Barcelona for Easter break. First proper holiday since finishing the Noé draft and submitting those brutal business management assignments.
Standing in front of Sagrada Família trying to process how someone’s brain conceived this. Gaudí must have seen the world completely differently. Every surface curves like it’s alive, growing rather than built.
Realised I’m doing exactly what Noé does in my book. I’m the alien tourist here, catching every sound and smell, trying to decode unfamiliar social rules. Watching locals navigate narrow streets with casual confidence whilst I’m consulting maps every five minutes.
The architecture here breaks every rule I thought buildings had to follow. Balconies that look like masks, chimneys shaped like chess pieces. Casa Batlló feels like stepping inside someone’s fever dream.
Been sketching rough observations for potential future projects. The way Spanish conversations happen at double volume but nobody seems angry. How strangers share tapas tables without awkwardness. Cultural norms that would baffle my alien character.
Park Güell yesterday – another Gaudí masterpiece. Sitting on that serpentine bench watching families picnic, street musicians playing, tourists taking selfies with mosaic lizards. Universal human behaviours expressed through completely different cultural filters.
Makes me appreciate how much research goes into writing authentic outsider perspectives. Can’t just imagine what it’s like to be foreign somewhere. Have to actually feel that disorientation yourself.
The Noé manuscript is resting whilst I’m here, but these experiences are feeding into future revisions. Understanding confusion helps me write it better.
Sometimes the best writing research happens when you’re not trying to research at all.
Daria Ryzhikova Writer