A tale of three moms

When I was interviewing (yes, a legit 45-minute interview) to move into my current flat, my roommates sat me down and said they were different, and that they live like a family. Since they are from all over Spain and don´t have family nearby, it was important that home feels like home. I loved the idea, and I now know why...

I have three moms in Spain. My roommate Elena, since we don´t have heat, constantly tells me "Abrigate!" ("Cover yourself!") and to eat my vegetables. She even force feeds me new weird Spanish vegetables which are great when you know how to cook them.

My roommate Cristina is the fruit nazi. I love fruit, but she commented last month that she never sees me eating any. So, I know show her my banana and clemintine peels, apple cores, and pineapple scraps everyday. It´s become a ritual...I think she´ll be grossed out soon, but she asked for it.

Maria, the ED Director who I work most closely with, is awesome. Last week, she asked if I got my flu shot. I hate unneccesary shots/medications, but she, like my mom, made me get one. She physically dragged me to the department, told her I was an employee (lie), that I was willing to receive the shot (lie), and watched the nurse inject me with the vaccination.

Afterwards, she invited me to her house for Sunday lunch to meet her family and show me her town. Her family is perfect. They live out in the suburbs in a 5 (yes, 5) story house. Her husband is a doctor and the CEO of another hospital in Barcelona which I will visit in February. Her two daughters are adorable...Carla is 5 and Gabriela(?) is 14...they asked me to be their sitter when their parents go on date night (terrrible idea). Her husband, Rafael, cooked up a vegetable soup, baked corbina fish, a veggie cassarole, and homemade pizza-bread. I brought homemade brownies for dessert, which the kids ate up. We took a stroll afterwards, played frisbee, and visited the Catholic Monestary in town which dates back to the 12th Century. Her kids asked if we had anything that old in America, to which I responded, no, we have no history.

I sent her a thank you email last night for their hospitality to which she responded: "Espero que mis hijas algún día, dentro de 10 años, encuentren un chico como tú! Ja, ja." ("I hope that my daughters, one day, in 10 years, find a boy like you! Haha!"). Always the bridesmaid, never the bride...

Some friends and I met up to watch the Barca game last night and realized we only have 5 months left here. I have so much left to do and see...it´s hard to imagine how quickly time has flown by. I know I have a life to get back to, but I´ll never forget my 10-month Mediterranean siesta.

This weekend I´m heading to London, Oxford, and Brighton to see a slew of UNC and Winston friends.

Next weekend = Barcelona Half Marathon

And the following week, I´ll be "working" from the Canary Islands. Spring Break #1, here I come...

Talk soon

The Show Goes On

Today, I finished the last of my grad school applications. Tomorrow, I celebrate by taking a trip up to Andorra to visit a few friends and ski fresh powder in the Pyrenees.

I've been in Barcelona for a little over four months and I'm wondering where the time went. I think I've accomplished a fair amount so far, most importantly gaining the respect of the department heads. When I started out at the hospital, they were pretty skeptical (as was I) as to what my purpose would be. Now, they are sometimes worried if I don't show up. The secretaries are my favorite, as we often tell jokes (mainly at my expense) and chat about the hots and nots of barca-life.

The next few months here will be pretty exciting. Most of my research travel is around Feb-March so I can finish my papers in April-May. Aside from that, I'll be gone at least 2 weekends a month until June.

It's been awhile since I spoke with some of you…just know I think about my friends and family back home a lot. But also know I can't imagine myself anywhere else.

One of my friends suggested doing a year-in-review through your Facebook posts. My status on September 28, 2009: "Barcelona was amazing…I'm going to live there one day"

Religion...kinda

Being in Europe has left me with a lot of free time to think, and my recent topic is organized religion. A month ago, the Pope came to Barcelona to consecrate La Sagrada Familia and a lot of news surrounded religion in Spain. Some 70-80% of Spaniards were raised or consider themselves Catholic, but less that 10% attend Mass. More astonishingly, I learned that about 99% of Danes (people from Denmark) don't believe in a religion.

Most of you know that I was raised Muslim, but I consider my belief more by chance than by choice. I say that because I was raised to believe in this religion by my parents, just as they were raised to believe Islam because of their parents. This isn't a bad thing...most people believe what they are taught. Of course we learn religions for ourself, but very few take time to learn the detail behind other religions and convert to something else (I'm getting to a point, I promise...).

This past weekend, I visited Rome and we made a trip to Vatican City to check it out. I will say I was in awe by the sheer grandiousness of it all. To get to the Sistine Chapel, you have to navigate through 4km of art and exhibits from around the world. You have entire rooms that were paitned by Raphael during the Renaissance. And then finally, you get to Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel, which honestly, looked about the same as all the other art you find inside basilicas across Europe.

This made me think more of my religion. The only art you see is mainly caligraphy of scriptures from the Quran. While my Arabic is rusty, I like that I can make out words and read sentences when I see the writings on books, walls, or carvings. These pieces of art are valuable, but they in no way match in comparison to what the Vatican has.

It is estimated that the Vatican is worth over 2 billion euros...no one actually knows the true number. Regardless, this money, if donated, would be enough to virtually end world hunger. I know what you're thinking, and I think it too...if we donated the money we spend on war to charity, we, too, could end world hunger. That's not my point.

I find it hard not to criticize the Vatican for it's emphasis on money. I may be slightly bitter after spending 20euro in entrance fees, but I just don't get it (the hajj, or pilgrimage for Muslims does not have an entrance fee...). With an organization as strong and powerful as the Vatican, I find it irresponsible not to leverage your influence and help better the world we live in.

My friend Sam and I got to talking and he comes from a long line of Catholics, but he doesn't associate himself with the church. A few qualms he mentioned...one being the ambivalence of using the holdings of money to feed the world, and two, the Catholic church's view on the use of contraception. Recently, the Pope alluded it's kinda sorta okay to use it to prevent the spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS. What about the unnecessary abortions that could be avoided if Catholocism endorsed realist responsibility? What are the lesser of the two evils? Just something to think about...

I hope this doesn't offend anyone and I assure you that it was not my intent. Here's my kvetch for the year...you know where to send your thoughts.

On a related note, my parents are in the process of booking their pilgrimage trip and offered to take me with them in April. Out of all the places I am planning to go to, this has immediately become the one I'm most anticipating. Happy holidays all...talk soon.

Home Away from Home

While holidays are ample in Spain, 5 day weekends are not. This weekend is important because the following Monday and Wednesday are both Spanish holidays, making Tuesday the puente. Add that together and you get a 5 day weekend (except for me, who will be working most of this week..)

On the eve of the busiest travel weekend in Spain, all Air Traffic Controllers decided to strike, thus grounding all flights in all airports. Christina and Jose had plans for the past two months to fly to London and visit Jose's brother who just moved there. Both their mothers also came to Barcelona as they were also going to London, but unfortunately they are all stuck in town.

Because I was staying in town, two of my friends from Valencia came in to visit and explore BCN. I also organized a Mexican Fiesta at my place, where I made chicken fajitas, black beans (not out of a can…), fresh pico, and others brought the guac, rice, and bebidas. The night started out well until Rosemarie had severe eye irritations and began losing her vision due to her contacts. This happened to my brother last year and it was pretty serious. I called my hospital and asked if we had an optometrist available and my colleague, Dr. Miro, assured me we did. Worried that Rosemarie would get lost on the subway, Jose and his mother offered to drive her to the Hospital and wait with her. I haven't been in Spain long, but I've never seen anyone here go that far out of their way to take care of someone they just met. Sure people will offer advice or direct you places, but hardly ever will they treat you as their own. This reminded me a lot of home, and especially of my parents who go out of their way to help people they just met or people they don't even know.

Unfortunately, when the got to my hospital, the optometrist decided to peace out for the holiday and they were sent to an eye clinic on the other side of town. Again Jose and his mom accompanied Rosemarie and Nora, got them settled at the clinic, and helped explain things to the doctor. Champs. Plain champs.

They made it back in time for the end of the fiesta. We learned Rosemarie has the equivalent of small cuts on her cornea. She has to wear eye patches. Like a pirate. But, everything will be okay.

Next weekend, Zaragoza. The following, Rome. Talk soon.

Thanksgiving

I think I celebrated Thanksgiving 4 times last week, but I do have a lot to be thankful for. My brother and I used to joke that everytime we come home to our parents house, we automatically gain 5 pounds. My mom will cook anything and everything we want, and we, of course, stuff our faces with it. Not because we don't eat well on a regular basis...there's just something about home cooking...

I arrived to beautiful NC just in time for my dad's birthday. The surprise visit managed to stay a surprise until the end. My parents were happy and sad to see me at the same time. I kinda understood this, I guess. They got used to life without me for the past 3 months, and now, they would have to start all over again. Precious.

I was able to see most of my friends throughout the week and into the weekend. Mrs. Lockwood moved our traditional pre-Christman meatball night to Thanksgiving weekend because I was in town...yeah, that's love. I got to enjoy a little peace of fall...a tailgate, football saturday, and a bar-b-que.

My parents also decided on their trip to Europe. They're planning to take about 2 months and go just about everywhere. They are taking me along to Sevilla, Cordoba, Grenada, Morrocco, Egypt, and Saudia Arabia with them. While awesome, that adds a little fuel to me getting all my research done in time so I may enjoy all the gallavanting.

Sadly, one thing I have taken for granted was heat. While my roommates are awesome and I love living in Gotico, my apartment has no heat. My feet are perpetually cold, and I contend that it is the worst feeling ever.

Talk soon

No Shave November?

Buenas all...it's been some time since my last post and I know you all are a little curious as to what I've been doing with myself for the past few weeks. Well the answer is...lots! I'm currently laying flat on my back on my first class seat back to NC for Thanksgiving. The trip is a surprise for my parents, and hopefully I'll get in just in time for my dad's birthday dinner.

After my trip to Figueres/Cadaques/Girona, I knew it was time to buckle down. I spent about 4-5 hours in the library studying for my GMAT each day...couple that with my research at the hospital and you'll understand if I've been slow to respond to emails or return phone calls. I took the GMAT this past Friday and while I always feel I can do better, I'm pretty happy with my score and it places me in a competitive standing for the schools I'm applying to. Now on to finishing essays...

Research has been going unexpectedly well. I've been working on a Toxicology Study surrounding an overdose patient which ended up costing over 175,000 Euros and requiring 3 months of treatment in the hospital. Initially, our goal was to sum the costs associated with just emergency care, as we wanted to show alternative methods of treatment. From here, I decided to look at opportunity costs, a very “American” concept of economics as I was told. Essentially, I wanted to show the board what the hospital could have done had they not had this treatment. This includes looking at financial numbers for the average cost of patient's with the same DRG code and their average length of stay (LOS). I want to show two alternatives...the losses the hospital could have avoided in treatment (they were not reimbursed for the full cost of this patient, thus losing money...) and the number of other patients that they could have treated. I presented initial results to the Director of Toxicology at the hospital, who happens to be the top Toxicologist in Spain, and he loved the idea of opportunity cost. I'm surprised why it's not used more, especially with Socialized medicine. There is a limited amount of resources (money) and someone has to choose who is treated and when. This particular patient, who was on their third suicide attempt, cost a lot. The patient also received a liver transplant in 2 days, whereas most patients wait months on the list (sidenote, in Spain, everyone defaults to an organ donor unless they specify otherwise, even tourists..). I would hate to be the person that is in the position to prioritize care amongst the population, but I can't help to question whether the resources were best spent. How many hip surgeries could we have performed for grandmas across Spain? How many breast cancer treatments could we have provided to women? I don't know exactly where my research will go, but I hope it makes people think about alternatives. That said, I will be presenting my work in January at the National Conference on Toxicology, and soon thereafter be published in Spain's Journal of Medicine. Pretty exciting stuff (nerd alert)

I feel like I'm also settling in pretty well to life in Barça. My pace has slowed down a bit and I take more time to breathe in the experiences. More and more I feel like a local. Many people will approach me and ask me directions in Spanish, and when I reply I don't sound completely retarded! I'm keeping up with my rock climbing and soccer-ing as well. Jose just spent 500euro on new gear and we have an excursion planned when I get back from the states.

And finally, after my exam last Friday, I sat down and made a list of places I must visit/see before I leave Spain. I will measure the success of my year abroad with the number of stamps I add to my passport. Here goes:

Zaragoza, Spain – December 10-12

Rome – December 16-19

Andorra – mid-January

London/Brighton/Oxford – late January

Sevilla, Cordoba, and Granada – early February

Lisbon, Portugal, Madrid, and Marrakesh, Morocco – late February/early March

Canary Islands – mid-March

Geneva, and the Swiss Alps – late March

Mallorca/Ibiza - April/May

Prague, Czech Republic - April/May

Berlin, Germany - April/May

Cagliari, Sardegna - May

Athens, Greece

Amsterdam - May/June

Dublin, Ireland

Istanbul, Turkey – June

Nairobi, Kenya – June

Armenia/Georgia – July

Seoul, South Korea – July

Auckland, New Zealand – July

HOME - July

If any of you readers are interested in joining, let me know. Pretty pumped for the rest of my time here! Talk sooooon(er)

Ps, I haven't shaved since April...

I'm on the Pursuit of Fall

A quick play on words from Kid Cudi's song "Pursuit of Happyness" (link)...but lately, I have been on the pursuit of fall. Fall is easily my favorite season. The crisp air, the crunch of leaves beneath your feet, gameday/tailgating at UNC with friends, Indian/Pakistani Thanksgiving with my family, the first frost, cool morning runs...I could go on and on...

Unfortunately, Barcelona does not celebrate fall. The temparate climate, lack of trees, humidity, and late mornings are all new experiences which are enjoyable, but form a routine that gets tiring. The past two weekends, the rest of Team USA and I ventured outward....here are our stories:

Montserrat

Over the Dia de los Santos Puente, we took off for a daytrip to Montserrat, the Catholic Monestary outside of BCN. The train ride was long and pretty industrial, but as we turned the final corner, you could see the base of the mountains, and at the very top, Montserrat. It's a common saying that you don't pass into Catalan adulthood until you climb Montserrat to see the sunrise or the sunset. To confirm our transformation, we made our way up the 1200 stairs and twisting trails. The weather changed 20 degrees from base to peak, but for the first time in a long time, I saw greenery, trees, and the colors of the leaves. It reminded me a little of the mountains in NC...

We enjoyed a nice little picnic at the top, and proceeded to climb a few easy rock faces. After completing our circle, we spent a little time sightseeing and began our trip back home. All in all, a great break from the usual.

Girona-Cadaques-Figueres

Team USA needed out of BCN, and after some great recommendations from friends and colleagues, we rented a little VW and hit the road. Getting out of the city was a bit tricky, especially with the Pope making his way to town for the opening of La Sagrada Familia. First stop: Figueres

Figueres was Salvador Dali's hometown and the site of his museum. We arrived in Figueres, had an amazing (buffet) lunch, and walked to the museum. Unfortunately, they closed for a few hours for "unknown maintenance" so we hit the road for Cadaques.

Dali's house is right outside Cadaques, and it's where he lived til his death. He invited many famous artists to stay with him, including Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, and Antoni Pitxot...it was a brotherhood of sorts. Cadaques is a small town on Costa Brava, known for it's rocky coast. We explored that for a solid couple hours, making our way over the caves and down to the sea. The amazing rocks are formed by the tramontane, the strong winds from the north which come for days at a time, making walking outdoors impossible.

After a coffee break, we made our way to the hotel. Our town was deserted as it's offseason in the Brava, but we were accompanied with two buses filled with retired Spaniards. After a quick bite, we passed out...exhausted from the day. Sunday morning we were on a mission to see the Dali Museum in Figueres. We got there early and spent at least 2 hours walking around. It was the definition of sensory overload, but I enjoyed learning about the strange artist from Catalonia...

Our last stop was Girona, a town 120km outside of BCN. They were wrapping up their city festival so we stopped by the tents and mercados to check out the scene. Fall in Catalonia means new tastes and smells...chestnuts, breads, and new sweets to try. Our friend Azareen showed us a little of the town, including a great Catalonian/Moraccan lunch spot, and a trendy Jack Johnsony coffee shop. Izzy spent most of her time picking up leaves to take back to BCN...I told you we missed fall...

Another week down...I've registered for my GMAT...d-day is on the horizon friends! Well wishes and positive thinking are always welcome.