Welcome to blog number 6. However, I believe it is my seventh or eighth week here. It goes by too fast, but there is plenty more to look forward to. For instance, I booked two more trips: London this coming weekend and Geneva, Switzerland the following weekend. Also the weather is getting gradually warmer. The afternoons in Barcelona are now over 60 degrees (Fahrenheit, of course) and it hasn’t rained in a while. I’ve recently realized that one thing people are curious about from back home is the differences in culture. At least, that is what I would be curious about. So now I’m going to try and sprinkle in some observations I see to each blog to give those in the states a better idea of cultural differences.

One key thing to keep in mind is that Spaniards prefer a happy life over a productive life. In the US, being successful and making the most of your time is very important. In Spain, it’s alright to be a little late or to spend a little bit more than one should. This philosophy governs the thought processes and culture of Spain. I’ve already talked about the eating and sleeping schedules some, but here are some other observations I’ve made:

• People never eat or drink on the go. I might have already mentioned this, but here people separate time to eat and time to work. In the states many people drink coffee or eat a bagel while walking, driving, or working. Here I rarely see anyone carrying a coffee while walking.
• Nobody drinks plain milk. I’m lactose intolerant so neither do I, but here they think it’s just weird to have a glass of milk.
• Most clothes are dried on clotheslines. Many people own machine driers or have access to them, but most prefer to air dry despite having limited balcony space.
• Too many guys wear spandex leggings at the gym. Maybe it’s ethnocentric for me to think that. I’m sure many people enjoy seeing that. I just don’t prefer to see guys in skin-tight pants.
• Barcelona is in a region called Catalonia, where Catalan is spoken. Everyone here grows up learning both Catalan and Spanish. Most signs here will display instructions in Catalan, Spanish, and English. The two languages are very similar, but the Catalan people are very proud, like Texans. And like Texas, they talk often about independence from their country. Actually, I believe they will hold a referendum soon to vote on it, like Britain did. If they left, it would be detrimental to their economy. The region is about the size of Delaware and is very integrated with both Spain and the EU.
• Everything is in the metric system. You probably already knew that, but in case you didn’t, Spain and most of Europe also uses Celsius temperatures, days before months in dates (20-2-2017), and the military clock (24 hour).
• There is no sales tax and nobody tips. This actually saves a lot of money when going out to eat or buying things in general. Waiters/Waitresses are paid full wages instead of tipped wages. However, Barcelona has one of the lowest minimum wages of anywhere in the EU, but rent prices are high and still rising. So Barcelona shares that trait with many US cities.

Those are a few things, I’ll add more when I think of some. Now I’ll recap this weekend. Earlier last week Sam and I both bought tickets to Menorca, Spain. Menorca is an island off the East coast of Spain. It is accompanied by two other islands: Mallorca and Ibiza. Those three make up the archipelago called the Balearic Islands. Mallorca is the largest and most populated of the three. Ibiza is world famous for its nightlife, boasting three of the top 20 nightclubs in the world. Menorca is known for its quiet, serene landscape. It is less densely populated and has small towns that are far apart. Far is a relative term, since the island is less than 30 miles wide.

Sam left on Wednesday because he has no classes and flights were cheaper then. We booked a three-bedroom villa with the capacity to hold six people comfortably. This was with the assumption that Cole and possibly Eva were going. Despite giving Cole my best sales pitch, he was somehow convinced that it would be cold and therefore not fun. The weather wasn’t 70 degrees, but it was sunny all weekend and I only wore long sleeves at night. Anyway, I was banking on him going to bring the whole cost of the trip down. He bailed, whatever, I left Thursday night.

Getting to and navigating through my first foreign airport alone was a little stressful, but I made my 7:00pm flight. The flight was 30min, I timed it. The shortest flight I had ever been on, by far. I ended up missing my connecting bus by 3 minutes and had to buy a cab to the main bus station otherwise I would miss the bus that would take me across the island. After a long wait, I eventually arrived in town at 10:30pm.

The town was called Ciutadella and our villa was about a 20-minute walk from the town. Sam met me at the bus stop and we went to search for food. We quickly discovered that although Menorca was a part of Spain, it did not share all of the same customs. For instance, nearly every place is closed after 9:00pm. We ran around worried that we would starve that night but eventually found a bar that would serve us. The owner had to microwave the food he had left because he hadn’t made fresh food in probably hours. The food and beer were badly needed after a stressful day of traveling.

The island gave me the impression that it was a great place to retire: sparsely populated, mild climate, beautiful landscapes and ocean. Also the fact that the stores and restaurants fit the schedules of older people. We went to bed soon after we arrived home to get an early start on the next day. First thing we did was get groceries and rent bikes. The bikes helped quite a bit. I was tempted to rent a Moped, but considering I’ve never even ridden a dirt bike before I made the conservative choice. We returned to our villa and made breakfast.

Our villa had a pool and the ocean was a 2-minute ride away, but the weather wasn’t quite warm enough for swimming. I told myself before the trip that no matter the temperature, I was dressing like it was 85. It was between 55-62 degrees throughout the day, so naturally I sported a white polo with Birkentocks. However, most people on the island were bundled up like they were ready for the long winter. I guess being in great weather for so long makes you soft.

After breakfast, we departed to see the ocean. The view was beautiful; we were able to see a lot of the coastline. One drawback was that we were standing on a rocky cliff instead of white sand. The rocks were actually very cool, eroded into interesting shapes and forms by the water. Before reaching the edge we saw a brick circle built around a hole in the rocks. I could tell it was deep, but I couldn’t see to the bottom. I was just glad someone built a wall around it so tourists like me wouldn’t fall in. I had fun climbing up and down the rocks near the cliff for a while when I saw a possible path that lead close to the water. Obviously I had to try it. So I climbed and traversed down the rocks until I was inches from the ocean. Then I looked to my right.

Right there was a huge cave with water crashing into it. I called Sam down, and I walked in. The cave was probably 15-20 feet high with various pockets of light casting beams into the dark. It was like my dream of being in an Indiana Jones movie had come true. I began climbing around half expecting to find an old skeleton somewhere. The ceiling was dripping and there were small puddles of crystal clear water on the floor. I made my way to the other side of the cave to find a small pond where the water could just barely sneak under the overhanging rock. I looked up and saw a circle of light coming from 30ft above my head and realized that was the hole we walked by. It made me sad that I probably wasn’t the first person to discover it, but at the same time I found it completely unprompted. We just happened to book a place that was near a section of shoreline that had that cave. I was channeling the true spirit of adventure.

Also I’ve decided that if I have an inheritance to leave my kids, I’m going to give them a treasure map once I die that leads to that cave. So if you’re reading this, don’t tell my kids.

That was the highlight of the trip for me. The rest of the day we spent riding around the town, which was really pretty. The streets were narrow and the buildings were colorful. My bike chain broke at once point, but Sam fixed it. We went to an old watch tower and some churches. Overall, a good looking, laid-back town. At night we went out riding again determined to find one single bar open past midnight, with no luck. Since it is February, it is the offseason for Menorca so that was a factor.

The next day we returned the bikes and rode the bus back to the airport. The bus ride was during the day so I was able to see the landscape of Menorca for the first time. I’m writing this on a short week because I wanted to record it while it is fresh in my mind. This upcoming weekend I’ll be in London, so I’ll have a separate post for that. Life is pretty great, I’m a lucky person to be able to do this. I think about that a lot and I try to appreciate it. Thanks for reading.

Enjoy your day and your life,

Jack

P.S. I started doing yoga classes through ISA. I missed the first two but I went to my first one this past Wednesday. It was my first time ever doing yoga. Very relaxing at times and very difficult at times. Overall I liked it.