"Deep" thoughts/Too many rainy days in a row

Oh procrastination, it's one of the many reasons why I know I will never be a CEO or President of the United States, contrary to what my grandfather always told me (sorry Bumpa!). Procrastination and the fact that I hate mornings (apparently being a morning person is key for a successful career....at least according to all the Yahoo! articles I read when I should be working on something productive). The worst part of procrastination is the guilt, that tiny voice in the back of your mind constantly listing all the things you should be doing instead of clicking on the next YouTube video. I wonder if Hillary YouTubes.....
As you can tell, I am feeling uninspired at the moment by my school work. Don't get me wrong, so far I am interested in the classes I have taken, but I have been working on the same Maritime Economics paper for the last three days and one can only think about supply and demand for so long until they start to question consumerism and the foundations of our current global economy.
No, this is not what my paper is really on but it is where my mind often drifts when I think about economics and the state of the world.
For example, the amount of stuff I have amazes me. I mean, let's think about it, for the last 6 or so years I have essentially been living out of a suitcase. You would think this would have caused me to downsize my life substantially when in reality I seem to buy more and more of the same things over and over again. I am looking around my room right now and I have so many little things scattered around things that do not do anything but help me to feel more settled and at "home." In Norway and in Spain, I bought similar odds and ends, items which I left in those respective places because I couldn't/didn't want to travel with them. When I worked for Great Lakes, I had two totes that I basically shipped from one location to the next, completely full of little things that made me feel more at "home." Whenever I move to a different location, I always unpack immediately, no matter what the time of night. I guess when you move around a lot, it is the little things that matter, but I also find it contradictory in a way. I mean, I love to move to different places and live in different cities, but yet I also have a strong desire to feel "settled" as soon as I get there.

The first month here in London was so annoying for me because I was living out of a suitcase. However, I contrast that to when I was here last January for a month, living out of a suitcase. I was not bothered at all! Why? I guess that's the difference between "traveling" and "moving" for me. If I consider myself "traveling,"I can endlessly live out of suitcase because I know it is all temporary, and I want to be out of my comfort zone. However, when I am "moving," I need to get unpacked and find my own space as quickly as possible, establish a place that is "me" which I can disappear to and decompress if I am ever feeling overwhelmed, lonely, or unsure. The same feelings that I welcome when I am traveling, I hate when I move to a new place because it all seems to be how I am defining it to myself............Whoa, that was quite the stream of consciousness that developed from my initially not wanting to work on my economics paper. I love analyzing myself though! I find it especially fascinating when I realize that behavior that I find so annoying in other people is something that I also do myself.

Since my last post I have moved into my own flat close to school in between the Shoreditch and Angel areas of central London. I only have one flat mate, an Italian fellow named Francesco, who I had only met once before moving in when I looked at the flat. He's clean, which is great, and takes initiative when it comes to getting things for the flat, which is also great. Honestly, after living with many, many people, that is all I need in a flat mate, some one that cleans their plates and buys toilet paper and soap every once in a while. I know, it doesn't seem like much to ask but you'd be surprised....... I really love this area, there is so much within walking distance that I hardly ever have to take public transport. Also, I'm right next to a canal which is nice to run along (whenever I feel inspired) rather than running along the streets. However it is November now, and after daylights savings, the sun now sets at 4:30 PM. No bueno. I hate short days....and it hardly helps that London weather is in full effect with cloudy, rainy days almost every day. I find myself getting stir crazy and really, really, missing Spain. However it is comforting to know that in about a month, I will be flying home for Christmas. I hope Texas dries up some by the time I get there!

This past weekend was amazing though, sunny and crisp. I tagged along with Nadia and her buddies to the Isle of Wight for the weekend and for a much needed escape from the city. We were only there from Saturday morning till late Sunday but in that time we played rugby on the beach, watched Australia lose the rugby World Cup among some sad Australians, dressed up for Halloween, realized we were the only people dressed up for Halloween, danced to 80s and 90s music played by young bartenders dressed as KISS yet didn't seem to know any KISS songs, went for a hike along cliffs, and had afternoon tea next to same said cliffs. The scenary is really beautiful on the Isle, everything you want and expect from the English countryside but enhanced because it is by the sea. It served to remind me that not far outside of the hustle and bustle of London, it's easy to find a place to escape. All around it was a solid weekend, and there are pictures! I know! Finally! Something to break up all these words.

I have been extremely nostalgic lately. I don't know what it is but more than once over the past couple of weeks have I scrolled through old Facebook posts, looked through old photos, remembered old friends with which I have lost touch, and I even tried to see if my old LiveJournal is still active. I'm pretty sure it's not, thank God, but it would have been interesting to read the thoughts of high school Kyle. I never was very good at keeping real paper journals but I do remember using LiveJournal for a while until my mother found out and made me get off. That was back when she was skeptical of social media, and way before she was queen of Facebook :) ....(she's going to hate that I wrote that).

I always like to think about how the decisions of my past have brought me to this point in my life. Obviously, no regrets, but it is interesting to think about what would have happened if I had chosen something different. A few examples of what I consider turning points in my life:

When I went from middle school to high school the scheduling also changed from block scheduling back to having all the classes in one day. This resulted in reducing the number of classes from 8 to 7 and I have to lose one of my electives and I was torn between dance and band. I mean, I remember agonizing over this decision for what felt like forever but was probably only one evening. This may seem like such an innocent decision but in high school it was huge because it pretty much determined who your friends would be and the groups were quite different. I chose to be a *self proclaimed* band nerd. All of my closest friends stem from that decision and it is funny to think that I was one choice sheet away from causing most of my favorite high school memories from never happening. Also, I never would have played lacrosse if I had been in dance because the only reason why I played lacrosse was to do something with exercise. Mind blown. Lacrosse was such a big part of high school AND college that to imagine life without it....inconceivable!

Another decision was when I decided to go into engineering for my undergrad. This was never my plan, and in fact, when I first started looking at colleges, I thought I would do something in communications, public relations, whatever. However, when I told this to my physics teacher, Mrs. Willars, I distinctly remember that she stared me straight in the eye, shook her head, and said "No. You are going to be an engineer." And my reply? "Oh....well...... What are the best colleges for that?" And that was that. So I guess that wasn't really so much of a life changing "decision," but rather an "order," but she was right. I would have been terrible in PR.

And then there was that time after college when I had to chose between accepting a job offer from a dredging company or waiting to get a probable offer from an Austin company. I know that doesn't seem like much of a choice, because why would I have turned down a solid job offer in 2009, when there were hardly any job offers, with the hopes that I *might* get another one. At the time, I wasn't sure if I wanted to leave Austin. Also, I wasn't sure if I would like all of the traveling with GLDD, it seemed like a hectic life. And, what the hell is dredging?!  Honestly, the best thing GLDD did to help me decide to work with them was to first reject me, and then send me a job offer a week later saying more positions had opened up. That little tease of rejection made me want to work there even more...I mean, who did they think they were, rejecting me?! (you better believe I rubbed that in my manager's face after 5 years when I was one of the only remaining hires from that summer still at the company). If I hadn't taken that job with GLDD, without a doubt, I would not be in London right now writing this blog. Here's a crazy thought, in some alternate universe there is a Kyle who stayed in Austin after college and never traveled the US or the world. I bet she has a dog though, that's a win.

And finally a look back on my latest decision and I think the root cause of all this recent nostalgia. As you all know, a little more than a year ago, I decided to quit my job and return to academia. And, a year from now, I will be re entering the workforce. Sure, I will have my newly printed master's degree in hand, but more than likely I will also be starting at a position very close to the bottom of the barrel wherever I am working. This is what I think about when I sometimes wonder if it was wise to come back to school. I am sure I could have found another job in the coastal engineering world or stayed put at GLDD and worked my way up the dredging ladder. In fact if I hadn't left to do my master's, I probably would either be studying for, or have just taken, the test to get my Professional Engineering License, and/or reaping the salary benefits as an upper management field employee. When I think about this, I often get anxious, which is strange for me because I have never been a person very preoccupied with my "career." To me, a career is just something that unfolds in the time between traveling, friends, and family. However, lately, as more and more people keep asking me "what do you plan on doing next year? where do you see yourself?" I find myself fretting about re entering the working world "behind" my peers. Not only that, but I have been chipping away steadily at my savings and I am sure after a year in London, it will be more that halved. In the uncertainty of today's economy, some may say that was hardly a wise decision. Yes, of course, I have learned things, but has it really been anything I wouldn't have learned through experience with a job? Probably not.

I honestly don't know where I am going with this train of thought, but it's just something that has been on my mind as of late. It's always unnerving when you look into the future and have no idea where or what you'll be doing and I think inevitably it makes you question the past. Or maybe that's just me. I find I learn a lot about myself when I think retrospectively. For example:

• I am impulsive
• I am often a hypocrite
• I am just as confused by life now as I was 10 years ago
• I like to pretend that all of the above things are not true

Maybe this last life decision wasn't the wisest career move, I guess in a year I will be able to reflect more accurately on its consequences. However, of one thing I am certain, this last year was one of my favorites ever. The experiences I have had and the people I have met I believe will influence and benefit me more in the future than the actual schooling. I am so lucky to know so many amazing people from so many different places. And while I know that there is no way I'll be able to nurture all of these relationships throughout the years to come because even in the age of Facebook, people lose touch, I am better off for having met them.

London Calling

Hello old friend.

I have been debating writing a blog post for few days now because I fear I am only going to disappoint everyone, or more accurately, bore everyone. There are no pictures to hide behind and no fun experiences to relate. All I have are tales of bureaucratic frustration, first day jitters, and well, nothing exciting..... So if you're reading this and it puts you to sleep, no hard feelings.

I have been in London for almost three weeks now. I almost didn't make it. OK, that's being slightly over dramatic BUT the visa experience was definitely stressful. Let me back up a bit to July when I came back home to Texas from Spain. My plans for the summer involved eating a lot, swimming, playing with Zoe, AND getting my visa. Essentially, it was the only productive item on my summer agenda. Now, at the risk of sounding pretentious, I consider myself somewhat of a pro when it comes to visas. This visa is my 5th work/study visa for Europe, definitely not my first rodeo. For those of you who have never gone through the process, let me sum it up for you:

1) Get a letter from school/company basically saying that you're expected and they're sponsoring you
2) Complete application for which all the steps are online (normally)
3) Submit application by driving to the nearest consulate or mail it in (depends on the country)
4) Wait

That's it! Now every country is slightly different, like England added in a bio-metric appointment that was required, but more or less the process is straight forward and easy. It just takes time. And important note, if the consulate has a time frame on its website of how quickly visas are processed, it is probably pretty accurate. England's website said 15 working days. So, knowing all of this, I contacted my school in July to start the process......I won't go into all the details, mainly because if you spoke to me at all this summer you already know them all. I apologize to everyone who was subjected to a "why can't people do their jobs?" rant. Long story short, my school was extremely late getting me the required information and I submitted my application about a week before my flight. Now, in retrospect, I know I would have been fine if I had missed the introductory week and even the first week of school, but another frustrating thing about the whole situation was that no one from London was communicating to me. It was like all my emails disappeared into a bureaucratic black hole...Anyways, fast forward morning of my flight and I am tracking with earnest the package that contains my passport and visa. Yes, the visa gods (or really, the UK consulate workers) performed a miracle and I received my passport 6 hours before my flight. Hallelujah! So that's how my semester started, slightly frazzled and a bit uncertain about the people I was about to be dealing with for the next year. It helped immensely that I was apologized to profusely during my first week. Side note: I am ecstatic that this is my last visa for at least a year.

So that brings me to my actual time in London thus far. I am extremely lucky because throughout the whole visa stress because I was not worried about finding an apartment. Nadia and Ronja (with whom I stayed last January) so graciously offered for me to stay with them until I found a place for myself. So here I still am, staying in their penthouse. I don't joke, it is a pretty amazing space for London. Light, airy, and when the weather is nice, you can climb out the window to the rooftop and soak up some sun. Yes! The weather has been nice! And no, I will not be mooching off the kindness of my friends for much longer. In a week I will be moving to a place closer to my school and it will be nice to finally unpack my suitcases. And it will be nice to be able to walk to school. The tube is pretty brutal in the mornings, everyone is so cranky. I have, however, discovered podcasts. I'm obsessed with "This American Life" and "Serial." I never understood the point of podcasts until now; a good one makes a commute actually enjoyable! Several times this week I've made myself walk slower on the way to class just so I can keep listening. If anyone has recommendations of other favorites, let me know!

Classes so far have been good. Mainly I am loving the fact that I am not the only student. Have I mentioned that I have absolutely no idea about any of my grades from Spain? That was such a frustrating semester. Anyways, my classmates here are great. There seems to be a wide range of experiences and backgrounds to learn from. Everybody has something unique to offer to the group. The class structure is a bit strange though. They're set up in "modules" which means that each class takes place over one week from 9:30 AM - 5 PM. Basically a whole semester of classes gets crammed into one week. We get coursework that has to be finished within 6 weeks of the course, and there are exams, but after the week of classes that's it. Of course we get breaks but still, it takes a lot of stamina (and coffee) to stay focused on one subject for so long. The classes are pretty interesting though and I am excited for all the courses. I think I am going to learn a lot this year. I am, however, nervous about writing a dissertation. Right now I have some vague ideas but nothing concrete. I've been thinking about a topic all summer as well....it's daunting!

Speaking of stamina, I'm done with this post. I really don't have much more to offer. I haven't done any sight seeing since I arrived because I've been more focused with finding an apartment, opening a bank account, etc. Very mundane. In fact, coming to London feels so different from when I went to Norway and Spain, everything just feels so easy here. I have lived in England before, I already know how to get around, I have friends, there is no language barrier....I often forget I am living in a different country! More surprisingly, I have absolutely no trips planned for the future because I am perfectly content staying in London. Who is this person?! I actually have a week off coming up next week, maybe I can take a quick train ride to Belgium, or fly up to Scotland....If for nothing else, I need some better material for my next blog post. This one is far too boring. I promise to work on it.

Back to Austin

I've been home for a week and already this past year already feels like a distant memory. It's weird. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving being home, seeing my friends and family, eating my favorite foods (I've probably had tacos for half my meals), driving, chatting with all the random, friendly Texans I encounter everyday (I forgot how open we are down here in the south! I love it), but it is very strange how quickly things just feel...the same. Right now it's nice, comforting, but I can already tell that the itch to leave will not stay dormant for long. Coming home really is one of the best feelings in the world though. I guess if things felt difference it wouldn't be home anymore.

Anyways, let's see if I can dust off my memories. This past month I did continue to travel around a bit before I came home and probably went to my two favorite places of the semester, Begur, a small town in Costa Brava north of Barcelona and Dubrovnik, Croatia. I'm pretty sure I've said this before but one of the benefits of studying coastal engineering is the fact that any visit to a coastline can also be described as "research."

The trip to Begur was just a spontaneous trip up the coast because I needed to get out of the city and many people had told me that Costa Brava, with its natural pocket beaches surrounded by hills and cliffs, was a must see. So after one afternoon of trying to figure out how to spend my remaining days in Spain, I booked bus and was on my way for a short two day vacation. Costa Brava, which I think translates to "Rugged Coast" is literally just that, the coastline in northeast Spain in Catalonia known for its cliffs and a mixture of sandy and pebble beaches. It's a place where the Spanish go when they want to vacation and I heard it's a region where a lot of landlocked Madrid city folks have second homes. Along the coast there is a variety of towns, some more built up than others, and after a bit of research I chose Begur, about a 2 1/2 hour bus ride from Barcelona. I immediately fell in love with the little town as I walked from the bus stop to my Airbnb, mainly because I had to walk across the town to get there and it took me only 10 minutes. The town itself is perched in the hills near to three different beach areas, Aigua Blava, Aiguafreda & Sa Tuna, and Sa Riera. It's very small, cute, traditionally Catalan, and not accustomed to many English speaking tourists. In fact, I think these two days were the only days of my entire semester where I spoke Spanish and only Spanish all day. It was a fun confidence booster. However, the one bad thing about Costa Brava is the minimal public transport. Because of the topography, trains are unfeasible in many areas and buses tend to only go between the larger towns. It's really an area where having your own car is the best method for getting around. As I did not have a car and was left with two options to get around to the beaches, cabs, or hike. Of course, I am not one to turn away from a scenic hike and I decided on the latter. My first day there I arrived at noon, dropped off my bag, bought some water, and headed off to find the trail to Aigua Blava, the furthest beach from Begur, but, as my host assured me, the one with the best hike. My host failed to mention to me though that apparently NO ONE ELSE hikes. It look me around 4 hours to get to the beach and the entire time I did not see one person on the trail; beautiful but slightly haunting abandoned buildings, yes, people, no. Granted, the hike was only supposed to take three hours but I got slightly lost and wandered in the wrong direction for a bit until I came to a very steep, impassable cliff and realized my mistake. I felt a little bit like I was reenacting scenes from "Wild." So no, probably not the smartest idea to be out there climbing around by myself but at least the scenery was worth it, as well as the final destination. Plus, I was able to take a cab back.

"The lookout of the crazy. Do you have balls?"

The second day was more of the same but less intense (and there were other people on the trail!) which was for the best. The hiking from the previous day, even though it wasn't for that long, completely wiped me out.  Begur and it's surrounding beaches is really something special. In the town itself, I actually felt a little out of place as a tourist because we were rare and doing our best not to stand out. It was charming. The beach areas, as you can see from the pictures were absolutely beautiful, pebble beaches with crisp, clear water, and again, not very many people. I really found my happy place on this short trip. I can only hope that the logistics of traveling and getting around the area continue to keep the larger hoards from Barcelona away from this area, especially Begur. A few more pictures from the second day before I move on....

After the trip up the coast, I came back with about two weeks left in Barcelona. I honestly did not do much those last two weeks but go to my favorite places, discovered some new favorites, and attempted to absorb as much of the city as possible before leaving. It was tough to say goodbye to such an amazing city and Spain in general. What an amazing country, I will be back.

Don't worry, the stories don't end there; that would be have been a boring end to the semester. Before coming home I was finally able to check off a place that has been on my list for a while now, Dubrovnik. I was there for 10 days on my own and discovered that traveling by myself is really fun! I only do whatever I want, when I what, and I meet WAY more people when I am on my own. The only downside is that I tend to completely throw any form of budget out the window when I'm by myself. This isn't a big downside, I think I deserve wine and oysters almost every day, but maybe I shouldn't take these trips all the time. You know, living within your means and what not.

I stayed in an Airbnb about a 30 minute walk from the old medieval town and about a 10 minute walk from a nearby beach and harbor. It was a perfect location though Dubrovnik is very small and has a good bus system so pretty much anywhere is a good location but I liked that this apartment put most of the city within walkable radius. I splurged a little and got an apartment for myself rather than a room in someone's house and this was one of my favorite parts of the trip, my own apartment. After living with 7 other girls for 5 months, having your own bathroom is one of the highest forms of luxury.
My first day I walked around the old town and the city walls. I didn't take any of the Game of Thrones tours because after walking around for five minuted you realize the whole place has probably been used in the show at some point or another. It's beautiful though, I mean immediately you understand why it was chosen to be King's Landing the minute you walk through the main gate.

From the nearby mountain lookout

The following days I alternated between going on tours and just hanging out at one of the beaches near the city. It is worth noting the loose definition of a "beach" in Croatia. Pretty much anywhere that a person can climb in and out of the water is a beach. Some of my favorite "beaches" that I stumbled upon:

The water in Dubrovnik is by far the best I have ever swam in, clear, crisp, and clean. I think that's why the oysters from nearby Ston are soooooooooooooooooooo good. It was hard to control myself.....

Nom nom nom

Other than eating oysters, I went on a couple of kayaking tours, a tour to Montenegro, and one extremely awesome food and wine tour of the nearby Peljesac Peninsula. We started out the morning on a boat with a breakfast of oysters, pulled from the sea and shucked right there on the boat, and wine.

The day continued with a visit to five vineyards and finished with a late lunch included more wine. Best. Day. Ever.

All in all, it was a great vacation. I chatted with locals (scored a couple of freebies from waiters through the powers of my immense charm), met many fellow travelers, drank new wine, ate good, fresh food... It was the perfect way to end this year in Europe.

Well, I believe we've come to end. I honestly thought this would be a short post but a couple hours later, here I am, still writing. Luckily, I am running out of things to say. I don't have any travel plans for the summer but who knows, maybe I'll take a weekend trip somewhere. I have to go back to Houston in order to get my visa for the UK but I doubt the details of that excursion will warrant a new blog post. So, I think this is the last post for a few months, at least until September when I move to London and start another journey. I wish everyone a great summer! Hasta luego!

¿Dónde está más vino?

Hello. It's been a while.

Honestly, I forgot about my blog for the last couple of months. Well, I didn't really "forget," as much as it just fell really low on my list of priorities. But now as I'm preparing to leave Spain in a month I realize I really need to record my favorite moments of the semester. As much as you, my handful of dedicated followers, might believe I'm writing this blog to keep you informed of my comings and goings, it's also for myself to have a way to remember details that always become blurred over the years. Of course, some might say I should buy a real journal to write in rather than posting my activities to the increasingly searchable, not so private, everybody has an opinion and wants you to know it, cyberspace. And to that I say, this is easier, I'm far too lazy to actually pick up a pen and write things down, and aren't we all slightly more narcissistic these days thanks to Facebook and social media? I mean, the whole world wants to know about how awesome my life is, right? It's really a better place for it. 

So. Let's pick up where I left off which was.... March....No, April.

Semana Santa

The week before Easter is like the Spanish Spring Break. Knowing this, I invited two friends, Kim and Ashley, to come visit me during this week. As luck would have it, Nadia also wanted to visit the weekend before Easter, so for a couple of days, I had three of my favorite people with me in what has become one of my favorite places. I don't think I had explored that much by then, with all of my travels at the beginning of the semester I had somewhat neglected Barcelona, but the best part about people visiting is that it gives me a reason to explore and try all those places that have been recommended to me. I got to act like a tourist and see some of the things (mainly Gaudi related) that I had been putting off. Plus, it just really makes me happy when my friends from different parts of my life get to meet each other. I actually get really excited about it because how often does that get to happen the older you get? In college it was easy, just throw a party, but it now that I travel so much and all of my best friends are spread out all over the US/world it is much more rare. To have Kim and Ashley finally meet Nadia, and all of them meeting my roommate Alexandra (who has been a huge influence on my experience here in Barcelona) made me immeasurably happy.

Parc Ciutadella

During the week, Kim, Ashley, and I flew down to Granada to see a city that many Spaniards themselves have described as their "favorite" and most beautiful city in Spain. I really wanted to go during Semana Santa as well because southern Spain is well known for its religious parades during the holy week. And let me tell you, these things are intense....and numerous. Before we went we wondered if we should find a schedule to tell us when and where to find the parades but on our first night there as we were racing against the impended death of my phone to find our Airbnb, we found ourselves navigating through two such processions. We quickly realized, a schedule would not be necessary, and probably averaged about three processions/day for the rest of our time there without ever trying to find one. I think the word "procession" conjures up more accurate imagery than "parade," they are really such somber, religious, events. From what I remember, the procession always consisted of two floats, usually one depicting the Passion of Christ and the other the Sorrow of the Virgin Mary, with each float accompanied by a marching band and marchers. Google tells me that these marchers are all part of a Cofradías or brotherhood/fraternity which have been in charge of these processions and floats for centuries. The floats, are really quite incredible. They're heavy, that's easy to see, and are carried through the streets by dozens of men hidden behind large curtains.

Granada is also home to tapas. Yes, you can find tapas everywhere in Spain but not like they do them in Granada. There, you buy a drink, you get tapa. Really hungry? Buy more drinks, you'll get more tapas. We only really stayed in places for one drink and moved on, "tapa crawling" our way through the city, but when we did stay for multiple drinks and tapas, the experience was that the second tapa was always better than the first. It's a fantastic business model and by far my favorite thing about our trip to Granada.

Of course, you can't talk about Granada without mentioning the Alhambra. My one recommendation for anyone going to Granada, buy your tickets to the Alhambra VERY early! We waited until the night before out flight left and after much searching, the only thing that we found was for our last day on a guided tour for about twice the price of a normal ticket. We bought them anyways because we really felt that it would be sacrilege to go to Granada and NOT see the Alhambra, many people had told me that it's one of the most beautiful buildings they've ever seen. So we went, and the tour ended up being OK. It is a very beautiful building, I mean the Islamic architecture and design is absolutely beautiful. However, I think overall, if I go back to Granada, I would not go back to the Alhambra. I much preferred walking around the city, especially the old Moorish quarter where we stayed, eating tapas, and viewing the Alhambra from the bottom of the hill (Though it's not very nice on the outside, it's still pretty striking to see perched on the hill. Especially the way it gets lit up at night).

Wine on our terrace with the Alhambra in the background...also our Christmas card photo for the year

Tapa crawling

All in all, I really loved Granada and highly recommend it for anyone vacationing in Spain. Most beautiful city in Spain? That I don't know, I haven't been everywhere in Spain, but I'm sure it is very close to the top of the list.




April

As for what I was doing in Barcelona during April, I don't really remember. A mixture of school and going out with my roommates I suppose. For several weekends I did not travel at all which was a nice change of pace compared to the previous months. It was during these months that my roommates and I found "our places" around the city... our paella place by the port, our cava place for cheap local bottles, our craft beer place with an owner we nicknamed "maestro" because he always helped with our Spanish, our coffee house that doesn't care if you only order a tea and sit and work for hours, our tapa place with 5 euro bottles of house wine and a delicious mixed tapas platter, and recently I found a place that makes a great martini (among other delicious cocktails). It's a new place to me now, but I think by the time I leave the bartenders will be recognizing me.  And of course, we can't forget my terrace, unofficially the best place in the city to sit and chat at night over a bottle of wine. So yeah, that was most of April. Yes, school was mixed in there a bit, but since I only had a few actual classes of school a week and the rest, self paced work on my own for a project, it was easy to divide my time between work and play.

At the end of April I took a trip to the Netherlands to visit everyone else in my master's program studying at the University of Delft. I've been to the Netherlands before, but only to Amsterdam. This trip I liked immensely more than that one, not that I didn't like Amsterdam, I did, but for this trip to the Netherlands I definitely Dutched it up more. It was awesome to see all my friends there, and they seemed to appreciate it because it gave them a bit of an excuse to relax from school. It was, however, disheartening to me to see the stark differences between our school semesters. Don't get me wrong, I don't think I chose the wrong focus for my master's and I'm very much excited about my year and my courses in London next year. However, I do wish my semester here had been a but more challenging and well, less self study. I have learned several things from my time here but the biggest thing is that I DO NOT like working on technical projects by myself. It's much nicer to have a peer to bounce ideas off of and to confirm or challenge your line of thinking. For me, my only peer was Google, and well, Google sometimes can take a long time to get to the point. Seeing all my cohorts in Delft talking about their classes and projects really drove this home for me.

Anyways, Delft is a very cute, very beautiful little city. The city center is situated around several canals and I think it takes about 15 minutes to walk across. But of course, nobody walks in the Netherlands, they all ride bikes. I'm pretty sure the Dutch come out of the womb riding bikes. I was lucky because my friends had an extra bike so I was able to do as the Dutch do. They make it so easy there! My biggest qualm about riding bikes in cities is the lack of bike lanes and being around cars. It makes me nervous, my biking skills are not what you would call "strong.". But the Netherlands have bike lanes everywhere! Hell, you can bike from one city to another without ever leaving a bike lane. It's magnificent. In fact, on one of my days there I did just that, I biked to the beach which took me about three hours round trip. Now to cyclists that may not be impressive, but for me it was a milestone, to actually use a bicycle as a mode of transportation and not simply for exercise. It is something I can see myself doing more often.

The beach in the Netherlands is pretty cool to see, from a coastal engineering point of view you can really see the Dutch have their act together, HUGE beach in front of a promenade/seawall/large dune. It's also just a really nice area in general. Side note, I love that I can go to a beach and call it "research," best major ever.

I was in the Netherlands for their national holiday "King's Day" celebrating the king's birthday. It's a pretty simple holiday, wear orange and celebrate with your friends and family by eating and drinking in the city center. At least that's how we spent it although there was far less orange than I expected. Maybe that's primarily an Amsterdam thing?

Canal in Delft

Central Plaza decorated for King's day

I also went to the Keukenhof, one of the world's largest flower gardens, to see tulips, lots and lots of tulips. This garden is only open two months out of the year, when tulips are in season, and it is simply breathtakingly beautiful. I went there only expecting to spend an hour or two walking around but ended up staying for about 5 hours. I could easily have spent more time there, especially if it hadn't been a rainy day. This year the theme of the garden was a tribute to Van Gogh and they actually created a Van Gogh self portrait out of tulips which was impressive.  I took a lot of pictures for once so you can tell I really loved this place.

May and June

Wohoo! I'm almost up to date! (I started this blog post on June 3 by the way, just for reference on how slow I am at writing these)

I have primarily spent May and June enjoying Barcelona. After the Netherlands, my school work finally started to pick up some which unfortunately also coincided with the weather in Barcelona becoming perfect. However, it's probably a good thing. I'm pretty sure that if I could work on my computer on the beach, I would have been there everyday after school and I am far to fair skinned to be at the beach that often. 

Also, I don't know if you heard, but FC Barcelona won La Liga, La Copa del Rey, and the Champions League, a treble. No, I have not become a huge football fan while over here, but of course I cheer for Barca whenever there's a game and even I don't have to be a huge fan to understand that this is a very big deal to Barcelona. Of course, I couldn't be oblivious even if I wanted to because every time Barca won one of these trophies, this was the scene outside of my room....for HOURS:

It was pretty cool to see all the celebrating after the Champions League win.  It really reminded me of when UT won the National Championship while I was in school. I think almost the whole population of Barcelona migrated to the city center just to celebrate the win. 

It's kind of a strange reaction, no? The team you support wins and your first reaction is, "Let's get in the car and drive around honking because we're so happy!" or "Let's walk to the city center singing because we're so happy!" I mean, people really aren't doing anything except walking in big groups, singing, and celebrating but it's funny that's an international reaction. It happened when UT won the National Championship, we all went to campus and people were jumping in the fountains and chanting the fight song over and over, and it happened when I was in Chicago two years ago and the Black Hawks won the Stanley Cup. People just like to be in big crowds when they're celebrating. Even if you're not a huge fan, it's hard not to be swept away by the energy and join in.

School is pretty much done for me now. It was supposed to be done earlier this week but got a bit delayed due to some frustrating changes to one of my school projects. All in all, this semester has overall been a bit frustrating. Some of my classes I really liked and others you could just kind of tell the professors did not want to be there. I learned some, but as I said before, I like to be challenged and, well, this was not a semester of challenging material.  However, all was not lost because I do feel like I have gained some good contacts with all the professors I've worked with here, and of course, I got to learn and improve my Spanish. I would say I'm now "tourist proficient," as I can order in restaurants, ask questions, have simple conversations about the day, etc. I have definitely improved since February and have a LONG way to go but I really plan on keeping up with my Spanish education even if it's just watching shows and movies in Spanish and practicing with Rosetta Stone. 

So there you have it, my last three months in a nutshell. I only have a couple of weeks left in Barcelona and it's depressing to think about. I really love this city and I have adapted well to the Spanish life style. Plus, it's that same sadness that always comes when you're leaving new friends without knowing when you'll see them again.....however, I still have a couple of weeks before that sadness really sets in and until then I plan on making the most of my time here. Plus I have much to look forward to in the coming months. In July, before I fly home, I'm taking a trip to Dubrovnik, Croatia, a place I've wanted to visit since before it was King's Landing. I'm really looking forward to getting this last stamp before I have to renew my passport this summer. And on July 13th, after almost a year away, I will finally be coming home to Texas for two months. I am really excited to see my family and friends but not going to lie, I'm also really excited about the queso, tacos, and BBQ I will consume in excess those first days back. Put your boots on Texas and get ready to two-step, I'm a comin' home!