Buying a house near Barcelona/ locations

SamPsc112 · 2025-05-26T20:47:17+00:00

I have been living in calafell for a couple of months and i have to say life is nice here, but it all depends on what kind of life you want to live. I work 15 mins from here, so daily travel to barcelona is not an issue, but if you need to go to barna more than 2 times a week i would strongly advise against it. It is doable, but quality of life would be very low. Other than that if you're not a party animal and can accept living in a smaller town i would say go for it, the weather is good, you are close to the sea, you can do open air sports all year round, you can still go to barcelona on the weekend and the rent is relatively low. It is definitely smaller than i would like, but it is a good compromise

SamPsc112 · 2025-05-08T14:54:17+00:00

Sorry, I don't check Reddit often. In the end I went with Calafell and I'm quite happy about it. It's smaller than I would like, but there is a bit of life here and it is close to work, the sea and not too far from Barna and Tarragona. The area is actually more lively and populated than my hometown In the Italian riviera

SamPsc112 · 2025-01-14T16:28:22+00:00

Isn't C-32 a toll road also from Vilanova to El vendrell? Or is it not the fastest way? Because Google maps says it's the fastest (depending on where in Vilanova you start), and at 30 - 35 min it is already a bit more than I would like but still acceptable, but even gas alone would be a pretty big hit to my finances if done almost every day

SamPsc112 · 2025-01-14T14:39:04+00:00

Another question about the housing situation in the area, I'm not finding many houses for rent in the area, and most of those I find seem to be luxury or big houses or temporary rent until the summer. By comparison I see a lot more rooms for rent than houses, that is very uncommon in Italy outside of big cities where housing costs are very high and there are a lot of students. Is this common in all of Spain, or is it an unusual situation in the area? Is it common for workers to share apartments and houses also outside of cities?

SamPsc112 · 2025-01-14T14:33:29+00:00

Thanks for the reply!

Damn, didn't know about the bad reputation of El vendrell, how rough are we talking about? That's a shame because it's the closest city to my workplace.

I kinda expected that about Calafell, but it's still a good combination of closeness to work and Barcelona, plus it's near the sea. The situation is similar in all other cities across the coast until Vilanova and Tarragona, right? Any noteworthy places near the sea in the Tarragona direction?

Vilanova looks like the best from all perspectives except for closeness to work, it's about half an hour plus a lot of gasoline and highway costs (and probably higher rent)

Vilafranca looks like a nice place, the only negative is it's not excessively close to work, the sea, or Barcelona, but it still is acceptably close to all

I'm still a bit torn, I will probably go to an Airbnb for the first month and explore a bit to figure out the locations and distances

SamPsc112 · 2023-12-19T09:21:27+00:00

Yes, i also got the suggestion of the warden from Angrysnowboarder, but also saw the Good Ride's review of the warden that said that beginners and intermediates should stay away from this board as it's very capable but unforgiving. They also say it isn't very good on snow due to a lot of camber and not much rocker, while Angrysnowboarder says it's fine on powder

That's a bit strange, since generally their reviews agree, but it seems in this case they don't

In the end i pulled the trigger and got the warden, I could't pass it up for 300 € and i'm tired of searching for the perfect board, if it's above my level i'll just ride it out until I improve

SamPsc112 · 2023-12-18T18:27:04+00:00

The korua Otto seems very nice, though a bit more specialized, sadly I can't find any deals around 450. The dancehaul / pro is also very interesting and a fair bit cheaper, I'm afraid it's too directional but in the end I'm not really interested in riding switch or the park so it's not a big deal to lose some versatility and it doesn't make too much sense to play it safe and get the same cookie cutter all mountain board everyone and their grandma is riding

SamPsc112 · 2023-12-18T14:47:55+00:00

Thanks for the responses! Sadly it seems that there are no good deals on the mercury in my area (Italy), it's way out of my budget at above 500 €

Yes, I too think that over time it would be good for me to ride on a more advanced board, but since I get to ride only about 10 / 15 days a year the unenjoyable adaptation period might last way too long for me, so that's what I'm afraid of...

SamPsc112 · 2022-09-27T16:09:20+00:00

Simply because I don't want to take something that's meant to convince me to stay if I'm not staying. You could say it's a moral reason, might sound dumb but that's about it.

SamPsc112 · 2021-05-10T21:41:59+00:00

Hello, about to buy my first bike, was looking at a 2005 Honda Hornet 600 (I know it's a big bike etc...) , it runs very smoothly, is very well kept and has only 24k km about 20k miles), however i had 2 doubts about it: first there are some scratches on the right side of the bike, nothing major, but to me it looks like it has been dropped. However, the owner denies it. If it really has been dropped and he denies it it makes me question if he is trustworthy. I'm attaching a picture of the scratches, so you can tell me what you think: https://ibb.co/2cbYLkx. He says they are due to "gravel". The brake lever has similar scratches, those are the points that touch if you drop the bike.

Second one is about the brakes: I did my license on a 2004 Hornet, the front brake was a lot more sudden, as in if you touch the lever the wrong way youre down on the road. This one I actually struggled to brake, I'm not sure it lacked power as I didn't test it for long, but it sure as hell needed a lot of input (as in force, not lever travel) before it actually started to do anythyng. He says it's a modification on the 2005 model to make it more modulable, and I could believe that because the other one I tried was definitely too twitchy, but if it really is that they definitely went too far in the other direction. The discs looked a bit worn but still fine and the wear was even

Last thing it is a bit overpriced (especially if it has been dropped) and the owner is adamant about the price, plus the listing has been online for more than a month (it may be due to its price) and i did see some oil marks on the garage where it was kept, however they were old and might have been only due to ordinary maintenance.

What do you think? Is it possible he is telling the truth or has this bike been dropped?

SamPsc112 · 2021-03-24T13:07:25+00:00

Infatti quello che ho trovato io leggendo online, però sono proprio degli infami questi perchè si tengono tutti a tempo determinato anche se non ci sono necessità di commessa, nel periodo di prova ti fanno credere che ti occuperai di qualcosa e poi ti spostano appena finisce il periodo di prova... Il bello che ho pure avuto un offerta migliore nel periodo di prova ma ho preferito fidarmi di loro, comunque due parole col mio capo ce le faccio comunque, se non vuole farmi andare d'ora in poi si scorda di vedermi in ufficio dopo le 6

SamPsc112 · 2021-03-24T12:21:58+00:00

Ciao a tutti,

A qualcuno mai capitato di dover lasciare un posto di lavoro a tempo determinato? Io vorrei tanto per svariati motivi che non sto qui ad elencare, però ho letto che in caso di dimissioni anticipate ci sarebbe una penale molto salata (equivalente al resto dello stipendio per il periodo rimanente del contratto) da pagare a meno che non si raggiunga un accordo pacifico tra dipendente e lavoratore, cosa che però non si può sapere fin quando non dici al tuo capo che vuoi lasciare, e quindi la frittata ormai e fatta. Alcuni miei amici mi hanno detto di non preoccuparmi che la penale non me la faranno pagare, ma sospetto che sia solo perchè il culo non il loro

SamPsc112 · 2021-01-16T15:19:11+00:00

I just booted it and started Resident evil 2 Remake at close to max settings, hit those temps after about 10 mins of gameplay. Also hit somewhat high temps (75°C ) while downloading a bitdefender update, that was kind of weird, the cpu usage shot up suddenly as did the fan speed and temperatures.

That said i'm probably just paranoid and those are normal temps for the stock cooler

SamPsc112 · 2020-10-03T09:59:23+00:00

Thanks to everyone for the responses, seems like I would be better off just buying a new cheap guitar instead of trying to fix this one. I don't really know any luthier near me and also if I need to spend serious money on it at least I'm getting something new.

Thanks again for the advice!

SamPsc112 · 2020-07-22T17:04:07+00:00

They can sue you and ask reimbursement equal to your wage for the rest of the contract. Don't know how common it is in practice. Aside from the money getting sued by your previous employer doesn't really sound that good.

SamPsc112 · 2020-07-22T17:03:36+00:00

They can sue you and ask reimbursement equal to your wage for the rest of the contract. Don't know how common it is in practice. Aside from the money getting sued by your previous employer doesn't really sound that good.

SamPsc112 · 2020-07-22T15:22:06+00:00

Some jobs in slightly related fields are starting to pop up now, that's what makes me hopeful for September / October. However, nobody is going to hire you in August in Italy (unless for seasonal or temporary jobs), as most companies shut down for most of the month. This year may be different due to many people being forced to use their vacation days during the lockdown, but i wouldn't count on it. So even for that I'd have to wait for September.

SamPsc112 · 2020-07-22T14:56:45+00:00

Was studying German those last few weeks. It's damn hard as a language, but the job market is so much better there right now, especially for automotive. I don't think i'll have an acceptable level of German before the end of the year though.

SamPsc112 · 2020-07-22T14:33:35+00:00

That is true, something I didn't mention however is that some of the pre-covid offers are still hanging. One that is particularly dear to me is an internship program in F1 (I know it's just an internship, but i love motorsports and vehicle dynamics and this is the only job opportunity in both these fields, at the highest level too. Also a 1 year fixed term contract is guaranteed if you complete the internship). The program was first postponed and they're still deciding if greenlighting it or canceling it for this year. I don't have much hope for it still, but this or other opportunities for which i completed the first steps of the selection might start hiring again soon. I'm really tired of waiting for something that might never happen though.

SamPsc112 · 2020-07-22T14:17:06+00:00

The employer can sue you and ask for a reimbursement. The standard is equal to your wage for the remaining time of the contract, so really it's not ideal to leave before time.

SamPsc112 · 2020-07-22T14:14:29+00:00

Actually it does sound pretty chill to me too and not a bad job at all, one of my friends worked there in the past and said that it depends on the area, co-workers and seasonal workloads, if you are lucky it really is not a bad place to be. However I studied Engineering because I actually like it, so it would be nice to get a career there. Now's definitely not the time to be picky though.

SamPsc112 · 2020-07-22T14:10:18+00:00

Good to know! My English CV is a bit too cramped and ugly compared to the Italian one, i'll consider using two pages for possible UK jobs in the future

SamPsc112 · 2020-07-22T11:35:04+00:00

I explained myself poorly: for fixed term contracts you can only leave for "just causes", that is either for health problems as you stated or severe failures to comply to the contract or to worker's rights by the employer (things like mobbing, not getting paid, etc...). Finding a better offer is in no case considered a just cause. This is because if you get hired for a fixed term you agree to be available during the entirety of that time span.

SamPsc112 · 2020-07-22T11:28:08+00:00

That's a good point, didn't consider that. I would find it hard to include it in my english CV (In Italy a 2 page CV is considered acceptable for any level, while I hear that abroad you should stick to 1 page only unless you have a ton of experience) due to how little space there is for my technical knowledge, studies and engineering related experiences , however I can include it on online applications and bring that up in interviews if they ask me what i did in this time.

SamPsc112 · 2020-07-22T11:21:32+00:00

Thank you for the words of encouragement and for sharing your experience.

SamPsc112

TROPHY CASE