London Calling

We were originally scheduled to meet up with some of my sister's Yale SOM classmates at some bar but after lugging my giant suitcase up two flights of subway stairs and considering Cathy's general state of exhaustion, we cancelled.


The Hoxton is a chic, modern hotel just north of London's financial district.  Having travelled to London about four times in the last five years, I've seen the major tourist destinations and didn't feel at a loss to take it easy this time around.  Cathy obviously agreed and when we began our trip by canceling the first of our engagements, it was a no-brainer as to what came next: room service.

Midnight in Paris

…is supposed to be magical.  For those of you who’ve watched the film, you’d agree with me that Woody Allen makes it out to be this mysteriously beautiful time and place.  I was 16 the last time I went to Paris, at the height of any average person’s hyper-dramatic stage.  For many of us (and don’t deny it) it’s a back-and-forth dance between desperately hopeful romanticism and bleak fatalism, bossa nova in the sun and Elliott Smith in the dark.  So yeah, being 16 in Paris (Paris in the spring no less) is nothing less than magical.

What was Paris really?  We were tired, it was raining, our joints were aching, my sister’s feet were on fire, and there were throngs of tourists everywhere, just lines and crowds everywhere.  Our schedules were packed starting from 7 AM to beat the lines as best we could and we powered through sites and museums like fruit flies with only 24 hours to live.  Nevertheless, the charm of the city of love did creep in at unexpected moments and then I could really imagine saying, oui, Paris je t'aime.

La Despedida

And so the bittersweet farewell begins.  It's a long process and with my sister Cathy coming in this week, I started with the little things, like my favorite 1 euro snack at Picadero, patatas bombas, deep fried potato stuffed with meet served with garlic alioli and brava sauce.  

Patatas bombas

I also said goodbye to La Oveja Negra, a bar a lot of my fellow students frequented where they serve sangria and beer in "towers" with its own tap.  This farewell was not so sad.

La Oveja Negra

With my sister's arrival came the opportunity for me to experience a lot of Barcelona for the first and last time.  This was indeed bittersweet.

1 more week

My immune system decided to take some time off this past week and I've been sick since.  Really some great timing.  Nonetheless, I packed a little packet of tissues in my purse and was on my way.  The rest of my floor was off to Paris for the weekend come Thursday so I made other plans.  Like the Joan Miró Foundation.

Time is marching on without me

Without a big weekend trip to punctuate my weeks, the last two have just fused together without my noticing.  The lack of sleep certainly did not help.  I got back from the airport after my Rome trip at about 1 AM, did my presentation and slept by 3 AM, was in class and presenting by about 9:30 AM, and then had another 5 compositions/essays and a final exam to take care of.  Nevertheless, Monday was Independence Day and what is usually an extremely uneventful day for me became a day for me to sing "Americaaaaa, Fuck Yeah!"from Team America in my head for most of the day.  I felt proud to be an American for the first time in a long time and as momentary as it was, it was kind of nice.  To quote a friend on facebook (yeah, I'm going there), "hating America is so passé."  Is it wrong that I agree?  Am I getting old and jaded?  Can I no longer apply for membership to the great American counterculture?  Oh well, I never really wanted it anyway.

Roma, and not just the tomato!

And she's back from her week-long hiatus!  You'll have to forgive me but I've just had no time to update you all on my life and travels.  It was my last week of classes out here in Barcelona which meant handing in 4 compositions, 1 essay, 2 oral presentations, and 1 exam.  To be fair, I didn't study for anything so that didn't eat into my time but I wasn't getting any sleep and I still had to work for my internship.  But I'm complaining!  I'm finally done and I'm most grateful for my classes and my professor, Josep María, but more on that later.

Destinación: Roma, Italia.

First was the dilemma as to whether or not to go the weekend of July 1st when all the stores would go on sale.  I couldn't care less but the other Diana really did but we ultimately decided that the sales would still be there when we got back and the only other weekend we had left was the weekend of July 8th when we had only two days because of finals on that Friday.

Second was the plane tickets.  Tickets were supposed to be just 107 euro but prices jumped up 10 euro in just one day and then my debit card wasn't working on the site.  By the time I bought them with the help of the magical help of a certain Emily, the price had jumped up to 143 euro.  It gets worse.

Third was that there were no more decent hostels left.  It would be more worth it to just get a hotel.  So that's what we did.

Fourth, and this is the real zinger, I got to the airport only to discover that the ticket was under Diana V and not Diana Choi.  Excuse me but how many people do you know with one letter for a last name?  Not wanting to risk them not letting me on the plane, I had to change the name on my flight, price tag 353 euro.  The thing is that when I tried checking in online with my confirmation number, my name came up at Diana Choi and then it stopped working so I went to the counter when I got the airport at 4:30 am last Friday.  But then my debit card wasn't working so D.Lee had to lend me the money on her credit card.  

Less than a month left...

I know that most of you read my blog during your work week but I decided I'd post one more time before I go to Rome for the weekend.  Yup, no big deal.  Just gonna spend my weekend in Roma, Italia.