Review: Cosmo

Barcelona’s foodie scene has a lot to offer. Weather it’s pinxtos and rioja or salted cod on the beach, it’s a gastronomical melting pot. I am happy to say I have dived knife and fork first in to this melting pot too, and although I’ve probably only had the pleasure to dine at about 1% of the cities restaurants, I have not been dissapointed.

Cosmo was a little place I happened to stumble upon whilst nursing a heavy head and exhausted body last Sunday.  My best friend and I had had three big nights on the trot, fuelled by plenty of wine, good food and junk food. By Sunday morning we probably didn’t ‘need’ to have a big breakfast out, but it was our last morning together before she flew home, so of course we were going to sneak a few coffee’s in and brunch.

Cosmo is in one of my favourite areas: Universtat. It’s a very nice, clean and trendy part of town with plenty of cute and quirky brunch spots. It’s always quite quiet too, apart from maybe a busker or two or the sound of other bruncher’s chattering.

I have found that when ordering an iced coffee abroad you can either be a.) extremely happy or b.) extremely disappointed. I still have not learnt that simply ordering an iced coffee in Spain gets you an espresso and an ice cube, but ordering an iced latte gets you the king of coffee’s with all the trimmings, chocolate sauce and all.

I made sure I went for the later in my hungover state last Sunday. I swear by iced coffees, sunglasses and toast when I’m feeling delicate, I owe my recovery from Saturday night to this beautiful iced coffee, which did not disappoint thank goodness.

After we drank our coffee’s and smoked the last of our cigarettes (vowing to never again smoke, something I am working on I promise!) We started to feel peckish. I say we felt peckish, I was not hungry at all, but seeing other peoples food go past set of a huge sense of food envy and me and my best friend agreed that we should go out with a bang and order brunch too.

What I liked about Cosmo’s menu was that it wasn’t too elaborate.  For someone who can barely decide which knickers to put on in the morning, simplicity when it comes to menus suits me best. Anything that’s too overwhelming and excessive and I’ll forget where I am or who I am.

You can basically make you’re own breakfast, you get a boiled egg, toast and fruit and then you pick two extras. My friend added avocado and salmon to hers, which is always a great combination with egg.

I was feeling a little more delicate than my friend and couldn’t think of facing egg and salmon quite yet, so opted for a sweeter carb laden breakfast of yoghyrt, homemade granola, toast and butter and jam. It was the first time I had eaten toast with butter and jam in years. Mainly because at home I would almost always put peanut butter and secondly because I stupidly convinced myself I didn’t like butter for about seven years. But guys, secret’s out, Lowri likes butter on toast!

My verdict? Perfect.

I had my sunnies on, was sipping on a cold iced coffee and was eating jammy toast with my best friend, laughing about what idiots we were the night before. I was a very happy girl.

The bill came to €18 which is about £13. Good service, good food and a beautiful location, another great time brunchin’.

Bye Bye Barcelona

After living in Barcelona for two months I have discovered two things about myself

1.) I am not a teacher

2.) I will live with my own family and nobody else’s

I’ll explain the second one a bit better.  Basically I have been living with a Host family whilst here. They don’t ask for rent, they provide my food (ish) and they don’t expect me to babysit (much). I am very grateful that these people are so generous and have taken me in without asking for anything in return, besides me speaking english with the family.

Living with a host family is something I don’t think I’ll do again though.  As I type this I can hear the father shouting at the children and his voice is so full of anger and pure temper that it makes my skin crawl.  He is a  very stressful man (a lawyer) and although he hasn’t really intended to, he makes me feel very uncomfortable.

I feel sorry for him, he is very anal. If I’m cooking in the kitchen he almost always comments on how many pans i’m using, although I’ve never once left a mess and always help out with the cleaning.  He once said he’d be livid if he saw a teacher with a tattoo and when his 7 year old daughter said she’d like to play hockey he said hockey ‘was not a girls game.’

This is why I have made the decision to leave Barcelona early. I have enjoyed the past two months, although there have been ups and downs I feel I have actually learnt a lot about what I want and don’t want in life.  I feel ready to move on to something different, which for now is 4 weeks in Tenerife!

Who knows what Tenerife will bring, but I hope that by living in a smaller town, spending time on the beach and maybe surfing, and not having to work at a school, I’ll have a better chance of meeting likeminded people.  My dad has already been living there 6 months and has many friends. To be honest, I think me and my Dad are quite similar, and are at an age and place where maybe we can even have the same friends.  What is age after all?

Tonight I am grateful for opportunities like these. I am grateful that I have such incredible parents who help me financially, and always support my decisions.  I am grateful to the family who have accommodated me for the past two months, although it has not always been enjoyable, it was a kind thing for them to do. On Monday I need to go in to school and tell them I’m leaving on Wednesday, it will be hard letting them down at such short notice, but at the end of the day I know what’s best.

I was thinking of making up excuses or lies, but then I thought, what would happen if I just told the truth? Firstly they will appreciate my honesty even if they are disappointed, and secondly lying and making up excuses will only make me feel like I’m doing something wrong, when in reality this is and should feel like a positive decision!

Living in Barcelona: Week One

Move out of your comfort zone.  You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new. – Brian Tracy

At the beginning of this year, for the first time ever, I had no idea what direction my life was going to go.  Finishing with education is a scary change, the realisation that you no longer have structure, and the pressure to be ‘getting on’ with my life was something I was not prepared for.  My boyfriend was away travelling, I didn’t know what our future was going to be, I had no job and worst of all, I had no idea what I wanted to do. So I saw this advert to be a conversation assistant in Barcelona, and I applied for it. Teaching has never really been attractive to me, but living in Barcelona for four  months? I was excited about the idea of that.

I am a dreamer, a city dawdler. I enjoy drinking coffee and feeling the sun on my face.  I like old buildings and cobbled streets, bakeries and fromageries. I envy anyone who owns a Vespa, I want to spend my Friday nights drinking good wine.  I was made for the Mediterranean.

Travelling has always appealed to me, but flying to the side of the world just seemed silly, when I knew my heart belonged much closer. After spending a lot of time in Italy in the summer, I fell in love with their way of life. They are so unaffected by time and structure, punctuality doesn’t exist, things are done when they are done, and there is no rush.  The sun is in the sky for longer, meaning you can enjoy a glass of wine and some aperitif after work, the streets so much busier in the evenings than in the mornings, oozing with life, the kind of life I wanted.

It’s only been a week since I arrived in Barcelona.  I live in the Sarria region, which is the old part of town, and it’s beautiful.   I live with a Spanish family, who are so welcoming and I am learning a lot from the way they do things, how their eating habits are so different, why they are so much more affectionate, their career goals.  The school I work at is also amazing, it’s such a good school and the children are lovely.  Helping the children who have special needs has been my highlight so far, seeing them become more confident is heart warming, and I can’t wait to see what improvements they will have made by the end of the year.

My life is already so very different to what it was back home, but I am embracing it with an open mind and a warm heart.  I miss my friends and family and boyfriend of course, but they are not far, and with modern day technology, facetime is a blessing.

Today I am going to try and find this big Cathedral everyone’s on about! I’ve heard Gaudi is everywhere here, so I am really looking forward to seeing what Barcelona has to offer culturally.