Barcelona

With my sisters working on their Trek Trips, I returned to Barcelona to see Josh and Rebekah. They live in the historic Gothic district with beautiful old buildings and tiny narrow streets. It’s very charming. After a quick tour of the city, we went a friend of his who was having a traditional Brazilian BBQ. In the evening, we went to a launch party/ celebration because another friend had just opened up a high end clothing store in Barcelona featuring designer wear from Denmark. Hanging around Josh is like being at the United Nations. There are always people from 10 different countries, who are married, or dating someone from other nations, and living in a third country. It’s quite impressive. I didn’t left the fact that I don’t know Spanish prevent me from speaking Spanish. I even managed to talk about the psychosocial aspects of hereditary cancer. (When a person has cancer, it’s not good…when a person has cancer very young, it’s more bad for the family. It’s difficult to not have a mom or dad when you are young. I work with people like this.) My conversations skills were probably helped by the free champagne they were serving.

The next day, Rebekah returned from visiting the States. A trip to the coast of Spain would not be complete without a dip in the Mediterranean. So we headed to the beach in the late afternoon before having a dinner party back home with a grad school friend of Josh’s. Seeing the sights of a destination can certainly be fun, but what I really enjoy are the intimate dinners with great friends that last way into the night, discussing customs in remote countries visited, parallel universes, and the best place to buy chocolate.