I have been living in Barcelona for the past three years, and I have used the app Meetup sporadically to widen my network and make new connections. I used to use it somewhat when I was in the States (during my dad blogger days, the NYC Dad Group was based on Meetup, and so was the Chicago Dads Group)
In Barcelona, I have done some language exchange groups, eaten dinner and lunch at various restaurants around the city, gone to a couple of online seminars, and even gone to a couple of concerts with a group of complete strangers. This weekend happened to be one that had a whole lot of Meetup going on, so I decided it might be fun to record my weekend of Meetup as a blogpost (and give some shoutouts to these Meetups in case you want to join.)
All the Meetups I am mentioning are free to sign up for. You just need to register for a free Meetup account. And if you do join up, let them know you found them through my blog. I won’t get any financial benefit, but I would like the owners of the groups to know that I am giving back to the community.
While all of the Meetups mentioned are free to attend, you are responsible for your own food and drink. Typically every tab is settled separately. And while in Spain there is no expectation to tip, an extra euro or two is always looked on kindly by the server.
All of these events are primarily in English, although there are plenty of Spanish speakers in attendance as well..
I have been attending the Chili Lover’s Club for probably a little over a year. This is my most frequently attended Meetup. Every two to three weeks, usually on Friday, a group of approximately 30 people gather in a restaurant to eat spicy food and talk about nothing and everything in particular. Catalan and Spanish food is not particularly spicy, but fortunately, Barcelona is full of ethnic restaurants and there’s plenty of opportunity to get your picante on. In the past we have had cuisine from China, the Philippines, Mexico, Pakistan, India, Ethiopia, Japan, and Thailand.
This meetup was at a Vietnamese restaurant called Pho Viet (on IG at @pho_viet_barcelona ). It had the additional advantage of being in my neighborhood, just a couple of blocks walk away. The food was delicious- I had a mango salad with shrimp and an order of Bo Luc Lac (which is a marinated beef dish) Both dishes were great and suitably spicy. The organizers also encourage people to bring their own spice condiments just in case things are not hot enough for your taste. The people are very welcoming, and I have made some pretty good friends/acquaintances over the nearly 20 times I have attended.
There are a few hundred people in the group, and only 30 spots or less per dinner, so they usually sell out. If you join the meetup group, they will invite you to the WhatsApp group, which is where most of the action happens. Once a dinner is announced, you should jump on it.
THE DAY OF DISCUSSING DEEPLY
The second meetup was at the cafe of a bookshop close to the Urquinona train stop. It was my first time at this particular meetup, although I have been eying it for a month or so. It happens pretty much every Saturday, barring special private events or weather. The point of this group is to discuss deep and complex issues with a group of people who might have different views than you. The conversations did not disappoint. Our conversation was far ranging, reaching from the question of wanting to be a dictator on an island and what that would mean, to how democracy isn’t really working, and wondering whether there will be a Revolution like the French Revolution again, in an age where there is social mobility through wealth and the poor have a small opportunity to become rich. Along the way (and after the fact) we also discussed if it was possible for a company to do well by doing good, block chain democracy (my weird idea of a disruptive event), what the most important part of a relationship is, and whether or not self Love or self Hate are more efficacious in getting productive results. All this in less than 2 hours.
There were probably around 25 people at the event (even though only 15 are allowed to sign up) and we split up into 3 or 4 tables of people and each conversation was free ranging and went where they went. At my table of 6 there were people from Lebanon, France, Romania, England, Spain (and later) Lithuania and me (US). It was great hearing different viewpoints and often the same viewpoint but from a different perspective. I enjoyed it a lot. And have total respect for those participants who didn’t speak English as a native language. I definitely could not have the discussion we had (or follow it) in Spanish.
From there I biked over to Parque Citadella to attend a Book club, also for the first time. The focus of the book club is on Physical and spiritual well being.
This book club is unlike most other book clubs in that you don’t have to have read a book in advance. Participants are encouraged to bring a book that they have found useful for their personal development, and after an organized introduction period, people put their books on the table, and the group organizer asks people to give a little book review of the book, and what was important about it to them. From there there is a group discussion about some of the concepts or ideas presented. We were able to go over 4 books (and one was the one that I brought)
The books discussed were the following:
(The links to the books are Amazon affiliate links. If you buy them from this link I get a small commission)
El síndrome de la impostora by Elisabeth Cadoche and Anne de Montarlot, a book about why women suffer from Impostor syndrome differently than men. This book does not seem to be available in English, but there are plenty of other books about Impostor Syndrome in English if you like.
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, learning to break through your creative resistances to do what you aim to do and move beyond your comfort level.
Seven Steps to Developing Your Intuitive Powers by Betty Bethards, a manual on learning to trust your “gut” (which led to a pretty interesting discussion about your gut biome and whether or not we are being controlled by 2 trillion tiny microorganisms against our will)
The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz, a practical guide to positive relationships.
This was a lot of fun, and the people were pretty interesting. Apparently the meetup has been going on for more than a couple of years, and meets every two weeks (but most of the time it is at noon, which conflicts with the first one. I just happened to luck out that it was at a time where I could go to both (and right near a train station that was easy access to my next event).
Normally the group meets outdoors in the park, but when it’s cold or rainy they meet indoors. We met at a hotel coffee shop, and we had a little scare in the middle, where one of the participants realized that. Her backpack was missing. We had just seen two people standing near her, and realized they had left. One of the guys ran out and caught the people with the backpack, was able to get the backpack back before something had been taken out of it. The thieves were like “Oh is this yours? We just found it and were wondering whose it was”. A sharp reminder that in Barcelona you need to be very mindful of your possessions.
From there I went to a non meetup event El Circus de Los Horrores.
It was the very last show at their tent in an outlying neighborhood of Barcelona called La Maccinista.
I had seen a previous show of theirs in Madrid called Baccanal. This show, called Requiem was pretty great, an adult oriented circus complete with lots of sexual references, devil references, and rock and roll heavy metal vibe.. I will write a separate post about that show (perhaps on my clown link blog, and will link it here if I do so). The interesting thing is that it turns out that this show was THE VERY LAST SHOW.
I didn’t realize it until the very end, but the owner/major person behind the circus was retiring at the end of the show. I was very glad that I got to go. I had known about the show and was putting it off a little, and even thought maybe I should just go the next time they are in town. But it turns out there will be no next time. Nothing is ever guaranteed.
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Artwork by AI of a group of people
Meeting up for coffee in Barcelona. |
On Sunday I attended my last meetup of the weekend (unless I have a sudden desire to attend something tonight, but I have no plans to do so at the present time.). This is also set at a coffee shop a 10 minute walk from my apartment, so this is very convenient for me.
Basically people meet at a public cafe at around 11 to write, and at the end of the two hours, there is a little intro time, where you can introduce yourself, and tell people how your writing session went. I have been going for about a month, and really enjoy the time to work on something on my list. Even if I don’t have a productive session, it forces me to take time out of my schedule to sit and noodle, and brainstorm, and write it down. And that is good.
Today, I actually wrote this blog post! Over 1500 words, more or less. I got all of the blogpost done, and before I posted it, I just had to add the photos, and the links. That took me another hour or so (lots of links and photos in this one)
But overall, I feel pretty productive about that two hours spent. I have also met some interesting people through this event.
So that was my weekend of Meetup! I swear that I am not addicted to it (I can quit anytime I wish) but it is a great tool to expand your network, have interesting discussions, and have fun. I highly recommend trying it out and seeing if it works for you.
I ended up reading his books (see bottom of this post for a list) and subscribing to his instagram and listening to his and his wife's podcasts: 
