After landing back in Madrid after a wonderful weekend in Vienna, I’d not long until my next holiday came around. Despite this and the increasingly unbearable sun and heat, I wound up doing all sorts before I headed off for my big summer trip.
One afternoon I headed out for a wander around my neighbourhood., something which always leads me to discover new sights. Sure enough, I ran into some abandoned shopfronts down a street I’d never visited. From there, I spent a good half an hour searching for somewhere to buy a notebook, before ending up spending the evening down by the river sketching and having a cheeky drink.
I laid on the grass under this cool tree to watch the sun go down.
My self-care weekend continued after this with a Saturday spent in the centre of Madrid. I headed off to indulge in something I don’t usually do unless people come to visit: I went to have churros for breakfast! This took me to the infamous churrería named San Ginés, where I grabbed myself a plate of fresh churros and dipping chocolate and watched the tourists come and go for a while.
San Ginés is a Madrid institution that I can’t believe I don’t visit more often.
The next day I was back down by the river by my flat, where I went for a wander both in the morning and then later in the evening, spending the time in between relaxing at home under the air conditioning. July is always a bit of a challenge for me here – I’ll never get used to the summer heat!
Not sure why these keys were nailed to a tree…
That week I then had the chance to meet up with one of my old Spanish teachers – quite the throwback! He was visiting Madrid and so I spent an afternoon catching up over some tapas and beers. It was lovely to see him again after what must have been about ten years at least!
I then had another busy week, between a cocktail evening with Sara, a couple of calls to Cake Club, drinks with some friends from swimming as the course ended for summer, and then finally a reunion with Nacho. I went to visit him in Prague earlier this year but now was his turn to return to his home city of Madrid. We met up and spent a lovely evening drinking cocktails, munching on pizza, and having one of the fabulous chats that we usually do.
I don’t usually nip up to the centre but it does have some lovely buildings.
The weekend then arrived and I spent most of the Saturday packing until Luis invited me to join him down at his family’s finca, or country house. I did the exact same thing last year before I left for Canada, so a visit down to the finca just before I head off for a big trip seems to becoming somewhat of a tradition!
That’s all for now, as my next post will take us much further away from home than just Luis’ place on the outskirts of the city…
This is a post that I originally wrote and published way back in 2016 after my colleagues at Erretres asked me to reflect on my experience of finding an internship as a design student. Since I relaunched my website in 2019, the post has sat idly as a draft, but I recently reread it and realised that it’s pretty much the same advice I’d give someone today. Things have changed such as the pandemic forcing most things to shift online, but I stand by the main points I make, so here it is in all its untouched glory…
When it comes to looking for a work as a designer, lots of people claim to have a comprehensive guide on exactly how to land that dream position, but as a relatively fresh face in the industry I can’t profess to know all that much just yet! Herein I won’t be trying to convince you that I possess the secrets to the perfect technique, but rather I’ll share what worked for me personally as a design student venturing into the big scary world of professional work.
I should also point out that going to work in a design studio isn’t the only path available, as you might want to work as an in-house designer, start up your own design business, go freelance, or even change fields completely — I have friends who between them have done all of the above, and it’s working out nicely for all of them.
Moving back though to making the jump from study to work, the first and most daunting step is actually managing to land yourself the internship or job that you want, and so to break it down I’ve compiled a list of the things that worked for me. Here we go…
Plan your attack
You probably have an idea regarding the kind of place you’d like to work, but if not then browsing design blogs to find who has produced work that you like is a good place to start, but there’s also directories like Studio Index which list design studios based on location. Try compiling companies of interest into a list from most to least interesting, and then you can easily decide how many applications to send at once, all whilst keeping a record of the responses you’re getting.
Grab their attention
I have seen first hand that companies are inundated with applications, so in order to be considered it’s a good idea to design something which makes you stand out. Whether it be creating a personalised website or sending a printed portfolio packed with goodies, use your creative abilities to ensure that your application isn’t just filed away never to be seen again. One package I created contained a printed portfolio, cover letter and business card, all bound together using neon green card to catch the eye. For more ideas or should you find yourself completely lost, I found the publication Flaunt by UnderConsideration a pretty neat source of inspiration.
Make it personal
There’s nothing more boring than being handed an A4 CV or receiving an email which has clearly been copied, pasted and sent to loads of other design agencies. Designers all still human beings at the end of the day, so I found a good way to start a conversation was to send a personally written letter directly to the director of each company, talking about their work and injecting a little bit of my own personality.
But equally, don’t waste their time
Any good design business will be pretty busy, so do your best to keep everything you do succinct and straight to the point. Applying for a design job isn’t like applying for any other, and there’s no generally accepted application protocol, so if you don’t think something is necessary then don’t include it. Instead of sending a CV for example, I added a small column to my cover letter which outlined a few details with a link to my full CV online should anybody care enough to actually read it.
Try not to irritate
As I said, design companies are often busy and sometimes you’ll definitely have to follow up any applications with an email, phone call or even a knock at the door, but do know when its time to stop. Constant harassment will probably leave a bad taste in the company’s mouth, and can also waste valuable time you could otherwise spend on further applications.
Have luck or have perseverance
If nobody has told you yet then take it from me, you’ll be facing a lot of rejection in the process. Sometimes you’ll have a bit of luck and find a company which is ready to take on an intern or new employee, like I did at Erretres, but otherwise you’ll be needing plenty of perseverance. If a studio doesn’t take you on, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they didn’t think your work was up to scratch, it was probably because your work and theirs just weren’t compatible. Take it as them saving you the trouble of working somewhere where you don’t fit in and carry on full steam ahead — I and everyone I know were rejected countless times, but we all made it in the end. Keep on going and good luck!
It’s been pretty much four years to the day since the last reunion of Cake Club, a silly name that Heidi, Loredana, Megan and I have used to refer to the four of us since we all met in Madrid way back in 2018. The last time saw us all four of us meet up in my little flat here in Madrid, and we’ve never managed to organise for more than two of us to be together at once since then.
I have visited all three in their respective cities at least once over the past few years: I nipped over to Oslo to visit Heidi a couple of times, I spent a weekend in Vienna a couple of years ago to visit Loredana, and then me and Megan spent a couple of weeks together last year as part of my month spent around Canada and the US. You can see why it’s such a challenge to get the four of us together: we’re all so spread out!
However, news came that Megan would be visiting Europe in June this year, and so we set wheels in motion to try and all meet up in Vienna to spend our first weekend all together since 2019. As is typical of us, we left things to the last minute, which meant that sadly Heidi couldn’t make it work.
Regardless, I managed to find some decent flights, me and Megan booked a hotel to get out of Loredana and her partner David’s hair for the two nights we’d be together, and the stage was set for a Vienna reunion!
I’d taken the Friday off work and so left my flat bright and early – although not early enough – to head for the airport. With my extra half hour in bed and the slow morning service of the train, I arrived at my terminal somewhat late, which left me on a mad dash through security. Once at my gate, I realised that I’d actually rushed a bit too much and thus had time to spare, and so I sat down and went to check how to get from the airport in Vienna to the hotel I’d booked for me and Megan.
It was then that I realised that I’d booked the hotel for July instead of June. If I remember rightly, I actually audibly laughed at how stupid I’d managed to be. I guess I could have panicked, but I simply waved goodbye to the deposit I’d paid and found and booked another one in a few minutes. I do dislike how online we all are at all times, but a decent mobile with internet proved to be an absolute godsend…
Then followed a three hour flight and an hour on a bus to the centre of Vienna. I then made the short walk to the hotel and checked in, heading from there over to Loredana’s flat where her and Megan were waiting for me.
With the three of us reunited at Loredana’s lovely apartment, we headed out into the garden and sat for a few hours just chatting away and catching up. Although we try to hold regular video calls between the four of us, it was awesome to sit around the table with a cup of tea and have a good old chinwag.
As the afternoon drew on we got peckish and restless, and so we headed out into the city to grab a drink and some nibbles before David joined us for tea. It wasn’t too hot and so I was waxing lyrical about how great the weather was – but then a storm rolled in and suddenly we were all dashing to squeeze under a parasol as it began to absolutely throw it down!
The big rolling clouds should have been a warning of what was to come…
The worst of the rain hit poor David as he headed to the pizza restaurant that we’d headed to for our evening meal: he arrived pretty soaked. Despite then we all had a good laugh and some good pizza, then headed for a local bar to play some games and sample some of the local beer.
After an early start in the hotel, Megan and I pottered down to a bakery where we met Loredana for breakfast. Once we’d eaten our pastries, Megan bade Loredana goodbye as Lore headed off to Munich for the day to celebrate her friend’s hen do. This meant that Megan and I were now alone in Vienna: just like we had been in New York.
So, with all of the possibilities that the city presented to us, what were we to do? Head back to bed and have a three-hour nap, of course!
In our defence, I think this much-needed nap allowed us to carry on the rest of the day in Vienna uninterrupted. We did wake up very hungry, however, and so the first thing on our agenda was to go and grab some food, and Megan had researched the perfect spot to grab some local grub.
As you can appreciate, we’d wound up with eyes bigger than our bellies and so went a bit crazy ordering schnitzel, sausages, potato salad, and sauerkraut. Realistically we’d no idea that the plates were going to be this big, and to our credit we did finish a good amount of it all off. Despite the overwhelming amount of food, it was all delicious and just what we needed to get us energised and ready for a busy afternoon on our feet.
Here’s a little Viennese scene that I managed to snap as the carriage went by.
As Megan had already been in Vienna for a couple of days and I’d already visited back in 2021, neither of us were too fussed about going around all the tourist sites again. We thus indulged in a spot of shopping and then visited a couple of spots that Megan wanted to visit: all I remember was going to see a big door and then touching the naked backside of a bronze man adorning a fountain.
We wound up in the Judenplatz, an area central to Jewish life in the city and the home to a somber Holocaust memorial that we took a look at before sitting down for a cool beer after all this walking around. We hung around in the square until the sun began to go down, whereupon I suggested we head down to the river in order to catch the sunset from there.
I didn’t expect them to have alcohol-free beer but it was pretty good.
Megan hadn’t visited the area down by the river – well technically, the ‘Danube Canal’ or Donaukanal – so it was a nice surprise to see that the area was bustling with activity when we arrived. From cyclists to partygoers to a waterside salsa class, there was much more going on than last time I visited with Loredana.
We headed down to the water’s edge and had a little wander around before settling in a bar for some chips and another drink. Megan and her keen eye for any Spanish speakers noticed that the waiters were Argentinian, so we got chatting away before we took our seats by the water and watched the sun set over the city.
Our idyllic evening drew to a close with Megan wanting to run over and join in the salsa class and me struggling with the local transport app in order to get a ticket for the tram back to the city centre. After my experience in Berlin where I wound up having to pay a 100€+ fine, I’m very cautious about taking foreign public transport without having my ticket sorted in advance!
I eventually got my ticket and persuaded Megan to leave the poor salsa dancers in peace. The two of us hopped on the tram which left us near a spot I wanted to grab some Kaiserschmarrn, the delicious Viennese tradition of shredded pancakes with icing sugar and jam. I’d planned to go to the place Lore took me to last time, but it wound up being very much closed. We did run into a huge rave in front of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, though…
Still hungry and without any sweet treats, Megan said we should go and get some grimy street food from the sausage stall that the tram had dropped us off outside. After her antics at the questionable hotdog trucks in NYC, I shouldn’t have been surprised!
I must admit that the Käsewurst (cheese-filled sausage) that I got shoved inside a hotdog bun really hit the spot, and Megan also very much enjoyed her monster sausage with onions, curry, and sauce! We sat on a bench to finish off a long day in Vienna: it had been fabulous.
Just before heading off on the final tram and in order to digest our greasy street food, we nipped across the road and checked out a nighttime view of the emblematic Hofburg. We then jumped back on another tram and headed off to bed with some pretty serious indigestion…
The next day was Megan’s last in Vienna, so we were up a bit earlier and out to grab some early lunch to make the most of her remaining few hours in the city. After having missed out on our Kaiserschmarrn the night before, I suggested we head to a spot known for making a good one. We had a savoury bite to eat and then shared two huge pans of the shredded pancakes: we’d fallen into the same trap of ordering too much as the day before!
Megan, being a true Vermonter, insisted that the dish could be improved with some maple syrup.
Thankfully the restaurant was happy to send us off with half of the Kaiserschmarrn in doggy bags, so the two of us headed for a wander around the city and one of it’s parks before heading back to the hotel so that Megan could head off on her way and I could check out in order to move into Loredana’s place for my final night in the city.
I eventually had to bid Megan farewell as she headed off to Paris, her last stop on her little tour around Europe, and then threw myself down in the hammock that Loredana and David have installed in their cute little garden. There I rested until Loredana arrived back home from her hen do, which she did looking surprisingly fresh and energised.
We decided that we should probably head out and something for my last afternoon in the city. Heading out into her local neighbourhood, Lore showed me some of her favourite local spots including a huge brewery that left a chunk of the area smelling of yeast. There was a little Bierfestival going on, but it was closed due to it being a Sunday, and so we looked into heading into the centre to see what was going on there.
After missing two trams and not enjoying the sound of waiting for the next infrequent Sunday service, we gave up on our hopes of visiting the centre of Vienna, opting instead to spend the evening at home. We ordered some delicious Korean and Japanese food, had a drink, and threw ourselves down on the sofa to watch “Her”, a film I’d never actually seen.
The next day I said farewell to Loredana and David in the morning as I sat down to work from their living room. I clocked off just before three o’clock in order to head out the door and wander down to Westbahnhof, the bus station where the airport shuttle would whisk me off to the airport for my evening flight back to Madrid.
My flight back was somewhat delayed and then the train from Madrid airport back to my house was broken down, so it wound up being quite a late night in the end. It was all worth it though, as I had an absolutely fabulous few days over in Vienna and seeing Loredana and Megan in person again was absolutely fabulous!
We’re already plotting another reunion as soon as we can, and I’ll definitely be back over to Vienna just as soon as I catch a few days!
After a rather rainy return to Madrid, the weather shook us with its annual sudden change from spring to summer. From one day to another I found myself in upwards of 35° of heat, so it was time to start making some outdoor plans before the temperature creeps up to a crazy 40°…
One weekend me and Sara met up for the monthly Mercado de Motores, a cool market that I last visited about six months ago. This artesanal event takes place in the Museo del Ferrocarril (Railway Museum) near my house and is a fabulous chance to grab some gifts, buy some delicious food, and stop for a drink and some lunch between some antique trains on the outdoor terrace.
Full of sausage and papas al mojo (roast potatoes in a spicy sauce from the Canary Islands), Sara and I then headed out to continue exploring my neighbourhood. We headed down to the Matadero, had a wander around the river, and made a mental note to come back to the Cervantes Theatre to catch a show at some point.
The city looks pretty again as summer comes around.
To finish off a busy weekend and after a long Sunday of admin at home, I took myself out for an evening trip around the city on a bike. This took me up to the city’s main train station, Atocha; past its most emblematic museum, El Prado; and then to its most iconic park, Retiro. It was a lovely way to cool off as I zipped around the streets of the capital as fast as the bike would let me.
Retiro in the evening without all the tourists becomes the quiet haven it was always mean to be.
The Friday after I was back with Sara for another weekend plan, this time in the form of a verbena, the Spanish term for a big summer party. As it was proudly proclaiming itself as the first verbena in Madrid, we’d decided to head over to a festival named San Antonio de la Florida (Spain isn’t great at keeping names short). There we had a drink and danced along to some hits provided by two national artists as the sun went down.
Danced-out and a little dazed by the summer heat, we then plopped ourselves down on a terrace for some much-needed icy drinks and a good rest as the stifling day gave way to a cool night. From there, Sara headed off back home on the bus as I grabbed a bike and cycled back to my flat in another nighttime ride which helped me unwind and cool off after another busy day.
The next day I fancied a bit of time alone but outside of the confines of my flat. After the worst of the heat had passed in the afternoon, I grabbed a book and headed up to the Debod Temple, a lovely spot to throw oneself on the grass and watch the world go by as the sun sets behind the mountains in the distance. That I did, sipping on my can of alcohol-free beer and people watching in between reading a bit of poetry.
The area around the temple is a lovely spot to unwind.
It’s also a great spot to catch one of Madrid’s gorgeous sunsets.
To round off a weekend spent enjoying some of the city’s best offerings, I decided to head out for an early Sunday morning wander. As these walks around my neighbourhood often do, this led to the area down by the river, where I was one of the first people inside the municipal greenhouse as it opened at 10am sharp.
Inside the intricate glass structure, I enjoyed the cool respite from the sun and disconnected from the world for a few minutes amongst the tropical flora. I was especially captivated by one of the plants whose bright pink colouring was only accentuated by the sun flooding in through the window.
Once I’d left the greenhouse, I grabbed a seat on a terrace overlooking the riverside and ordered myself a large beer to refresh myself after my walk. I can only imagine what it must have looked like as I sat sipping on a pint at half ten in the morning, but as I’m currently not drinking alcohol the beer in question was, of course, non-alcoholic – and very much needed!
This just about covers the last couple of weeks, with the weather’s change from a winteresque washout to a stifling summer causing a change in all my plans. I was going to joke that I’ve switched from staying inside due to the rain to staying inside due to the heat, but I now see that I’ve actually been up to quite a lot! That’s the beauty of this blog, I guess – it’s a good reminder for when my rubbish memory fails me.
After the weather was surprisingly warm and dry whilst I was back in the UK, my return back home to Madrid was decidedly less so. My new shoes were put to the test as I wandered the rainy streets of Madrid during the week, all which came to a watery crescendo on the Friday evening.
I left work with my colleague Clara and the two of us hopped on the metro to head to Retiro, Madrid’s most emblematic park and that weekend the location for Madrid’s annual book festival. We’d arranged to go to and see our colleague Carlos, who’s just published his first novel and so was at the fair signing copies!
I’d say he’s our Shakespeare but really he’s more our Cervantes.
We had a few laughs and a good chat with Carlos before the line behind us started getting a bit too long and the skies above us started getting a bit too grey. Me and Clara parted ways and within five minutes of heading off on my own I found myself caught in one of the worst downpours I think I’ve ever experienced in all my time in the city. I arrived at the bus stop soaked to the skin, not even said new shoes could keep out the water!
The photo does’t do it justice but this was a road turned river.
The rest of the weekend was a complete washout also. Needless to say I didn’t really get up to all that much, except one outing which I braved with my brolly. It wasn’t the world’s most demanding excursion, taking me just down the road to the Matadero to catch an exhibition which was in it’s final weekend, but it was worth it.
The exhibit I wanted to catch was an installation called La hoja (‘The leaf’ or ‘sheet’). It covered one of the spaces within the Matadero, forming a sheet of wood which turned up at one of its corners. This was then – much to my delight – illuminated with multicoloured stage lighting which invited you to step on and explore. It was simple but I very much enjoyed it.
I then spent the Sunday with Sara diving in and out of bars around Lavapiés in order to escape the rain and try out some alcohol free beers and the complimentary tapas which keep me so enamoured with Madrid. It was a lovely day, with the rain only hitting just after the two of us got home – great success!
Another calm week between the rain followed, which worked out well in the end as I was consciously saving up my energy ready for the big event I had coming up on the Friday: my pool’s annual swimming competition! Me and María, one of my mates I swim with, had been roped into joining with the premise of beers and a good time afterwards.
It was a complete shock to everyone, then, when our team only went and won the competition for our age range! We’d shown up joking that we’d sit on the side and be the cheerleaders, but wound up acing some of the races along with some new teammates who were, admittedly, probably much better than us…
Even so, we had a hoot during the medal ceremony and the big jump into the pool afterwards, all of which was followed by a late night at one of the local bars. This was great as we actually had the chance to get to know each other a bit more, discovering more than the absolute basics that we exchange between lengths and with ears full of water.
Another laid-back weekend followed under dull skies, but this at least gave me the chance to attempt something I’d been wanting to try my hand out at for a good while: making homemade croquettes. Croquetas, as they’re known here, are a staple of Spanish bar food and one of my favourite dishes, but they’re renowned for being somewhat tricky to make.
I’m happy to say that they came our pretty well, even if I went a bit overboard with the nutmeg and little bits of jamón (cured ham). I’ve since made them again and they’ve come out even better: crunchier on the outside and creamier on the inside. I’m hoping this can somehow count as one more step towards becoming a naturalised Spanish citizen…
