Ever since i was 14 years old, one of my biggest dreams was to study Marketing in Barcelona. As I have been blessed to travel alot through out my life, I had already by the age of twelve been in Barcelona two times. And you might ask your self, how can a 14 year old know what she wants to study with at that young age? Well I have asked my self the same thing several times, and my question was about to be brutally answered when I grew up, and moved to Barcelona by the age of 19.
September 19th 2005 - Arrival Barcelona airport.
The Spanish smell was singing sweet tones in the air, and at once I felt that "this is the place to be". "Hola, Kiere Taxi?" a chubby little sombrero-man said. The only word I understood was taxi, and excited as I was I jumped in the car to join the ride to the centre. The closer we got to the city, the more thrilled and excited I got. "Plaza Catalonia?" the taxi driver said. I knotted eager and pictured the jewsy cheeseburger I had at Hard Rock cafe in Barcelona 5 years ago.
After one month of sightseeing in this amazing city, my first schoolday finally arrived. Fashion marketing and communication for three years. Wow! It sounded so glamorous! I couldnt wait to study and get friends from all over the world. It turned out that 70 % of the class was Scandinavians, so in the begining it felt like taking two steps backward, but what I didnt know.. was that this experience would be one of the biggest and funniest challenges I had ever experienced in my life.
There is something about the culture and atmosphere that differeciate Barcelona from other citys, and I guess this was something that really attracted me already at a young age. Park Guell, Passeig De Gracia, Villa Oplympica, Salvador Dali, you name it. Barcelona carries a great luggage of well known architects and painters, which makes it very much different from other big cities in the world.
I have been lucky to experience Barcelona in a multicultural environment. In our class we have 11 different cultures, so there is always something different on the agenda! Macba museum and fancy bars with my scandinavian friends. Dragqueen and gay nightlife with our two amazing boys Ole and Raymond, and ofcourse a trip through the exotic restaurants of Asia, with my dear and beloved friends, Sarah from India, Kim originally from Vietnam, and my kurdish/turkish/swedish friend Nadja. Barcelona has it all.
Ofcourse there is always this thoughts running through my head. Do I belong here? Am I on the right path? And last but not least, When will I get to eat my mums homemade meatballs again? It isnt always easy being far away from home. But there is something I have learned after two years of studying abroad. With good friends and a open mind you will always find a sence of beloning nomatter where you are in the world. The path is long, and there is always a bump or two in the road making youre everyday more complicated, but the further you keep on pushing the mud, the more happy you get for actually getting further in life. And when things get to rough, I always take a bus to Ikea, to finally eat my "mums homemade meatballs". Life dosent have to be complicated if you see the small and good things in the big picture!
Mia Jacobsen
Fashion Marketing and Communication, Istituto Europeo De Design
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