way to ShBarcelona dragging your life in a 22 kg case behind you, picked up your keys and arrived at your new apartment. The first week of your fresh life in Barcelona will likely feel like a holiday, but soon the novelty may wear off and you may find yourself struggling [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4595],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65274"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65274"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108722,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65274\/revisions\/108722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}