By Brian Armstrong
Here’s a story: Back when I graduated from university, longer ago than I care to mention, I was faced with a life-changing decision: Move back home and work part-time while I pursued stand-up comedy? Or accept a position teaching ESL halfway around the world (a job for which, given my recently acquired BA in English, I was somehow both overqualified and wildly unprepared). Choosing adventure over five-minute slots onstage in front of a crowd of angry drunks, I arrived in beautiful Ulsan, South Korea and immediately fell into a deep depression.
Finding myself alone in a strange new place, one where I didn’t speak the language and all the cutest little bakeries served picture-perfect tarts and cakes alongside sugared garlic bread, I panicked a bit. Luckily, I found an envelope with my name on it in my new apartment, left there by the previous tenant, who also happened to be my predecessor at the language school. Inside, I found a lovely handwritten note wishing me luck in my new role and, much more importantly, giving me directions to Benchwarmers, the only English-speaking pub in town. I arrived that Friday night to find myself in a rowdy sports bar owned by Troy, a friendly yet visibly-psychotic Canadian man with a ridiculous accent and a 49ers jersey you could fit a car under. As the night grew dark, and more and more customers poured in — every English-speaking person in the city, it seemed — Troy introduced me to each one as if he’d known me for years. It was official: I belonged.
With the long, dark struggle of COVID-19 now finally giving way to a long dark winter, there’s no time like the present to expand your social circle, even if your current circle is just you. While this may seem easier said than done–I’m aware, of course, that not everyone has a giant Canadian saviour– in reality, the world has never been more packed with potential friends, and all it takes to meet yours is a little effort. Whatever your age, experience or background, here are some tips to help you get started.
If the bold approach sounds like an invitation to some awkward interactions with strangers, you’re right! But making friends is more about honesty and openness than that initial leap of faith. Just as children make friends easily because they’re guileless, doing your best to simply forget that you’re on a mission to meet people will help you adopt a positive attitude that others can’t help but notice.
Happiness starts within, and being comfortable with yourself is integral to feeling comfortable around strangers. Whatever your hangups, there’s help. For example, if you’re unhappy with your body and joining a gym isn’t your thing, try making long walks a part of your daily schedule. You’d be surprised how many calories you can burn just by walking. Plus, you’ll grow more familiar with your city, and you might even meet a new friend along the way. Also, if you’ve got a hobby but you’re worried it’s too niche or lame to help you connect with others, get over yourself! That Zumba class at the gym could be the best chance you ever take. And of course, in a perfect world, it would go without saying, but you deserve to live your best life: if your issues run deeper than the physical, there’s no shame whatsoever in talking to a professional therapist. If your insurance doesn’t cover it, online services like Mypsico, Instahelp and Betterhelp are staffed by licensed psychologists and more affordable than you might think.
No less important for its obviousness, friendliness is integral to attracting new friendships. A smile at a stranger can make you feel like a lunatic, but you might also be making their day a little brighter. Ask questions, listen, and learn about others as they learn about you. Who knows? Your kindness might just become your new friend’s reward for taking a chance on you.
Feeling good? Ready to get out there? Great! But don’t just hit the club scene and expect people to come to you. Remember, this isn’t dating (come to think of it, you shouldn’t hit the bars for dating either); real friendships are rooted in shared experiences and interests. That’s one reason coliving spaces like Urban Campus are so invaluable: by arranging so many activities and opportunities to meet new people, they’ve done all the heavy lifting for you. All that’s left for you to do is to be open to forging new friendships. Not yet an Urban Campus resident? How about becoming active on Meetup.com or in local Facebook groups? Just be sure to follow the guidelines above while doing so, and remember that hanging out in person is the end goal. Love to read? Join a book club. Play an instrument? Check out the jam nights at nearby pubs. Attend local festivals; find a bar that hosts a fan club for your favourite sport or team; work up the courage to ask strangers if you can join their teams for trivia night at the pub; or even just invite your new neighbours to a housewarming party. Whatever you decide — volunteering for a good cause; hitting up a Warhammer or trading night at a comic book shop; taking a language or cooking class; joining an amateur sports league; anything at all, really — pursuing activities that you enjoy will connect you to others doing the same, and that connection is the first step towards making a new friend.
Whether we’re moving to another country, a different city, or even just out of our parents’ house for the first time, at some point most of us are faced with an uncomfortable upheaval of our social circle. Suddenly, often for the first time in decades, we’re on our own, alone, and unsure of how to make new friends. But I learned something that night at Benchwarmers: we’re not alone, not really. Wherever you find yourself, rest assured you’re likely surrounded by others who’ve either found themselves in the same boat before or, like you, are currently paddling for their lives. Whichever it is, put a little trust in their empathy. The truth may be cheesy, but it’s still true: those strangers are just friends you haven’t met.
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Brian is a copywriter and permanent ex-pat, like most of our colivers, who’s travelled extensively throughout Southeast Asia, Europe, and North America. Besides writing, he plays guitar for artist Diana Bailey and serves as the YouTube spokesman for Aconno GmbH.
RTVE (Spanish National TV) visited our Malasaña Madrid Coliving last Friday!
They wanted to see first hand, what it is like to live in one of our spaces, so they interviewed Matías & Diana, two of our Malasaña residents.
Matías and Diana, have been living at Urban Campus for over 3 years. They both met in our first coliving residence, Mellado Madrid Coliving in Chamberí, and then decided to move in together to our Malasaña Coliving looking for more space and privacy to keep developing their relationship as a couple.
Coliving is gaining more popularity as an alternative residential option, offering professionals an all-inclusive offer, flexibility in fully furnished studios and apartments, inside shared buildings, so they can enjoy both their privacy and share common areas with others.
Watch the full report below.
Are you a digital nomad? This will interest you.
Remote work is becoming more and more widely accepted, offering newfound flexibility to workers. With it, more and more people are looking to move abroad, turning their heads to countries in the EU, Latin America and Asia. Amongst these, is of course sunny Spain, so if you’ve dreamt about coming to live here, then now might just be the right time.
As governments strive to stay afloat and adapt to this new reality, Spain’s leaders are working on drafting a new ‘Startup Act’ that includes a brand new Visa for Digital Nomads.
Here are the basics you need to know.
The Spanish government is working on a new set of laws to promote entrepreneurship, attract foreign investment, and retain & attract talented non-resident remote workers.
This act is part of a 10-year strategic plan to encourage and promote the country’s economic recovery after the serious aftermath caused by the COVID-19 crisis.
This new act has not been approved by the Spanish Congress just yet. It’s still in the public voting phase even though its approval seems quite likely.
First of all, it’s important to bear in mind that this Visa is for non-EU workers employed by non-Spanish companies as it will allow them to do their job legally with much more flexibility and fewer legal restraints while living inside Spanish borders.
Remote workers with an EU passport or those coming from any Schengen country can already stay and work in Spain for under 6 months without having to register.
Getting a normal work Visa in any country can be exhausting and time-consuming. There is a long list of requirements you’ll need to have in order to get a green light and start living in Spain. The Spanish Ministry of Labour usually asks for a suitable accommodation arrangement, a return ticket to your home country, a work contract with a Spanish company or special licenses to conduct your job.
A tourist visa will allow you to enter Spain but it will certainly not allow you to work and earn money legally while here.
So, how can this Visa make your life easier? For starters, this new Visa will most likely require much less paperwork. It’s still not clear yet exactly what documentation is going to be asked by the Spanish Ministry of Labour but they will probably ask for sufficient proof of funds, a valid passport and a working contract showing you have labour affairs with a non-Spanish company.
It will allow you to work inside the country legally, as long as you’re working independently and remotely. Additionally, this Visa is supposed to be for people who want to enjoy Spanish life in the mid-long term. It’s expected to last up to 1 year, with the possibility of extending it for 2 more years.
We also wanted to feature a specific article for those who are looking for ways to create passive income to ensure they have enough funds to be able to apply for the digital nomad visa.
Thinking about applying for the digital nomad visa? Well, you’re also gonna need somewhere to live.
How does easy to book and all included sound? Fully equipped private spaces and top-notch common areas? A support system of international professionals?
Check out our coliving spaces, located in two of the best neighbourhoods of Madrid, Chamberí & Malasaña.
Curious about what our community is up to on a regular basis? Take a look at what’s going on at Urban Campus following us on Instagram at @urbancampus_ .
This week, COPE radio station did a broadcast about the living options young professionals are choosing in Spain after the COVID-19 crisis.
Coliving is also an option that is gaining importance, that’s why Urban Campus Malasaña Coliving resident, Noemi, was invited to do an interview to explain her experience living with us, why she chose coliving and all the benefits this alternative brings to someone in her situation. Some of the key aspects she highlighted were comfort, flexibility and community.
You can listen to the whole interview below! (Spanish)
Urban Campus was featured in an article in “Le Monde” about the rise of “coliving”, a new space for cohabitation.
Some companies are offering residences or houses for employees of the same or different companies, often with the help of external service providers.
Halfway between coworking and flat-sharing, the concept of “coliving”, which arrived in France a few years ago, offers individuals the opportunity to live in large shared buildings, which have many common areas and provide the users with a full programme of activities (gym, coworking, restaurant, bbq, workshops…)
An external operator manages and animates the space, the services are similar to the ones provided by hotels, and all bills are included in the monthly price. Forms of coliving vary, from small houses with handpicked residents to large residences with hundreds of rooms. According to a study published at the end of 2019 by the real estate subsidiary of the bank BNP Paribas, the market only offered 5,000 unit, but since then the number of coliving units continues to increase exponentially.
This new practice is aimed primarily at young workers, who are looking to avoid high rents at the beginning of their careers and want to meet new people. “Co-living affects urban, young, single people who live alone and find it difficult to leave the academic environment,” notes Monique Eleb, a sociologist specializing in housing.
Companies have started to propose this type of accommodation, when they hire an employee or send them on a project, as co-living is a very attractive offer for this kind of profile, notes Claire Flurin, co-founder and administrator of the international association Co-Liv. “Before the Covid crisis, we already had strong signals, particularly in the tech sector, with requests either for rooms in coliving sites, or entire coliving residences dedicated to the company, similarly to Google campus.”
The concept facilitates remote professional activity, as an extension of coworking. For example, shared offices with Wi-Fi and printers can be part of the equipment. “In our coliving residences, a large workspace is included in the common areas”, describes Maxime Armand, co-founder of Urban Campus. “The concept is both housing and coworking spaces, on the ground floor or first floor, with comfortable seats, a double screen… We want to create places to live and work”, explains, Géraud Le Merrer, digital and marketing director of Sharies.
Read the full article in French in le Monde
Urban Campus was featured in Diario Siglo XXI in a new article that highlights the main difference between Coliving vs Flat-sharing, two living concepts that are often confused.
Click here to read the full article in Spanish.
English Version –
Coliving offers people a comfortable place to stay and create a social life with other users with similar interests. With a global expansion, this new residential model differentiates itself from flat-sharing because it offers the possibility of sharing common spaces while allowing users to enjoy their own privacy, living in an apartment, bedroom or studio with a private bathroom.
This type of service is characterised because tenants share the whole building and its common areas like gyms, coworking spaces, terraces, movie areas, living rooms, kitchens and other spaces while keeping their private space, always with a private bathroom.
This concept, is managed by Urban Campus in Spain, a leading company within the Coliving real estate market that is often confused with traditional flat-sharing, although these are two different options.
In flat-sharing, residents interact, on many occasions, in the same bedroom and often share a bathroom. Generally speaking, these are old flats that have been reconditioned to fit leasing purposes. Nevertheless, they do not have a functional distribution of the space, nor offer comfort to the tenant, something that is indeed perceived in Coliving.
For professionals, looking for a place to live can become a tedious and discouraging task as they may need to share a bedroom or flat with strangers, opposite personalities or who are simply living completely different moments in their life. With the arrival of Urban Campus Coliving, this process is carried out easily online.
Urban Campus selects its Coliving spaces in the best-located neighbourhoods, guaranteeing safety and accessibility to the whole city. Tenants who will live in the space are carefully selected, ensuring a fit with the rest of the Coliving’s residents and offer the best experience living in a like-minded community of professionals with similar needs and interests.
In the type of contract and booking process, we can find another big difference between Coliving and flat-sharing.
While Coliving tries to simplify the entire booking and leasing process, flat-sharing tend to overcomplicate the tenants’ experience with endless requirements that landlords demand before agreeing to sign the leasing contract. They also usually ask for excessively high deposits that serve as a guarantee, while in many cases also adding an agency fee.
On the other hand, Coliving presents a different scope that makes this process way simpler. At Urban Campus, the whole leasing process, from the booking to the contract’s signing is as flexible as it gets, as the minimum stay duration is one month and is done online through the company’s user-friendly booking platform. Here, all the administrative details are clearly shown in a transparent manner.
This residential concept is inspired by a harmonious distribution of the building and private spaces, to foster social interaction and maximise common areas. Coliving provides all the necessary equipment to move in and start living, even bed linens and towels if required.
All of these advantages offered by Coliving compared to the flat-sharing model, have made Coliving a new tendency when it comes to leasing a new living space to begin a new life concept.
Urban Campus Mellado Madrid Coliving (Chamberí)
Summer is always a great time to be outdoors. Similarly to the park plans shared in our “Best Summer Plans in Madrid” article, being out in nature revitalizes both our mind and body. Take a break from the city heat this summer and check out some of the many locations the Madrid area has to offer. Here are our Top 5 Day Trips from Madrid
This small town located in the North of Madrid is the perfect place to escape for the day. It’s a beautiful medieval walled town surrounded by the Lozoya River. This destination is also well known by hikers as it offers great routes around the town and surrounding natural areas.
The best way to get to Buitrago de Lozoya is by car, but you can also get there by bus in around 1h45min.
Rascafría is another amazing town 100km away from Madrid located in the Guadarrama National Park. It attracts many tourists and especially nature lovers due to its immense forests and unique landscapes.
Rascafría offers lots of hiking routes for all experience levels, with breathtaking views, rivers, lakes, waterfalls and creeks. If you are looking to disconnect from the city, and connect with nature, this is the perfect place to explore. If you are interested in discovering some of the most popular routes in the area, click here!
If you are looking for an alternative plan, you can also check out the “Sierra Madrileña” at night. The ski-resort Valdeskí, near Navacerrada, adapts their activity program during summer and offers different options, including stargazing, night hikes, sunset walks and more! If you are want to unwind and discover Madrid’s night sky, we fully recommend this experience. You can find more info on their Instagram page.
In another article, we told you about visiting some of the best pools in Madrid. Now, we want to suggest a similar plan to cool off when the summer heat strikes.
There are tons of lakes, rivers, and natural pools around the outskirts of Madrid where ‘madrileños’ go when looking to escape the suffocating city heat.
Embalse de San Juan
The Embalse de San Juan is known as “Madrid’s beach”. It has over 14km of sand beach and is the first beach in Madrid to have an international “Blue-Flag” recognition, which guarantees the water’s cleanliness, environmental education, safety & environmental management. It’s a great option to take a dip and layout in the sun and tan. there’s even canoeing! Click here to find out how to get there.
Las Berceas
Another great option is the pools of Las Berceas in Cercedilla, located in the North West of Madrid. These awesome pools, surrounded by Scots pines, are inside a wonderful recreational park immersed in nature and get their water from the mountains. Apart from the refreshing pools, this site has some incredible views. Click here to see how to get there.
Cascada de Aljibe
Lastly, we have to recommend Cascada de Aljibe (Aljibe waterfalls). It’s true that it’s a bit further away, as it’s located in the Guadalajara province next to Madrid, but it’s definitely worth the trip.
These waterfalls are one of the most beautiful in Spain and are composed of two waterfalls. The first is around 3m high and the second 7m. The waterfalls have clear water pools where you can take a refreshing dip.
While getting there is a bit of a trek (a 2,9km hike) from the closest town called Roblecasa, we truly believe it’s worth it! Click here to find out how to get there.
Another fantastic hiking trip for those who love to disconnect in nature is La Pedriza, a Natural Reserve located in the Northeastern area of Madrid. It has plenty of amazing routes, things to do and places to visit, but on this occasion, we wanted to recommend La Charca Verde. This is a beautiful natural green pool that gets its emerald colour from the rock’s pigmentation and reflection of the water. It is forbidden to swim in the water for ecological preservation purposes.
To get there, you will go through amazing breathtaking sightseeing spots and trails with rich flora & fauna.
Click here to find out how to get there from the Quebrantaherraduras parking lot near Manzanares El Real, the closest town.
Madrid is undoubtedly a vibrant and lively city all year round, and summer is no exception.
Yes, Madrid might not have a sea, but it does offer an immense variety of summer plans to keep yourself busier than a honey bee in Spring.
If you just moved to the Spanish capital, summer is also a great moment to discover the city.
Keep reading to hear out some of the best summer plans in Madrid…
It is no lie that Madrid can be very hot during summer but there is no better remedy to face the heat than going to a pool to cool down. And if you’re going for a dip, you might as well do it in style.
Madrid has some amazing hotels with rooftop pools. Here are two of our favourites, which are open to non-hotel guests.
This beautiful hotel is located right next to Plaza de Callao in the heart of Madrid, next to one of the main and most iconic streets in Madrid, Gran Vía. This hotel has an amazing rooftop pool that is open from May to September. They offer flexible options to stay in the hotel or enjoy the pool like “dayrooms” starting at 65€ for 2 people so you and your companion can use a room and the pool for 8 hours.
If you’re interested, make sure you call to book, as this option is not available online.
Contact number: +34 912 00 85 85
Where is it? Calle de Silva, 6, 28013 Madrid
Our second rooftop pool recommendation is not as centric as the first one, but it’s just as great.
NYX Hotel Madrid by Leonardo Hotels is located in the Tetuán neighbourhood in the North of Madrid. This 186 bedroom hotel is just 10 minutes away from the Real Madrid stadium, Santiago Bernabéu, and has a wonderful pool. The terrace also has cool wall art designed by a few local artists.
In the mood for a cocktail? They’ve got a great list of creative drinks. Our recommendation? The NYX Fizz, a beautifully presented vanilla & ginger cocktail that will leave you thirsty for more.
Only looking to use the pool? 30€ will get you a sunbed, towel, and drink. The hotel is easy to get to and is just 1 km away from Nuevos Ministerios.
Contact number: +34 915 53 59 00
Where is it? Calle del Aviador Zorita, 34, 28020 Madrid
On a budget? There are plenty of great low-cost municipal swimming pools around the city for you to enjoy. Look for the closest pool and book your spot!
While summer days might be hot, summer nights are just perfect. Madrid is littered with outdoor cinemas for you to enjoy a movie under the stars. These are 2 of our favourite places to enjoy an outdoor screening in summer.
One of the coolest places in Madrid is the Matadero Cultural Centre which is next to the Manzanares River in the southern part of the city.
Matadero not only hosts many great art exhibitions during the summer, but it’s also home to CinePlaza. For its 4th consecutive year, it will show the best independent movies from Thursday to Sunday for a whole month, from the 15th of July to the 15th of August.
The program presents 20 movies from the best cinema festivals in the world including Cannes, Sundance, San Sebastián, Berlín, Toronto and Venice.
If you are a cinema lover, then you’ll love this next part. You’ll be able to attend any of these screenings for just 3,50€.
Face-masks are required during the screening so make sure you bring your own!
La Casa Encendida is another renowned cultural centre in the heart of Madrid.
The building from 1913, was originally built to be a banking entity and was then turned into a cultural centre in 2002.
In summer, its famous terrace, lovingly named “La Terraza Magnética” (The Magnetic Terrace) hosts outdoor movie screenings every Saturday during July and August. For just 3€ per screening, you can enjoy great films and this summer’s theme explores the relationship between humans and nature.
Summer in Madrid is really something special. So special in fact, it even has its own summer festival, and its 37th edition started just a few days ago. From July 6th to August 29th, this festival hosts over 50 events focused on music, theatre, circus, cinema, fashion, comics & gastronomy.
This year, South Korea has been invited and some of the performances will honour their vast culture. The festival will also pay tribute to Peru’s bicentenary independence bicentenary and will feature performances from the Slovenian National Theater Opera and Ballet Ljubljana. This year will undoubtedly be a rich cultural experience.
Los Veranos de la Villa is a multi-site festival that takes place around different places in the city, including Conde Duque, Palacio Fernan Nuñez, Paseo de Recoletos, Parque de la Bombilla and many more.
It’s no secret that Spanish people are party people. In fact, each neighbourhood in Madrid has its own Catholic saint or Virgen, and every year the neighbourhood throws a party to honour them.
During the first half of August, three bordering neighbourhoods celebrate theirs. San Cayetano in El Rastro/Embajadores on August 7th, San Lorenzo in Lavapiés on August 10th and Virgen de La Paloma in La Latina on August 15th, turning the streets into real festivity isles.
Each ‘fiesta’ is more exciting than the next. People of all ages line the streets and dance and sing. Vendors come out to sell authentic treats, like ‘churros’, ‘sangria’ or sardines. And you’ll even get to catch a glimpse of a traditional ‘Madrileño’ dance like the ‘chotis’ when the ‘chulapas’ & ‘chulapos’ come out dressed in traditional ‘castizo’ style clothes.
While this year’s celebrations will happen, they will have some restrictive measures due to the COVID19.
Madrid has plenty of parks to escape the city’s bustling streets and hot sun. And finding sanctuary under a shady tree come those hot months is nothing short of a miracle.
Here are three of our favourite parks so you can set up your own outdoor summer plan.
This park is the biggest public park in Madrid and is even one of the biggest parks in the world. It’s 5 times bigger than Central Park in New York!
Yes, we know it’s huge, but we are not suggesting that you visit the whole park in one day! Instead, our advice would be to go around the park’s lake which is surrounded by nice restaurants and food stands. You’ll also find plenty of green areas to chill in or have a nice picnic and have some stunning views of the Almudena Cathedral and other famous buildings like Edificio España.
Oh El Retiro, what’s a more iconic and beautiful park than this?
This park is located in the city centre and is frequented by people all year round. It is full of monuments, statues, fountains and green vegetation. It also has a big pond in the middle where you can rent a rowboat.
This park is the perfect place to come together with friends and spend the afternoon under a tree chatting, playing games or having a nice picnic. You can even book a table at “Florida Park”, a nice restaurant with a terrace that’s also a club. You can enjoy different tapas and drinks while grooving to live music. Make sure you check their concerts calendar as they have different music styles.
Make sure to also visit the beautiful ‘Palacio de Cristal’ and take a sneak peek inside as it often exhibits expositions that are open to the public for free.
El Retiro is also ideal for those who like to move on wheels – such as inline skates, skateboards, or bicycles – given that there are lots of smooth paths around the park.
Unlike El Retiro Park, Parque del Oeste is not as well known, but it’s just as memorable. This green park is located in the ‘Argüelles’ neighbourhood in the Northwest part of the city centre and is also right next to the previously mentioned Casa de Campo. This amazing park is very close to our Urban Campus Mellado Madrid Coliving and our community goes there to practice outdoor yoga from time to time!
On one end of the park, you’ll find the famous ‘Templo de Debod’, an ancient Egyptian monument given as a gift by the Egyptian government in 1968 after Spain helped during an international UNESCO call to save the Nubia temples. ‘Templo de Debod’ is also known for its breathtaking sunsets.
Parque del Oeste also has its own rose garden with hundreds of types of roses in different sizes and colours.
Now you have even more reasons to look forward to spending summer in Madrid! Even if it’s only for a few days or weeks. We hope these recommendations come in handy.
Our community here at Urban Campus loves to get together to enjoy summer plans as a family.
Are you looking for a place to live in Madrid? Make sure you check out our Coliving spaces!
Urban Campus was featured in the digital newspaper El Confidencial Digital last week.
The article explains how Urban Campus has positioned itself as a coliving pioneer in Madrid presenting coliving as a new residential alternative. It goes on to explain how coliving differentiates from other accommodation options and how we have successfully nurtured a community of professionals in both our Mellado Madrid Coliving and Malasaña Madrid Coliving.
Click here to read the full article (in Spanish).
June brought sunny weather, summer vibes and a thematic community month focused on Making Living Sustainability.
Every week, our community took part in different activities and events related to this topic, including workshops, a documentary screening, fundraising, and food experiences.
June now leaves behind a month full of good memories, a trace of ecological awareness, and reminds our members that we can contribute and take care of our planet by working together.
To kick off the month we organized a community fundraiser to raise money to donate this to plant trees around the world and help fight deforestation.
Take a look at everything that happened during June, the month Making Living Sustainable!
We designed our own community glass recycling bins, making recycling easier and more accessible for everyone we live with and share our space within our coliving spaces.
The community met in our first coliving space Mellado Madrid Coliving to brainstorm ideas, and expressed their creativity and imagination by painting their creations on the surface of the recycling bins!
During its release, it was one of the top 10 top most-watched programmes on Netflix.
Coliving residents gathered one evening in the cinema room of our Malasaña coliving space to watch Seaspiracy. A 2021 documentary directed and featured by British cinematographer Ali Tabrizi casts a critical light on the terrible consequences caused by massive commercial fishing in the environment.
Paola Popi of Nutreser brought us a workshop on nutrition, eating habits, and sustainable cooking.
Paola took us through which eating habits bring us closer to human nature, which foods are natural to our physiological needs, and how to nourish ourselves while caring for ourselves and the planet.
Together we cooked a few simple preparations following a root to tip method, taking advantage of the full food product. We learned how this methodology can contribute to the prevention of food waste, how to incorporate things like eggshells or the peels of various vegetables into our meals, and the amazing benefits they offer our bodies.
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French artist, Joanie Lemercier brought an immersive exposition in which he presents the importance he gives to nature throughout personal and artistic life and invites us to reflect on nature’s representation through technology.
In 7 major facilities, Joan was able to create digital landscapes that transport us from the abstract lines of ‘magnificent computer-generated mountains to the disturbing reality of an overexploited nature,’ revealing the ‘reality of a nature full of scars caused by human overexploitation’.
We teamed up with our partner Fantastic V (@fantasticvmadrid), a local vegan spot created by meat lovers who set out to offer carnivores an alternative to the typical junk food spots.
The BBQ was a great success and other collaborators joined in to support the initiative! From vegan burgers to ‘choripan’, vegan ice cream, kombucha, hard seltzer and more, the event offered a variety of options for our members to taste and try all why learning about how we can all incorporate more meatless moments into our lifestyle.
In this workshop, we created a gourmet garden full of aromatic plants, herbs, edible flowers, and different types of lettuce, and revived our bathtub terrace garden in our Mellado Madrid Coliving! Our members also learned about the ‘cutting method’ and how to use it to create more beautiful plants, a technique they’ll now be able to continuously apply to keep the terrace thriving.
Now our community is working on a watering system to make sure their plants stay healthy. We can’t wait to see how they use the fresh herbs and greens they’ve planted right at home.
To bid farewell to the month of Making Living Sustainable we organized a sustainable startup tasting party where our community got to try products from two of the hottest sustainable startups in Madrid, Moonwater and Ekonoke in a private tasting.
Both companies took us through their entrepreneurial endeavours to understand how they overcame various obstacles, their numerous pivots, and how they manage to balance their values with market demands.
We tried four of the different flavoured waters from Moonwater and compared delicious greens from Eknonoke’s gardens to store-bought brands. From wasabi and mustard flavoured leaves to tiny pea sprouts, and the strongest arugula any of us have ever tried, the tasting party was an excellent way to wrap up our month on sustainability.
What a journey June has been. A month of new collaborators, learnings, discoveries, with a focus on working together to create and foster a more eco-friendly lifestyle.
And now it’s time for July! That means a whole new theme, and a whole new calendar of initiatives – our focus? “Reset. Realign. Restart.” A month dedicated to mental and physical wellbeing and creating healthy habits together. Stay tuned!