1. What is your personal experience of rain from where you come?
I come from a city in the South West of Spain, called Badajoz, where I lived for 18 years. It’s not located by the sea so it’s quite dry there both during summer and winter. It doesn’t rain there much, it could go weeks without any rain. But when it did rain, it was short and intense. For instance, it could rain a lot for about an hour or so, and then it disappeared.
 
I thought of the rain as annoying. It wasn’t something I looked forward to because it was such heavy rain and I would therefore get soaked, especially if I wasn’t prepared. But I mostly stayed inside when it was raining because I knew that it would pass after a short period of time and I could continue with what I was doing.
 
One time when I was 7 years old, there was flooding in my hometown and some people died of it. I don’t remember that much but I remember that it happened during the night and I couldn’t go to school the next day since I couldn’t cross the bridge that I needed to cross in order to get there. Although I wasn’t scared and the next day it was sunny, I think, and I went with my parents to go look at the affected areas.

2. Have your attitude towards rain changed since you moved to Gothenburg? In what way?
 
I have lived in Sweden for a total of almost 4 years now: 1 year in Borås and almost 3 years in Gothenburg. The rain is very different here from Badajoz. Here, it rains more constantly, but not as much heavy rain. Instead, it is always in the air. So, somehow, the rain is a part of my image of Gothenburg. I would say it paints Gothenburg. Some would say that the rain here is annoying, but for me, since it’s always there but not as much heavy rain, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t stay inside anymore when it’s raining as I did in my hometown. It doesn’t bother me or stops me from doing anything. I don’t even always bring an umbrella.
 
When I think of Gothenburg, I see a color palette of blue, (like a blue, clear sky), yellow, and brown. And the rain is also a part of that color palette, although it’s difficult to describe the color of the rain, but in my mind it’s grey. In that sense, I really like the colors of Gothenburg and in a way, that is what makes me stay.
 
My favorite spot in Gothenburg is Stenpiren. It’s the perfect combination of the light rain, the river, and the wide sky (in comparison with places where the buildings are in the way for me to see the whole sky). You can see all these different colors blend, with the rain and the yellow-brownish buildings. It all melts together.