First stop: Barcelona

When I finally arrived at Blanca’s apartment right off Plaza Real in the Barrio Gótico I took a nice 5 hour nap, followed by some tapas (small plates of food—so you get to order a lot of them), and then about 14 more hours of sleep! The next day to gradually ease into a new place, I went for a walk just like I might in San Francisco, except I was walking slower, looking around me more, had to think harder before I spoke (to make sure my words came out in Spanish), and also, I had no idea where I was going.

I was happy my feet directed me toward the beach where there were plenty of people in the water, although I’m pretty sure none of them were Spanish (if you live in Barcelona, summer is already long gone). I saw several people collecting rocks as they walked along the beach. Since I only recently had taken great pains to lighten the load of my backpack, I resisted the temptation. Instead I climbed on this:

Luckily I have a friend from college who’s been living in Barcelona for 8 years on and off, so my wonderful aimless wanderings were only during the day, and then I always had Jon’s company for dinner!

Jon’s newest job is giving gastronomic (fancy word for “food”) tours, so he knows all the most delish spots to eat. As a vegetarian, the three most common dishes I’ve experienced are: Patatas Bravas—these are like home fried potatoes (sometimes crispier than others) with a slightly (barely) spicy mayonnaise sauce; Tortilla Española—potato and egg omelets, but fluffier than the omelets they make in the states because you cook it in the shape of a pie; Pan con tomate—in some places they let you make it yourself so I learned how—you rub garlic on your lightly toasted bread, then drizzle olive oil, squeeze and rub tomato on it, couple dashes of salt and yum.

I also got to hang out with Jon’s roommates including Jose from Cadiz, Spain (who’s one of the only people I’ve met who loves sleeping almost as much as me!) and Jackie, who’s Indonesian and German. Here we are on Halloween 🙂

Although Halloween isn’t a Spanish holiday, they heard about it here and so mainly teenagers and young adults celebrate by painting their faces white with dark circles around their eyes and fake blood around their mouths. There’s no trick-or-treating (poor kiddos, happy teachers!)

One last note about Barcelona for my students who love random facts and mustaches: Sunday, November 1^st, my last full day in Barcelona, was also the start of Movember— a far lesser-known event than Halloween, but no less important. Movember is an organization that raises money for men’s health, but is better known for turning the month of November into an excuse to shave your beard and sport a moustache (for charity!). Since one of Jon’s jobs is repping the ingenious “moguard” (that protects your moustache when you drink), we went to a big, mustachioed party complete with food trucks, dance floors, and of course barbers eager to craft moustaches.