Agus – 27.02.2020 – Utrecht/Netherlands

γειασας! My name is Agus, Agustina but nobody really calls me that. I’m 25, from Buenos Aires and got this lovely book from Marucha in January (yeah I’m writing this end of February cause I suck, but moving on). I’m currently based in the Netherlands, Utrecht to be exact, but that’s not what we’re gonna talk about, cause honestly, a Master in law and the Netherlands are not the most exciting combination now are they?

I’ve wondered what to write about for a bit now: Greece, Palestine, the Netherlands? And I decided to talk about it all. Because what I want to talk about is privilege, our privilege, yours and mine. Our privilege is hidden in small things we take for granted, like owning a small booklet we call passport that allows us to move basically anywhere in the world, or the fact that we can uproot ourselves wherever we want. This story starts and ends with privilege, because it was my privilege that got me to Greece, and it was my privilege that got me out.

You see, when you live in a refugee camp for a year you start looking at things differently, you start seeing things you never saw before. You don’t see it in the big things, you don’t see it in the egregious human rights violations, or in the horrifying and inhumane conditions people live in. Those things are too big, too distant, too mainstream in a way.

I remember the first time I recognised it. I had been on Samos for a month, and we were sitting with my guitar class in the park, learning the chords for ‘Shape of you’ by Ed Sheeran (their choice not mine I promise), and an army plane flew by, startling us all. I’ll never forget the look of plain fear on Naser’s face, the way his eyes flashed and his arms moved to cover his head. The way he looked at me helplessly, as if saying “not again”. The thing is, I was scared of a noise, a noise that I couldn’t really place. He was scared of what that noise had caused in his life, what that noise meant, what that noise stood for. He was scared of the memories that noise represented, memories that I can’t even begin to describe, that I have no way of relating to, because they’re too painful, too unfair, too real.

And that, my friends, is privilege. Because privilege is intrinsically not about money or resources. Privilege is me being oblivious to what the sound meant, it’s me waking up in the morning and not worrying about my safety, it’s me being able to make my own decisions, in my own terms. Privilege is what’s allowing me to write this right now, and you to read it, wherever and whoever you are.

I guess what I’m trying to say, or what I’ve learnt in the past year, is that being privileged is like having a huge birthday cake that you didn’t necessarily ask for handed to you. What defines you is not the fact that you have the cake, but what you do with it. So, will you eat it all or will you share it?

Mariana – 06.12.2019 – Buenos Aires/Argentina

Hello Beautiful people of the world. My name is Mariana, but anyone knows that, everyone calls me Maru. It just happened, destiny and friends made it happen, I really like it. We Argentineans love nicknames. Yes, I’m from Buenos Aires and I moved to Barcelona a year and a half ago to study Marketing. However, this story is not about me living in Spain, it’s about coming home after a year of living 10,459 km away. I have to define it as: Very fucking crazy. I decided to come for a month not because I missed big things such as family and friends, communications make everything easy for me, I can live without human contact. I missed the little things of my hometown, I don’t live in the city, I leave in a pretty flat area. Do you know that feeling of waking up to the sound of birds every morning? That’s what I was lacking, how the light reflects in the morning in your room, the smell of wood of your house when it’s hot, the smell of Argentinean food cooking downstairs while you’re still half asleep, fuck I really missed Argentinean food. So, that’s why I decided to take some long holidays here. Now that I’m here everything is so crazy! The best way I can describe it is as a parenthesis. A big, really long parenthesis. Let me explain to you all a bit more. I came back and it was as if I have left for 3 days, or a couple of hours even. I came back, my dad came to pick me up and everything was like when I left: same roads, same cars, same landscape I’ve seen probably 10.000 times. My neighborhood, the same. My house, the same. Believe me, no-th-ing changed, it was a parenthesis in time where I just happened to be in Barcelona, but now I’ve been here for 1 week and I feel I never left BA. Like Barcelona, traveling and everything happened 100 years ago. I do theatre, that theatre is my second house, it’s my place in the world. There I’m just happy and I don’t worry about shit. I went to see my theatre teacher, my friends: everyone was there looking just the same, my friends still my friends the theatre still the place I loved. They even had a performance 3 days after I arrived, and they made operate the sound. I tell you; everything remains the same. People yes evolve, but places buildings nature remains the same.

I love BA, but I love Barcelona and I love travelling. I like to think of myself as a Gypsy. I have Thomas in Barca: the guy who wrote before me, who I love (he is a fun handsome German guy who might be a gypsy as well). I have my new job there, I have so many opportunities there I don’t have here. I was thinking a lot about this feeling. My conclusion: I feel extremely comfortable about living everywhere, because I know that there is a place on earth where I will always feel happy about feeling like out of a parenthesis. Regarding the photo: This is Thomas all time favorite. It was in NZ, Fox Glacier, one of my favorite places on earth. Unsolicited piece of advice of a stranger: travel, and do it alone, it not a cliché. You will find yourself in ways you never did before. I will chill here in my house, eating some empanadas with the love of my life: Pancha my very fat and crazy 12-year-old rescued cat.

Thomas – 24.11.2019 – Barcelona/Spain

My name is Thomas bust most of my life people have been calling me “hey”. I guess this is partially because of my easy-going lifestyle. I’m a dreamer by heart. That kind of person who eats pizza while lactose intolerant, upsetting everyone around me because of a stupid joke, who doesn’t respond to your texts because I’m too lazy to read the text not because I’m mad. So apologies in advance. The happiest day in my life was 4th July 12,016. Not because of Independence Day, no. It was the day when I – after nearly 15 years – fulfilled my life dream of climbing Machu Picchu in Perú. At that time I was backpacking South America and I have to say: best place for backpacking! So many great memories. Crazy people. Hot chicks. One of those I met was Martin who I only mention as he’s the guy in the very first picture next to Daniel and otherwise he wouldn’t be credited which I think would be a shame. Anyway, there I was, standing on top of that mountain looking down on the ruins. My expert dreamer level made it easy to imagine how life must have been back then. Just you and your loyal companion — Fred the llama – you’re lying in the sun at 3000 m height (that’s 9800 feet for all the Americans) and drinking Inca Cola – which btw is one of the worst things I ever drank. I’d rather do a Bear Grills and drink my own piss. Actually the true life they had was a bit different but then again I’m no historian so take it for granted what I’m writing here. A little while ago I went to a shiatsu massage which basically is a massage with Chinese or Eastern biology alas where they press certain points on your body to like clean your energy or get rid of your diarrhea and things like this. What I wanted to say is that I was lying there and my mind started wandering and I was on top of Machu Picchu again. I felt again the warm sun rays, the cold breeze of the wind; I saw the green fields, llamas jumping and running around happily. It’s amazing. My point with this is that if you have the chance to go, do it! And if not you should definitely consider going there. In all fairness it’s very touristy these days and even the two girls I hiked up the mountain with said they didn’t like it that much. But me – even though it’s stupid to say this – it changed standing up there. Just do yourself a favor when you’re up there: Sit down on the hill, looking into the village, take a deep breath and don’t think about life for a moment. Just enjoy the moment and relax. I believe that’s the best life advice I can give you. Anyway, fast forward to today and this “dude” hands me this book. Actually from the first time he told me about this idea – which I’m a big fan of – and the actual execution and creation of this book, quite some time has passed. I’M exaggerating but I think it was the whole summer. But I’m not mad. Procrastination is the key to success after all.

How I met him? Ah yeah, that’s what I’m supposed to write here. Well, after my South America trip I moved to Barcelona. I ended up working for this company – not gonna say names as I’m legally held to – and this quirky guy sits at the desk next to me. The time passes and he turns into one of my best friends. Not only in Barcelona but all over the globe. I learned a lot from him and I’m incredibly thankful for that. Let’s say without him my job would be 80 % less funny. If you want to recreate how I felt when I wrote this, read it again while listening to the song “Oula” by Aya Nakamura. As I don’t speak French I have no clue what it’s about but it’s a bit melancholic and creates a feeling of happiness and “home” even though it’s more of a sad song. I don’t know. I guess that’s what melancholy means. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Unfortunately Matthew is no longer with us so I wanted to keep up his spirit in here. I’m thankful for the times we had. Just let him be happy where he is now. I still don’t understand why somebody moves from Barcelona to Berlin but to each his own… With this I’m saying thank you and remember: Stay fresh cheese bags!

Daniel – 03.11.2019 – Barcelona/Spain

More or less four years ago I moved to Barcelona and one of my biggest dreams of living abroad came true. I’m originally from Austria where I was born, grew up and studied. I always wanted to move to Toronto after finishing university but life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. In summer 2015 I joined a friend to attend some Spanish classes in Barcelona and after four weeks I was in love with the city.

A few weeks later after finishing my studies, I moved straight to Barcelona and it felt like an extension of my former student life. The hardest part of this whole process was sending my job application because I knew when they accept me there is no more reason to postpone.

Since then I never regret moving abroad. Till now somehow it feels like a constant holiday and I’m looking forward to what will come up next.