Espana! Home of the all ham diet!

Holy moly, it's been a really long time since I've updated this thing! The most notable event since my last posting was my first vacation. Yup, after working for three weeks, I got 10 days off for Toussaint - All Saints' Day. In total, I get 7.5 weeks off, thanks to the amazing school break calender here. Sorry to all my friends working 12 hour days at home who get only Christmas and New Year's Day! I'll be thinking of you!

I chose to spend this break in Spain, even though my Spanish knowledge is limited to "Si ves algo, di algo," from the subway posters. I flew into Barcelona for a few days of solo sightseeing. Barcelona was beautiful and warm, and the people were very friendly. I hit all the major touristy sites, including the Sagrada Familia, and Parc Guell. My greatest achievement was getting the EU discount at the Picasso Museum by speaking French to the guy at the welcome desk. Holla! The Gaudi architecture was really cool to see (obviously), and I was excited to see the sun and walk around in a t-shirt. I also ate many tapas, of course.

Next I took an overnight bus to Madrid to meet my friend Michael, who graduated with me from Wash U. He graciously agreed to host me for the weekend in his sweet apartment right off of Gran Via. There, I continued my strict regime of binge eating ham products. Delicious. Unlike in Barcelona, where I was alone, I went out to some clubs and "experienced nightlife" in Madrid. On Saturday we decided to celebrate Halloween and went out in costume until 8:30 am. Not too many others were dressed up, and Michael got called out on wearing green and gold. Who knew those didn't go together? The 8:30 am thing was tough for me - I won't lie. It was really fun to get to see friends from Wash U (additional shout out to Miranda for hosting me one night!), and of course, to take a break from my extremely strenuous work schedule.

Getting back to France, I had to go straight to my immigration appointments in Rouen, which involved a LOT of waiting. For some reason, something like 40 of us were scheduled for appointments at the same time and only one doctor was available to see us. What? Inefficiency in France? Quelle choque! Luckily, the doctor couldn't have been sweeter, which made up for the waiting. Also, I forced my friends to play lots of 20 questions with me while waiting, and it turns out that that game is still fun.







Back in Le Havre, back to work!