Smoking in Barcelona

My first day of work was, to put it simply, quite something.

I woke up and was nearly unable to get out from under the covers, as it was really. really. cold.  And I hadn't even eaten anything yet (hardy har har).  Anyway, I dragged my butt out of bed because if my run didn't go properly, my day wouldn't go properly.  I was glad that I did.  I've been getting the most out of my laminated city map, which takes enormous amounts of sweat and abuse on these runs without tearing the way the free ones do.  I took a new route to the water today (including one unexpected side trip in the wrong direction) and had the entire coast to myself.  Well, it was split between four of us early-bird runners, but I got a far larger share of the open sky than I did yesterday amongst the crowds.  It's such a calming way to start your day when you run by the sea.

Further bucking Barcelona trends (being an early bird with an early bedtime was the first one), I indulged in a large and luxurious breakfast.  You can take the girl out of We Believe In Breakfast Country, but you can't take the belief in breakfast out of the girl.  Side note: am I the only one who never realized that Special K Red Berry had more than just strawberries, or are they serving some knock-off at Yale? I swear it looks different here.

Even though my new principal investigator (aka Grand Poobah of the Lab) Ignasi

had told me to come in at "10 AM, or later if you're jetlagged," I jumped on a 9 AM metro... just in case I got lost.  This resulted in me arriving at the hospital (Vall d'Hebron) half an hour early, and there is nowhere to sit down and bide your time there.  I made my way over to our building, which is called Mediterannea

and finally met the faceless Spaniard with whom I have been communicating for the last five months.  And he's great.  Beside being the nicest man alive, he is also hilarious and really laid-back.  And even though he knows that I have only done 1-2 NMR samples of basic chemicals in my life, he is giving me free reign over the laboratory's only NMR machine for an entire week in June to run samples from hospitals around the region.  Pretty sweet.  Good thing he doesn't know about that ultracentrifuge that I destroyed last summer (thanks for being chill about that, RB).

The morning tour included being introduced to all the hilarious and laid-back people in my lab, who range in age but all have a sort of spark in their eye.  It's a very... playful atmosphere.  Lots of joking.  If it was filmed and we had a crazy boss, it might even be like the office.  The morning also included several trips upstairs to complete all my paperwork and receive two or three large welcome packets written entirely in Catalan.  The secretary apologized and smiled at my shellshocked face.  I don't think she knows that I secretly read all written material that I am ever given.  I even read some of those Terms and Agreements things that everyone else just checks off.  Not all, just some.

I have a fancy new ID card

that lets me scan out clean lab coats, get into the secret entrances of the building, and buy lunch.  Very nifty.

Most of the day was spent reading literature.  If you're curious about the connections between magnets and organs you get from other people, I'm your girl.  In fact, I may be working on a literature review of the subject, which weirdly dates back to the 1970s.  People were tossing around kidneys and magnets then, too.  Other parts of the day were spent discussing a young-people-in-the-lab party weekend in Sevilla at Sergio's house (Sergio sits next to me, and is kind of the best), the whole lab grabbing lunch together so that I could get to know people (hmmm... maybe that makes Ignasi kind of the best), Ignasi trying to find me running buddies in the lab, and, oh right, my laptop charger going up in smoke.  Literally.  Now I know that the title of this post totally made you think that I'd become one of these Europeans with know-it-all swagger who smoke, but I'm not that desperate for friends.  Especially friends who smell rank. Instead, it was my charger that succumbed to peer pressure, and we have now parted ways.  Luckily, Sergio and Paula sprung to the rescue (who does work in the lab after 3 pm, anyway?) and found me a store downtown with a sale on universal chargers that should fit my Sony laptop.  Instant BFF status has been awarded to both of them, especially when Paula then started playing with those inflated plastic pillow things that act as padding in boxes.  Note: Paula is the oldest student in the lab.

Other exciting tidbits:
- This morning, I accidentally swiped my metro pass for the wrong stall thing and got locked out of the system when I tried to use it again.  This resulted in me vaulting over the turning bar thingy that you usually push through.  Good thing I had all that practice jumping fences in high school!
- While getting my charger, I also picked up a SIM card for the phone that my parents fabulously lent me and am getting dangerously close to being social and forsaking hermitude.
- I have arranged to have dinner with Naaman, another Yalie in Barcelona this summer, who I have been corresponding with via e-mail but have never met.  Stay tuned for more on my mysterious internet friends.
- Contact has been made with Dhammika, the girl I met yesterday.  Perhaps I shouldn't have been so sarcastic about forsaking hermitude.

Spotted: the words "Estada Formativa" on my new ID for the hospital.  For those of you that don't speak Spanish, this translates directly to "Formative State" or as Google translate romantically counters, "Formative Sojourn."  Not sure what they're expecting from me.
Also spotted: this Tumblr, which is hilarious and which I have tried to show to as many people studying abroad as possible: http://thetimeistudiedabroad.tumblr.com/
Special shout-out to Dad with this one (remember this exact conversation right before I left?): http://thetimeistudiedabroad.tumblr.com/post/22741788052/when-i-ask-my-dad-if-he-will-rescue-me-like-liam-neeson
And this one pretty much sums up my day today: http://thetimeistudiedabroad.tumblr.com/post/22841386209/whenever-someone-talked-to-me-for-the-first-month (it's even harder when they keep saying how well you understand/how good your Spanish is)