A Taste of Barcelona

Yesterday morning when I got to work, I finally got to meet the head of the cardiovascular department, who had been out of town.  As far as I can tell, he's the head of all things heart-related for both the hospital and the research institute, so he's always very, very busy.  We met him on the stairs up to his office; he was heading to another meeting, so we had ours on the way.  He seemed like a jolly guy, although a wee bit overwhelmed.  To make up for the brief meeting, he also stopped by and checked in with me several times during the day.  Of course, that could have been because our lab was filled with delicious food all day.  Ellie, one of the women in the lab, had her birthday over the weekend and decided to bring in food today to celebrate.  Given that her is the third birthday this month, she decided on savory over sweet and brought in lots of authentic Barcelonia ham, which in this case is more like a cross between prosciutto and beef jerky.

It was delicious, though, and she put out bread, olive oil, and tomatoes to help us enjoy it (as if we needed help).  Everyone in the lab was very excited to have me try my first Spanish ham and kept asking me if I liked it. I did.

Beside having a new favorite person in lab (Ellie, Goddess of Food), I also have a new conversation friend.  Her name is Kelly, and she's an adorable woman probably in her 40s who desperately wants to practice her English with me.  She stops by the lab whenever she can, squeaks out a few sentences in English, turns bright red, and hustles off to check on patients or samples or whatever calls her attention at the moment.  Other people in the lab have been reaching out, too.  Neus, who I think is a veterinarian, invited me to watch their pig surgery on June 4th and said she'd explain everything to me, if I wanted.  So, me and a pig's innards are getting personal a week from Monday.  In July, the younger members of my lab are also getting together for dinner, and I'm now invited to that, too.  And today, I'm going to the beach after work with Sergio and Paula, which is guaranteed to be hilarious.

At lunch, I finally had the opportunity to try camarones, or squid.  My first chance was in Madrid, which has famous squid sandwiches, but I had just stuffed myself with food when I finally came across one of the sandwich shops that I couldn't bring myself to buy one.  In the cafeteria yesterday, though, they had fried squid ring things, so I decided to try it.  The people at my table warned that it would be the worst version of squid that I'd try, and I hope they're right.  It was overbreaded poor-quality calamari with only a thin squiggle of chewy squid inside.  Disappointing, but it sparked some fun conversations about food.  We also discussed traveling in the US.  We were all laughing about how tiny Spain is compared to the US, what parts of the US people have been to (it's often random states like Minnesota, Idaho, and Ohio... and always Florida), and how I should travel before I have kids and lose all my freedom.  This last bit was the input of the two men in the lab with kids, Ignasi and one of the veterinarians.

After work, I went for a long run to the beach, because it was a beautiful day.  I try to take a new route every day, so I get to see a little bit more of the city.  Then a relaxing night, and some good sleep.

Spotted: Probably the only free bathroom in Barcelona.  About halfway through my run (aka about 4-5 miles from my apartment) I really had to go to the bathroom and panicked, because Barcelona doesn't really have public bathrooms and most stores won't let you use theirs unless you buy things.  This was confirmed by the several stores that I stopped in, which had merciless owners.  I decided the best thing was to stop at a hotel, because they usually have bathrooms in the lobby.  And, even better, to stop at a really nice hotel, because all of the staff members are so busy falling over themselves being polite and attentive and helpful that they never would dare offend you by asking whether you're actually staying there.  Plus, the bathroom will be really nice.  This was accomplished by stopping at Hotel Arts Barcelona (http://www.hotelartsbarcelona.com/), which is gorgeous.

Success.  So, travelers, if you need a bathroom, simply put on your snooty face and fake it until you make it (to the bathroom).