Travessia al Port de Barcelona

As a farewell to San Francisco, I participated in a swimming event from Alcatraz to shore and then a run across Golden Gate Bridge and back. Upon arriving in Barcelona, I learned of a swimming event here in the port of Barcelona! It seemed like a perfect introduction to the city. There are a few differences between the San Francisco swim and the Barcelona swim... First of all, the Barcelona swim was free, whereas in SF I had to pay to subject myself to the open water. In San Francisco I had to pry myself out of bed at 5am to check in for the swim, while it was still dark outside, and waited for the ferry to take us out to the starting point while shivering in my wetsuit. I checked in for the Barcelona swim at a leisurly 9am and then hung out in the port, sitting in the sun, listening to music, wearing just a swim suit. The race was set to start at 11am, but ended up starting a little late, as is customary here, at 11:30am. In San Francisco I had to sign a waiver upon checking in, whereas in Barcelona I simply told them my name and they gave me my cap and number without even asking to see an id. Both events included a ferry ride to the starting point of the race. In San Francisco, the start was very organized, with 3 people jumping off the boat at a time, under the direction of event staff. In Barcelona, the whistle was blown and swimmers began jumping off the boat from every side, anywhere they could! In SF the water was cold with a 2mph current and plenty of waves, making it difficult to maintain a direct course. In Barcelona the water was warm and tranquil, with no current or waves. The Barcelona event was slightly longer at 3km versus 2.4km for Alcatraz (1.5 miles). In the end, both events were enjoyable yet challenging. Each seemed to have its own culture. On the ferry in Barcelona I met some of the local swimmers who told me about swim teams and swimming events in the area. The swim went well and I ended up getting 15^th place among the women (with a time of 51 minutes). Afterwards there was a party on the beach for all participants with free butifarra (traditional Catalan hotdog) and beer. It was an enjoyable event and exciting to see what swimming events are like in a different culture.

Home Sweet Home

I moved into my apartment on Sunday. I had been staying with my friend Ana and her parents, which was great. They took very good care of me and I felt like part of the family! However, it was nice to finally unpack my suitcases and move into a place of my own. I´m actually living in the same apartment I lived in last summer. It´s fantastic place. I have four roommates, all from Spain. There is a lot of open space including a large kitchen and plenty of room for dinner parties. We even have a piano. The move wasn´t difficult since I only have two suitcases, but I´m already accumulating more stuff! My second night in the apartment two friends came over, my friend Ana and another friend who is about to move to San Francisco. That night all of my roommates happened to be home too and we ended up having a dinner party with seven people! Those unplanned dinner parties are the best. We had homemade pumpkin soup, Spanish omlet, and pa amb tomaquet (bread with tomato)! The apartment is located right in the center of the city (near La Rambla), and it´s easy to walk to restaurants, bars, stores, plazas. There is a festival going on right now in Barcelona called La Mercé and many of the events are very close to where I live. It´s been easy to walk to concerts and other events. Nights can be a bit noisy, but it´s definitely worth it. I´m very happy with the place.

Work Life

I started working last week at CENIT, a transportation research center associated with Universitat Polytecnica de Canalunya (the technical university here). I worked there last summer too, so I somewhat knew what to expect coming in. Most of the people working there are PhD or Maters students from UPC. I recognized many faces from last summer, so it was nice to see people again! I´m slowly getting settled in the office, meeting new people and getting used to the daily routine. I´m working with the same professor I worked with last summer, who specializes in public transportation projects. I´m working on two projects right now. Last summer I helped develop a model to create an efficient bus network, and they have since updated the model. I am updated the paper, describing the new attributes to the model. The paper is in English, and being the only native English speaker in the office, I´m the ideal person for the job. My other project is applying a similar bus network efficiency model to the city of Barcelona. Right now there are many intercity bus routes that operate between nearby towns and Barcelona. We are going to recommend route changes to those routes that will hopefully improve the efficiency of the overall transit system. For me it´s really exciting to be able to actually apply some of these technical models to a real world situation. But it hasn´t been all work. Last Thursday night many of us from the office went out to a good-bye dinner for someone who is leaving CENIT. Afterwards we went out to a bar and ended up dancing until 3am (my professor included). Somehow everyone made it to work the next morning, but I definitely came in late! It´s a fun group in the office. I´m looking forward to getting to know everyone better. I´m also happy to have found some interesting projects and I hope I can be productive!

I´m Back!

After just about a year away, I´m finally back in Barcelona. Whereas last time I arrived knowing no one in the city, this time I arrived to find friends waiting to greet me! Three friends came to the airport to give me a warm welcome. I´ve been staying with my friend Ana and her parents while I look for an apartment. Staying with a family is the perfect way to start my stay here and get accustomed to the culture. They´ve been very welcoming and I´ve been able to speak Spanish everyday. I spent the first weekend hanging out and going to the beach. If I´m going to live in Barcelona, I need a tan! Then I took the new high speed AVE train to Madrid for some Fulbright Commission meetings. I met all of the other American Fulbrighters in Spain. Most of them are teaching English in Madrid and the rest are doing research in various parts of the country. There are about five of us here in Barcelona. The research topics range from music to immigration, biology, art, law, etc. I´m the lone engineer in the group! Well, at least I´m unique. It was interesting getting to know everyone and hearing their stories. I was also able to meet up with a few friends who live in Madrid and go out for tapas, of course! So far, so good!