madrugada delirium

Perhaps starting a blog in the wee hours of the night after insomnia has taken hold (call it jet lag) isn't the best idea, but it seemed like the thing to do. Plus, watching olympic gymnastics just wasn't cutting it.

I'm hoping that these posts will help me keep track of my research experience here in Barcelona as well as serve as a place to report on what I hope will be interesting people watching, one of my favorite pastimes.

Last time I was here, one afternoon spent on a bench in the Plaça Catalunya resulted in two sort of entertaining encounters with strangers. The first was a very passionate cubano who fancied himself the second coming of Julio Iglesias. He was nice and not unattractive, but I could tell that he might get a little grabby if I had accepted his offer to go out dancing, or even worse if I had accepted his invitation to watch the sunset from the cable cars on Montjuic. Muy romántico! Grabby might be fine if you're interested in someone (maybe), but otherwise it's just annoying.

The second visitor was more hilarious. While Oscar, the cubano, seemed sincere and was probably a nice enough guy, Michel (a Catalan who grew up in France) was awkward and seemed a bit cold. He had sort of an engineer guy quality about him. He wanted to know if I would have coffee with him, and by that time I really just wanted to be left alone to read my book so I said I couldn't just then. Then he asked me what my sign was and when I told him Scorpio he got up and left. He didn't say "well, I should go" or "Scorpio? I hate Scorpios" or even "oh", he just sprinted off as if I had just insulted his mother or something. I found it totally funny.

Well, with any luck, there will be more Michels and Oscars in the Plaça Catalunya. I guess I should try to at least rest my eyes for an hour or so more before I get myself ready for day two of the time adjustment game.