My Coliving Experience with Inèdit Barcelona Part III by Saatvik Gupta

So, it’s the beginning of a new year and the time of the year everyone looks forward to. It is also the time of the year to make new year resolutions although following them throughout the year is a different matter altogether but jokes apart, it is a good opportunity to set your goals for the calendar year and planning how do we reach our objectives.

I believe there is no better feeling in this world than the one of spending time with one’s family. During the holidays, I got an opportunity to visit the beautiful city of Elche which is famous for its Palm trees and the sea coast. I got to spend time with my roommate’s family which in all honesty have become like my real family and have embraced me with open arms and I’m grateful from the bottom of my heart for welcoming to their humble abode.

During my stay in Elche, I got a fantastic opportunity to go on a couple of hiking trips near the Comunidad Valenciana region. The first hike we did was at Mount Maigmo which was around 1,350 metres above sea level and in all fairness, was an incredibly tough hike and also commemorates my first hiking adventure ever. I was really surprised by the steepness and inclination of the mountain as I was looking forward to a leisurely stroll through the mountains (which wasn’t the case at all) and it was becoming enormously tough to go any further. The higher we went in our pursuit to reach the summit of the mountain, one thought kept on emerging in my mind, how the hell am I going to go down and believe me looking down the mountain does not do well on your confidence and moral. Moreover, the majority of the tracks leading to the summit were covered with small pebbles which have a tendency to shift from under your feet. Well after all the moaning and groaning (majority of which came from my end) and a lot of hard work, we managed to reach the top and the view from out there was nothing short of breath-taking. Here is a picture of the view from the summit…

On my way down the mountain, I did slip plenty of times and landed flat on my arse and that was really painful and funny at the same time so at the end of the day it was all good fun. I do have to admit I was quite relieved to see the imaginary finish line signifying the end of the marvellous trek and a fantastic experience.

The next hiking trip led us to mouth dropping and awe-inspiring terrain od Sierra de Bernia and I was just about to realize that the day was going to lead me to an absolute madness and hands down the best adventure I ever had in my entire life.  So, the trek was supposed to be a 14 km round walk which would lead us back to the starting point apparently. At the beginning of the trek, the temperature was close to 3-degree Celsius and was absolutely freezing and chilling to the bone. Here is a picture of the mountain…

As we started to gain momentum, the body started to become warm and just when it all started to become a bit comfortable, there came another steep hill full of massive rocks which required us to climb using our bare hands and at that temperature, the rocks felt like solid sheets of ice and I was lucky enough to forget my gloves at home so yeah, I almost lost all sensation in my fingers 5 minutes into the hike which was indeed a bit painful. But all the pain and discomfort dissipated when my eyes glazed over a mystery tunnel on top of the mountain and that was the moment, I realized how lucky and fortunate I was to witness an absolute masterpiece of nature. Here is a picture of the view down from the beginning of the tunnel…

Crossing the tunnel was a bit difficult because there was literally crawling space inside and gave the hike the all-important adventure like feeling where we cross the tunnel and reach another galaxy or a new world. Well, our expectations did not disappoint us one bit because the view from the other side of the tunnel was absolutely sublime. Here is a picture of that mesmerizing view…

This place and this hike in general are a bit special to me because that’s the place where I attempted my first backflip on ground and although I was unable to land perfectly and I got to experience of feeling the adrenaline rushing through my body and gives me motivation to soon accomplish my endeavours in the near future. Here is an edited picture of the attempted backflip…

The hike lasted for 4 more hours until we reached the starting point and made memories of lifetime in the process.

The next day we went paintballing with 8 more friends of ours. It was my very first experience of paint ball and I was a bit scared to be honest when everyone started telling me how painful it is when the paintball hits your skin. We battled in three different battlefields in the groups of two and what followed was nothing short of carnage as all hell broke loose. I got myself hit three times and it wasn’t that bad actually, but the best part of playing is when you get to hit someone else and oh boy did, I hit them all. Everyone enjoyed a lot and no one got seriously injured and following is a group picture of us all…

Well fair to say, the new year started with an absolute bang as we head back to Barcelona with studies to look forward to and more memories to be made. Now is the time to pedal to the metal and get back to the grind but you know what the funny thing is, work feels fun when you live in a city like Barcelona 😉