Reasons I can't study right now

Two years ago, three of my closest friends got pulled over on the road that runs right by campus. All three are men of color. The white police officer had the power to pull them over. She gave the reason that there was someone in the back seat who “appeared to be moving around, maybe hiding drugs or a gun.”

I am not that police officer. That’s not me.

I didn’t get pulled over for my skin color. That’s not me.

In July, an American I never met and never saw was confronted by the police. He was a man of color. The white police officers had the power to detain him. They gave the reason that he was selling loose cigarettes. He protested his innocence. They immobilized him with force. They killed him. He lived in this country. He had a life, and it mattered.

I am not those police officers. That’s not me.

I am not Eric Garner. That’s not me.

I have felt disconnected from the Black Lives Matter movement. My white friends have felt disconnected. White people in general have felt disconnected. I struggle with this reality. But I have come to the following conclusion, and wish to express it. The disconnect that non-racist white people experience can be boiled down to a question: When we already treat others the way we wish to be treated, and when we don’t experience racism from police, how can we connect to Black Lives Matter? It is hard for non-racist white people to relate to Eric Garner’s killing and the problems it exposes for two reasons. First, we disassociate ourselves from the accused police officer: “We would never do that, that’s not me.” We are not part of the in-group that commits acts of violent, targeted racism. Second, we disassociate ourselves from the victim: “The police have never treated me that way, that’s not me.” We are not part of the in-group that experiences acts of violent, targeted racism.

With every new accused attacker I think, that’s not me. With every new victim I think, that’s not me. It would be hard to ignore that these terrible things have happened even if I wanted to, because they fill up social media and traditional media alike. But I don’t want to ignore it. I want to connect to it. However, it is easy to see why I struggle. It is easy to see why others like me tune out. It is easy to see why white people disconnect.

I do not like having to think about my friends in any other way than their just being my friends. I do not like having to admit that while I may see them as folks who inspire me and influence how I live my life, there are people in our country in positions of power who sometimes only see my friends by the color of their skin. I do not like having to think about their skin color, because it is not something normally I do. That’s not me.

I do not like having to think about members of my community in any other way than their just being members of my community. I do not like having to admit that while I may see them as other college students around campus, there are people in our country in positions of power who sometimes only see members of my community by the color of their skin. I do not like having to think about their skin color, because it is not something I do. That’s not me.

I do not like having to think about the Americans who I have not met and who I do not see in any other way than just being Americans like me. I do not like having to admit that while I may think of them as people with lives that matter, there are people in our country in positions of power who sometimes only see members of my country by the color of their skin. I do not like having to think about the color of their skin, because it is not something I do. That’s not me.

But I don’t disconnect just because that’s not me who pulled someone over for the color of their skin. I don’t disconnect just because that’s not me who killed a man. And I don’t disconnect just because that’s not me who has power and targets black people unfairly. I stand up because that shouldn’t be anyone.

And I don’t disconnect just because that’s not me who got pulled over. I don’t disconnect just because that’s not me who was targeted. And I don’t disconnect just because that’s not me who was killed. I stand up because that shouldn’t be anyone.

Don’t separate yourself from issues that matter, from other lives that matter.

Don’t let yourself say that’s not me.

Know that it shouldn’t be anyone. 

Top left: rectangular widows to the prison. Inmates audibly beat on the glass through their indoor metal window coverings, in rhythm with our chants of "Black Lives Matter." This image has been burned onto my mental hard drive for what would appear to be forever. 

Random Update (3.11.14)

Big thanks to the Davidson County absentee voter system for making it so easy to vote. I emailed them the PDF requesting my ballot, they mailed me my ballot last week, and I promptly mailed it off after an intense afternoon of googling candidates and propositions. A brief comment: the wording on ballots for propositions is cumbersome and inaccessible. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense for it to be so confusing. I would guess it is even more confusing for other people, especially those who don't have an amazing grasp of the English language. 

Anyways, going back to apple pies. Here's a silly article I wrote after spending the last few weeks baking apples pies from our Sunday apple picking. Be prepared! 

http://bcheights.com/opinions/2014/inflating-ego-easy-pie/

Yummm

It's all 12 of us! Billy takes all the credit for this photo... We threw a Halloween party this Friday and this was the centerpiece of the Facebook event.

This week I have 3 midterms, 2 problem sets, and a quiz that I just took. This is also known as "hell week" i.e. a week you spend in a library studying. Despite how stressful that may sound, it's actually been relaxing not to have soccer take over my life. So there's that. 

Happy Election Day Eve. 

Random Update (5.10.14)

I suppose I'll just summarize today, since today was pretty awesome. First I woke up around 10:00AM and began writing the article I would end up emailing to my editor a few hours late later that evening. Ah, sweet procrastination. Whoever decided guilt was the correct feeling to associate with procrastination was profoundly mistaken on the simple pleasures in life. Like apple picking. Pat ambled downstairs around noon and reminded me of his idea at dinner last night to go for a drive with some friends out to an apple orchard and enjoy the beautiful fall colors and the sun on a sunny Sunday sun sun sun. I believe I just broke the record for most uses of "sun" in a sentence! Forgive my lapse into the absurd. To continue with the day, Pat and I grabbed some lunch from Lower and waited for the three other troops to arrive (Jonathan, a good friend, plus Abigail and Jessie, also good friends but known for shorter periods of time). The five of us strolled over to Comm. Ave. and piled into our roommate Chris' van, which he kindly lent us for the day. We jammed out to some relaxing folk/americana/classic rock as we meandered through the Massachusetts back roads in search of crispy apples. Thankfully, we were a gabby bunch, and the conversation never faltered, especially with such diverse and witty characters as Jonathan (India) and Jessie (South Africa). We eventually made it to the road on which the apple orchard lay. However, seeing as it was a beautiful fall Sunday to pick apples, we recognized that we were not, in fact, the only ones to go apple picking. So instead of waiting around and proceeding at a snail's pace for the last mile and a half, we parked in a park (is that a pun? I don't even know) and walked along the road. I kept my eye on this one Nissan coupe the whole walk - we definitely equaled his pace the entire way. Once we found the orchard and farm house and farm store and cider donut (!) line, we knew we had made the only correct decision available for such a day. It was positively gorgeous. We wandered along some paths, vaguely following directions from stray apple-pickers, vaguely following our natural apple-picking instincts, and eventually arrived at the apple-picking-bag kiosk. We got 3 bags among the 5 of us, and off we went. It was a very human afternoon. Mitchell and Dad just left this morning, it was great to see them, and the weekend when they come back with the other familiar units looks to be a blast! 

Pat's driving. I'm shotty. 

Random Update (12.9.14)

Definitely my busiest semester yet. I switched out of writing an economics thesis and into two more classes, one with my old honors professor from sophomore year (he's the best) and the other one an environmental economics elective which I'm taking with Pat and Jonathan, two of my closest friends. This means I am overloading for my fifth straight semester at Boston College. It's a bit funny, because credit-wise, I could graduate in December as a Hispanic Studies major, and Physics/Economics double minor. But the plan is to finish the Economics major; hence, many classes. 

Here's the breakdown:

Monday
Econometrics Lab
10:00 - 11:00
Learning STATA, a data analysis program. Should be cool. Lots of computers and coding and things.

Environmental Economics
18:00 - 19:15
An interesting elective. Definitely interested in this sort of stuff. Seems like it will be a lot of cost-analysis and quantifying various effects of humans on the environment. Lots of resource management (water, oil mostly) as well as a bit of climate change economic policy analysis. My teacher is Turkish.

Tuesday
Contemporary Latin American Writers
10:30 - 11:45
Currently reading these Guatemalan short stories which are very cool. Addison and Ali, friends from Barcelona, are in this class with me. It's nice to have a Spanish refuge with them twice a week. Only drawback is the level of Spanish in the class. Even with regards to teachers, I was spoiled by awesome Spanish literature classes in Barcelona. BC is trying though, that's nice.

Econometrics
12:00 - 13:15
Arguably one of the hardest classes offered at BC, up there with organic chemistry, financial analysis, and various physics classes. Nothing too scary has happened yet. I'm hoping for a lot of math. If the scariness is due to math, I'll be fine. Economics in general should have higher math requirements (and also social science requirements!).

The Physics of Conventional and Alternative Energy
13:30 - 14:45
I finally have... a Jesuit teacher! For physics, no less. This class fits in very well with my economics class, actually. Currently we are going over petroleum and engines and efficiency and energy density and fuel mixtures and extraction techniques. Interesting stuff. This class also emphasizes the importance of water and oil and their finite supply. 

Macroeconomic Theory
15:00 - 16:15
Very cool time to take this class. Basically we start off every day with a discussion of current events (Scotland, their currency, and monetary policy come up a lot) and what the macroeconomics of various situations are. The lectures themselves are not too stimulating, but our Turkish professor is very engaging and begins every class with a pump-up song (and lets us email him suggestions the night before class). Yes, that's right. A third of my classes are taught by Turks.

20th Century Tradition I
19:00 - 20:15
The best end to the day. Marty Cohen was my teacher all of sophomore year. He is a powerful and influential teacher, but in a gentle and profound way. We are reading The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil right now, and I really like it. It is a bit of a collection of ramblings, but they have some strange sort of loosely organized meaning strung through them all which hold it together. 

Wednesday
Environmental Economics
18:00 - 19:15

Thursday
 Contemporary Latin American Writers
10:30 - 11:45

Econometrics
12:00 - 13:15

The Physics of Conventional and Alternative Energy
13:30 - 14:45

Macroeconomic Theory
15:00 - 16:15

20th Century Tradition I
19:00 - 20:15

Friday
No class!


So that's the breakdown. Busy Tuesdays and Thursday, and lots of classes overall. As for other things going on, there is club soccer, undergraduate senate, writing columns for the school newspaper, and a potpourri of less scheduled involvement. The guys I am living with are an absolute pleasure. Lots of witty banter, board games, cookouts, tailgates, a wine and cheese night, a big party last Saturday, and in general a great time. It certainly is something, all this involvement. I have found that I maintain pretty even levels of stress regardless of the situation, but that strangely enough I get even less stressed when I have a lot of things I need to do. So the involvement is fun and oddly de-stressing. It keeps me busy, but doesn't rule my life. Boston College is not an easy school to get into, but it is an easy school to get into, in terms of involvement. Just last Friday I was walking around the activity fair in one of the quads, and wow, I thought, there is just so much to offer. This fair was a collection of hundreds of clubs presenting themselves to (mostly) the underclassmen. I threw my name down for a few, on the off-chance that one of the mass emails from a club's listserv catches my attention and fits into my schedule. 

In more personal news, I banged my foot pretty badly last Sunday, so I will be taking this weekend of soccer off. We have our first home game on Sunday, which makes that less than enjoyable. The trainer is "pretty sure" it's not a fracture. However if the pain hasn't gone away by next Monday, I will be going to get an x-ray.

If anyone is interested in reading my first article for The Heights, here is the link: Heights Article

Barcelona reunion, with Tanja (top right) being the biggest surprise, visiting from Vienna, Austria.

We have purchased a hammock. I had a lovely nap on Wednesday afternoon. 

Put up my Catalan flag (called a senyera) for Catalan national day.

These are photos from some friends in Barcelona. Wish I could have been there. 

Random International Update (9.7.14)

I'm terrible luck for sports teams. The two years I was at Boston College, our football team had some of their worst losing seasons (only a few years earlier, they were #2 in the nation with Matt Ryan). Also in Boston, I watched the Red Sox fail to make it to the playoffs when they lost to Baltimore (go Orioles? I was conflicted). A year in Barcelona and Spain (well... Catalonia... but we'll say Spain for now) brought zero trophies from FC Barcelona, one of the most talented club teams in the world. They blew their chance to win the league on the last day of the season even though they boast a team composed of South American all-stars in attack (Brazilian Neymar, Argentinian Messi, and Chilean Alexis) and a legendary Spanish midfield behind them. But that was just Barcelona losing. Spain, as a nation, tumbled out of the world cup after (what everyone had assumed to be) the most embarrassing loss of the tournament, a 1-5 defeat to Holland. This was promptly followed by a loss to Chile, 0-2, thus completing their early return home. 

But my bad luck did not stop there. I decide to come to Brazil, and look what happens. Brazil's worst loss since 1920 (they lost 6-0 to Uruguay back then) and first competitive loss on home soil since 1975. The final score yesterday was 1-7, but the game was over after 28' minutes when Germany scored to make it 0-5. I was watching the game at a bar near Gávea, a neighborhood of Rio near the hill/mountain with the Christ statue. Well, I say bar. It was two bars with an open space in between, full of people. There were two covered areas (thankfully) because the torrential rains began about 20 minutes before the game started. Perhaps this portended their defeat, but who was to know. Everyone huddled under the clear plastic roof area. Great description there, I know. Anyways, large deposits of undraining water collected in depressions along the roof, causing it to sink and stretch the plastic. What did the crowd do? The crowd started cheering. It was a strange, illogical, mob-mentality wish to get collectively showered. A few staff members managed to manage the situation for select water deposits by poking small holes in the plastic with a makeshift contraption of a wooden staff with a thin wire fixed to the end. This worked surprisingly well, making the outflows of the depressions equal to the inflows. Once the rain died down, everything was dandy. But the floor was wet. 

The happy futebol mood quickly ended with Germany scoring many, many goals. A few people left before halftime. After halftime, Germany scored goal #6. This was the DJ's queue to turn off the television announcers and game noises, and start playing happy music. Everyone just kinda left the national team to suffer by themselves, moved to the disco lights, and started having a great time. It was an impressively quick turn around, and while obviously not every part of the country reacted this way, the small part I was in confirmed that Brazil knows how to be happy.

Backtracking a little now. Alex, Vinny, and I road tripped to Rio from São Paulo on Friday morning. São Paulo is on a huge plateau, so 90% of the way was downhill (a bit surprising during a 5 hour drive). On our approach to Rio, maybe 45 minutes or so outside, the road climbed and declined a range of green mountains. There was a nice view out the left side of the car:

We arrived in Rio around 10:30 AM and met Rafa and his family at his grandparents' apartment. We took our bags inside, only to find out that we would be staying with Rafa's sister and boyfriend at their apartment instead (they had spare beds). So we took our bags back outside. Vinny went with Rafa and his family to the Germany - France game that afternoon, and Alex and I watched the game on a huge screen on the beach with thousands of people. It was quite the experience. Later that night we reconvened at Rafa's sister's apartment, washed up, ate dinner, and watched the Brasil - Colombia match. Alex made an awesome Caipirinha for me. After the match we went to a party held at the horse racetrack nearby. Apparently they use it as a discoteca/club when the horses aren't racing. 

Saturday was a beach day. We got up early (9:30 AM is early, ok!) and drove to Rafa's old neighborhood (his parents recently sold the house and moved to London for work, I believe) and went down to the beach there. It was awesome. Highlights include playing keep away from a local puppy dog with a soccer ball, and the water temperature. It is winter here and the water is warmer than Santa Cruz! 

Nice little beach. We had to decline a grassy/rocky path that turned into just grass and rocks by the end. 

Juggling circle. Vinny took sneaky photos of us. That's Alex and Rafa, by the way (left, right)

The guys. Eduardo, me, Alex, Rafa, and Vinny.

Not a bad view from Rafa's sister's apartment! Rio sure is beautiful.

On Sunday night Vinny and Alex dropped me off at Luca's apartment. His family is super amazing and awesome. I fear they are making me eat too much, but that's the only qualm. We spent the first few days catching up on times from Barcelona and Brazil, since he had left in December. I've learned a lot of Portugues in the last few days, especially thanks to a poker night with Luca's friends and last night after the Brazil - Germany game. The best way to learn a language is to just jump into it, sound ridiculous, and make a fool of yourself.

Random International Update (3.7.14)

My first two days in São Paulo have been really great. I arrived around 5:00 AM to the airport and arrived at Alex's apartment around 5:45 AM. He lives on the 14th floor of a big building - there are a lot of apartment complexes such as his in this city. This city is enormous, slightly unorganized, and full of character. It is difficult to orient oneself because, well, it's just too big for that. There are five areas - the four cardinal directions plus the center. So far I have seen three of these areas. After arriving at the apartment, saying hello, and meeting Alex's dad, however,the only area of São Paulo I saw was the guest bed. This tour lasted three hours and was amazing. I slept extremely well because... Alex and his dad surprised me with tickets to the Argentina - Switzerland game! So Alex, Lucas (younger brother), and I headed out to the stadium around 10:30 AM for the 1:00 PM kickoff. The subway was packed, and the weather was pleasantly warm and sunny (cannot get over that this is the winter weather). The game was a nail-biter and was highlighted by the singing Argentines - this of course was met by all the adopted Switzerland fans, i.e. all of Brasil. Messi dribbled down and assisted the winning overtime goal, that sure was cool. I was secretly cheering for them, always have a soft spot for Argentina despite the criminal experiences. Afterwards we headed back to the apartment and went to see the USA game in a bar around the corner - heartbreaking game. But the food was delicious. First there were these meat empanadas with vegetable sauces. Then they brought out a mini grill to the table along with a long, raw, pre-sliced cut of rump steak. You cook your meat at the table! Cool idea - and it's easier than that sounds. After the game Alex and I met Andre in town after he finished work. I met Andre last fall and spent a lot of time with him all of that semester. He is currently working slave hours at Merrill Lynch - we spent an hour or so catching up and (in his case) eating (late lunch/early dinner for the 5:00 PM USA game left me quite full. Andre invited us both to his house for dinner on Wednesday with his family. After dinner Alex and I went back to the apartment and played some FIFA.

Today (Wednesday) was a day full of soccer. We woke up slowly, had lunch in the apartment, then biked over to the big central park of São Paulo with a soccer ball. We bought some fresh coconut water, then kicked around for a while until a group of other kids asked if we wanted to play a game, which of course we did. Basically, there is this enormous, grassy field full of happy people playing soccer. It was also a beautiful day. I could not have asked for much more, honestly. After the small game ended, we biked to the supermarket to help Alex's younger brother (he's 18 or so) and his friends pick up some meat and charcoal for a barbecue that night. Upon returning home, we decided to play more soccer with Lucas and his friends who he had invited for the barbecue. After playing soccer for an hour or so, Alex and I showered and headed out to Andre's house, which was about twenty minutes away by car. His family is amazing, and we had one of the best meals ever! A huge pan of risotto with, yes, more steak. All in all, a great day!

Best surprise ever! Was not expecting to go to a game!

The metro. Was. Packed.

See?

Pre-game warm-ups.

Argentina - Switzerland

Kickoff.

That's old, fat Brazilians Ronald on the right, in the blue shirt. Kinda cool.

The cathedral in downtown São Paulo. 

The best of guys!

Random International Update (30.6.14)

The time has come to leave what I can safely say is my favorite city on earth. It is not every day one is given the opportunity to meet so many new people, see so many new places, and add meaning and personal experience to things one has only heard about in books, or art, or movies. A big thank you to mom and dad for making this possible for me. Some parents might think twice about sending their kid to Europe on his own for a year. All though I am sure you did, in fact, think twice, I appreciate the way you hid this from me. 

I have spent all of the last two days saying goodbye to friends around the city, and while a hug or kiss or handshake can never do a friendship justice, they were all I could muster. 

I'm not sure if Gaudí actually said the following sentence or not. Regardless, té la veritat, and with it I will be on my way home. With, of course, a brief stop in... Brasil!

Els habitants dels països que banya la Mediterrània sentim la Bellesa amb més intensitat.

The inhabitants of the countries washed by the Mediterranean feel Beauty with more intensity.

Random International Update (4.5.14)

May is here, June is lurking, and I'm pretty sure someone pulled the plug on my Barcelona bubble bath, because my time in it is quickly slipping away. I have a pretty busy schedule until its end, though. It goes something like this:

Monday

Literatura Española 

9:00 - 11:00 AM

Another literature class for my Hispanic Studies major - the professor speaks quite quickly sometimes, especially when she tries to be clever and witty and make a joke in Spanish. Having class in the morning does not help me in my difficulties. Anecdote: one day a student entered the class unannounced and asked if he could make an announcement to the students about some social movement he was involved in. The professor politely responded that during the break (there's a break for a few minutes in the middle of class) he would be more than welcome. He couldn't do that, so he left. But because he and the professor were both speaking in Catalan during this break, the professor just continued speaking Catalan - much to the dismay of the Spanish and international students - for almost 15 minutes before someone let her know what she had done. She claimed she didn't even notice the switch. I'm unsure whether I believe her or not.

Català (A2)

11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

This is a language class. I am learning Catalan, and its amazing. Anecdote: someone was trying to say "I have two pets" and said "Tinc dos pets". In Catalan, the word pet means "fart". Our teacher laughed and called the poor girl's statement very surrealista. It was a kind-hearted laugh, just to clarify.

Lunch

1:30 - 2:00(?) PM

Generally a kebab (especially because of no more marathon training). But Makamaka had this amazing burger of the month... Brie, asparagus, caramelized unions. On a burger. Actually heaven.

Internship

2:00 - 6:00 PM

I work at an urban planning firm a few days of the week, helping with whatever my boss, Manuela, thinks I should help with. Recently they have been preparing a few electric motorcycle reports for the greater European Union - that, of course, means I've been translating a few of the more important documents to English for all the world to hear. The people in the office are very nice, and boy do they love that I try to speak Catalan!

Tuesday

Contemporary History I

9:00 - 11:00 AM

History of the world wars and the interwar period. Counts for my history core requirement at BC. The one catch - it's taught in Catalan! So Will has to pay very close attention. 

Amics de la gent gran 

11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

I volunteer with this group that sends people to accompany retired people who have few or no family to hang out with. Victoria is 92 years old, and awesome. But also had a cold, and apparently when you get a cold when you're 92, that means two weeks of bed time. So this is on hold. But it's a great experience.

Wednesday

Literatura Española 

9:00 - 11:00 AM

Català (A2)

11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

Internship

2:00 - 6:00 PM

Thursday

Contemporary History I

9:00 - 11:00 AM

Internship Seminar

11:30 AM - 1:30 PM

The five students doing the internship option also have a weekly seminar that talks about intercultural exchange and a bunch of aspects to it. Usually leave with something new to think about.

Friday

Literatura Española 

9:00 - 11:00 AM

Internship

11:30 AM - 2:00 PM (they end early on Fridays)

English classes

6:30 PM - 7:30 PM

No, I'm not forgetting English. I teach it, to small Catalan children in this one family. They're awesome, and it's always a great time. The kids are pretty small, so there are no intensive grammar structures covered... mostly just vocabulary.

Yeah those are my weeks. I thought they would feel stressful and busy, but it's actually very relaxing, still. Tuesday and Thursday look like beach afternoon days, and the weekend are more well-received after a full week, for sure.

Highlights from the last month or so:

Know your audience. Somehow I was elected despite the farcical nature of my campaign.

I sure messed with people in a great way on this Saturday in Boston - I slicked my hair back, put on a fake mustache, and had my friends who had already been duped introduce me to other people as if I were a different person. The reactions were priceless.

Not the most confident of faces, but there I am. Running. Final time was 3:02:00! There weren't that many people my age running around me, but I didn't expect to get 2nd in my age group! That sure was a surprise.

I cross the finish line on the far right.

An enormous bowl of homemade paella at Carlos' house in Sitges. About 10 of us made our way on the train down the coast to his house - he's an amazing cook and all-round excellent human. I'm actually on a roll with eating home-cooked meals in the last few days. One of the older guys who plays soccer on Wednesdays invited me to meet his family and have dinner for the Champions League game a few nights ago - his son, Derek, is my age, and they are all really nice people. Then Thursday, the BC crew had dinner with the homestay family of Sam and Addison (Sam - girl - is currently in the homestay; Addison - guy - was in a homestay with a family friend last fall). Another bomb dinner. Then Sitges and Carlos' house! What a great last few days, topped off, as always, with some Sunday night soccer.

Random International Update (14.3.14)

Traveling away from Barcelona is great, but it makes me miss Barcelona. A lot more than I imagined. Over the last two weekends I have been to Scotland and France, and it was a blast. But the part of me that wanted to see as much of Europe as possible in the months that remain has been completely snuffed out by the relative greatness of the city where I signed up to live and study. So anyways. On to happenings since the last post.

I saw The Monuments Men with two friends from school. Carolina is Italian, Mary is Catalan, so we spoke Spanish all evening, exchanging childhood stories and even drifting into Catalan here and there. The movie was eh. Mari (Italian, and in my Catalan class) and I did an oral presentation on cava, the Catalan version of champagne, in Catalan. At the end of class we surprised everyone with two bottles of the thing we presented. So, yes. We popped bottles in class. It was memorable. Two Fridays ago, Sam arrived from the USA on vacation from his work; he is hanging around until this coming Saturday and has been traveling to Glasgow and Paris with me to see our friends. The day after he arrived, we flew to Scotland.

Glasgow was very relaxing for a number of reasons. First, everyone speaks a variety of English. Second, Scottish people think southern accents are hilarious. Third, Alan's roommates were gone, so Sam and I had big beds to ourselves (we worked with Alan at camp last summer). We got to see the University of Glasgow, Alan and I bet on some football matches (only a few pounds), and we met Frazer and Ryan at a bar later Sunday night to catch up (those two lived on my floor in the residency here in Barcelona last semester). However, we turned in early, around 11:00 PM, because of an impromptu ski trip planned for early Monday! Driving from Glasgow to Glencoe, some mountains slightly to the north, we passed a serene lake called Loch Lomond and had great views of the countryside and water. At the resort, we rented what gear we had too, which was not actually that much because Alan's friends had donated some things to our cause, and headed up on the ski lifts to the mountains. We snowboarded and skied all day until the park closed, then drove back and showered to go to The Head and the Heart concert. The concert was amazing. I would see them once every day for the rest of my life, if I could. Tuesday Sam and I flew back to Barcelona.

After a few days of rest and recovery and homework, we flew to Paris. The first night, when we arrived, Sam was pretty sick, so we asked a taxi to drive us to a pharmacy to get medicine. The cab driver and the pharmacy worker were some of the nicest people ever! Take that, stereotypes. Anyways, after Sam had his medicine, we both got second winds, since we were actually within walking distance from the Eiffel Tower. So we walked there, took photos, and got a cab to the hostel. The next day we met Lorena for breakfast, walked around the Tuileries Garden, hit up the Louvre (too much art! honestly overwhelming), and then in the afternoon we met Miguel and had lunch, stopped by the PSG store, and went up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. After a brief rest, we reconvened for dinner with some other friends, named Sabrina, whom Sam and I both met on our Appalachia service trip almost two years ago exactly. I tried escargot and I liked it a lot, actually. On Saturday the tour continued, with the lock-bridge, Notre Dame, the famous "I love you" wall, as well as the beautiful hill quarter whose name escapes me, where we saw yet another big church. Above all, the weather was amazing all weekend. Under all, both Sam and I were slightly sick (I had a bad cough the last day/night). Saturday night and Sunday combined were probably the highlight of the trip - we saw The Head and the Heart again on Saturday night, and on Sunday we made a trip to Versailles on the train with Miguel, Lorena, Sabrina, and their friend Cam. Versailles is pretty ridiculous; I was more upset that people were so grossly rich during those times to build palaces and live that way, when the French people were dying. But the gardens outside were beautiful. We took long, relaxing naps on the grass, and it was great. We had an early flight the next day, and were both kind of sick and tired, so we turned in early on Sunday night.

This week in Barcelona I have been doing some more work for classes. I just finished a paper for my International Expansion class, which did not take long in itself, but the case it was on was about 20 pages and took a while to read. This Thursday I was devastated to learn that I had my Catalan final exam - not because I don't like exams, but because Catalan is by far my favorite class. My film class only has a final paper due late next week, and my history/culture class has a final exam around that time, too. Economics finishes next Tuesday with a final exam, too. Since I don't have class in the mornings, I've been trying to show Sam some of the more touristy parts of Barcelona - we went to Sagrada Familia yesterday. It feels good to be back in Barcelona.

Not a bad first night. It did feel a little strange though, because we were basically the only people out and about at midnight on Thursday. Sam and I kept saying that it felt like everything was especially set up just for us, kind of in a Truman Show style. 

Viva la vida

Good ol' Napoleon

This is French stereotypes in a car. The steering wheel is a beret, and the exhaust pipes are champagne bottles, to give you an idea.

Pont de l'Archeveche - or love lock bridge

Hunchback territory. Although Sam was convinced we were actually in South Bend, Indiana. 

The "I love you" wall has that famous phrase written in a whole bunch of languages, even Catalan (t'estimo)

Nice view on our walk. So many churches everywhere you turn in Paris.

Miguel and Lorena! So great to see these guys again. We are the year-abroad crew. 

Harrisburg, PA service trip reunion with Sabrina and Sam

University of Glasgow

Glencoe

Barcelona street art

One of my favorite caminos

The Head and the Heart in Paris

Alan, Sam, and I before the concert in Glasgow

The Head and the Heart in Glasgow