I survived a year in Barcelona (May 2017 to 2018) and had a fabulous time!!
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| Rare double rainbow near HP site one day |
Sitting at Washington Dulles airport waiting for my connection to San Diego, I started thinking back of the year that i spent in Europe.
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| Woo! 3 checked in luggage |
It's been a challenging year yet fruitful. I finally got my work visa end Nov and my NIE in March 2018. Just about 10 months late =)
The workaround was to travel every 6 weeks and working with the timeline without violating the Schengen states visas.
During the year I made about 25 trips around Europe for fun, including meeting a US couple in Florence, visiting my friend in Milan, meeting my brother's family in London and an emergency trip to Cardiff in order to fit the Schengen state rules.
I learned that i'm allergic to "plane trees" in Barcelona that's unbearable during spring times, and my apartment is in the zone of allergies =)
This is my apartment that i stayed for the year
https://www.aspasios.com/apartments-barcelona/garden-apartments/stylish
I love the place with the convenience of restaurant choices and FGC train station.
I managed to reconnect with some old friends and made some new friends.
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| Part of the DK Barcelona team with Andreu (Dan and Marta missing) |
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| The group of girls whom i travel and dine with |
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| The dye sub team |
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| how many people fit in the little postage stamp? =) |
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| The test area folks |
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| With my favourite candy Haribo Berries! |
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| New Year's Eve party at Ana's house, with Kim Hwee being there |
Just in general life in Europe has more uncertainty as strikes are more common than in US or Singapore. I am no longer surprised that flights are delayed, airport cafes are closed or trains are cut as folks are unhappy with their job.
Catalunya Independence Movement
This has created some uncertainties during the year, with peaceful demonstrations and inconvenience of highway blockage during the Easter holiday. I do hope this get resolved in a satisfactory way for both parties.
Snow snow snow
A cold winter with 2 snow days! To put things in perspective, there's typically one snow day every 5 years in Barcelona. Freezing my toes off standing on sidewalks is not an experience i'm used to =)
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| bbbbrrrrr... coolllddd |
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| After an overnight of snowing |
I met my brother and his family in London in early October 2017 and we had a fun trip playing with my nephews in London
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| Wei tien, cat, my 3 nephews |
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| Hello Cutie pies |
Bill and I also had a great France trip travelling though the Cote D'azur in France
After the year, I have no regrets and I'm glad that I did this.
On the other hand, I am happy and ready to go home as i do miss Bill and the stability of US life.
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| My farewell pastries |
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