Random Update (16.12.13)

Around 4:30 PM this afternoon I turned in my last economics exam, and well I was really tired so I do not think I was actually that visibly excited but in my mind it was a nice relief to be done and done with everything school. Over the last week I've had two final papers, five exams, and in between I read One Hundred Years of Solitude for my literature class. In English. I had to read it quickly. Lots of studying. But now, my first trimester is over, and I only have a few days to hang out in Barcelona with friends before they all leave. Some have already left, and let me tell you, it is very strange. Allow me to briefly slip into cliché. It seems like we arrived yesterday. Time has flown. I don't quite believe all the photos I've taken when I scroll through my iPhone every once and again, because to have traveled so much and seen so much and met so many people seems to me as though it should almost take year. Such are the wonders of modern communication and travel. It is still hard to wrap my cabeza around the fact that (realistically) I won't be seeing most of these people again for a long time, if ever. Well, besides the folks who are staying in Barcelona for the rest of the year (or live here permanently). Those people I am very excited to see again after New Years. And it looks like I'll be visiting the two Scottish guys on my floor in early March, because The Head and The Heart are touring Europe briefly and are playing in Glasgow. And Paris. I'm going to Paris to see them too. Back to back weekends with my favorite band and great people! Something to help outweigh the more sad thoughts as the trimester ends. 

Museo nacional del Prado - Madrid

Everybody say, "Hola Velázquez!"

Yup, there I was.

Imagine Dragons concert! Bought the tickets for this in June. It felt so far away at the time, and for it to have come and passed already is rather strange. How is it December, again?

My friend Andre, from São Paulo, and I went around on bikes on Saturday afternoon. It was gorgeous outside. I borrowed my friend Pera's "Bicing" card, which is the public rental bike system in place here. Unfortunately, you need to be a permanent resident or have a Spanish bank account (or both?) to have a card of your own and use the service. Hence the borrowing. 

This is a good photo to end the year on, don't you think?

Centennial

I was not planning on writing an update tonight. I should be reading the rest of a medium-length Spanish novel called El reino de este mundo by Alejo Carpentier. But I could not resist. During the reading, I tried to think of a similar phrase in Spanish for "last resort" to write in a note bubble of the PDF file I was reading. Something weird happened though. I could only think of a Catalan version of the phrase, "l'ultima ressaca", which I knew from the title of a song a Catalan friend had recommended to me a few days earlier. On top of all this, I have acquired a almost-perfect ear for Portuguese after hanging out with Brazilians so often. During conversation I have to respond in English or Spanish, because I basically only know how to say "I'm hungry" (estou com fome) and "I understand everything you say, but I only know how to say what I am saying now" (Eu entiendo que você estás dizendo. Eu só sei falar o que estou dizendo). I am in a linguistic melting pot.

Happy 100th Hole to Heaven