I've had some issues with network connectivity, so thus far this is the only pic I've managed to upload (emailed from iPhone over wifi a couple of doors down from my office...never mind where I was :) Anyway, this is where I'm at, and should be pretty much every day for the duration. I saw on Facebook that an old college friend of mine is now living in Calgary. Which reminded me that I did a co-op semester there, happened to be during the 1988 Olympic winter games. And it struck me: being here in Barca is very similar to doing a co-op semester. Only 20 years later, ha ha :) Mind you, the co-op semester in Calgary would have been about 4 months, not just the one. I seem to have forgotten most of the details, however :) Gotta go catch the train back to town (about an hour commute each way). Tonight after dinner I'm going to head out to watch Barca v. Inter Milan—the semi-final match in the League of Champions. I'm told that around here everything stops when Barca plays. Which brings back another parallel memory: Barcelona, to me, is similar in many ways to Montreal. A large reason for that comparison is the cultural distinction the Catalans embrace as do the Quebecuois. Furthermore, Catalan, the language, is a kind of mixture of Spanish and French. So hearing them say "D'accord" for example, reminds me of Quebec. And the somewhat curious neural association (in my head) between Spanish and French (when I want to think and speak in Spanish, French bubbles up to the surface, it's really weird and somewhat annoying) also brings up the Montreal association. I feel like accenting everything I say with Tabarnacle! or one of my other favorites. I'll have to ask my friends here if they have their own colloquiusms.
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