Insert Witticism Here

So I noticed I hadn't blogged in a while and ultimately, I can't blame it on busyness, only laziness. How sad, but I do have some updates.

• I'm going to Madrid this weekend for their pride week finale. I hope I'm not too disappointed considering last year, Madrid was host of EuroPride and close to a million people showed up. This trip will also be my first one out of Barcelona and a chance to hang out with friends from last summer!
• Hopefully on this trip I'll be able to rein in my tendency towards getting fucked-up-drunk. Not to go into too many details, but I had an episode of drunkeness last week and ended up needing medical attention. But the bright side was I fell in love with socialized health-care.
  
• Tomorrow the consulate is celebrating the 4th of July and I'm getting paid 100 freakin' euros to serve pizza.
  
• Speaking of work, I recently moved to my new office; basically it's a big room divided between two sections by a wall of filing cabinets. The worst part, my chair sucks and hurts my bum. But my boss is leaving to NYC for two weeks soon and I'm getting some real responsibility. Not sure how I feel about it yet.
• ...And, my job comes with impressive perks. Like free tickets to a concert held in the Palau de la Música Catalana, the inside of which was breathtakingly beautiful. The music (an arrangement of military-themed pieces to celebrate a Spanish victory over Napoleon), not so much.

Oh, and of course, the Spanish are the champions of Europe.














My favorite pic is where they're throwing their coach (who's like 80) in the air.









And while I'm pretty much in love with all the team, my new goal in life is to get the goalie, Iker Casillas, to marry me (cuz it's legal in Spain).










Yes, Spain, the perennial under-achievers, defeated Germany and the country went nuts. The major squares in all the big cities became scenes of revelry on a Sunday night. In the Plaça Catalunya, there was mayhem, but it was very exciting, especially because the Catalans have tried for 300 years to forge an identity separate from Spain. The rivalry between Barça and Real Madrid has always been seen as an expression of this thirst for separateness. I like my Spain whole, so it was very heartening to see not one Catalan flag in my brief walk around the plaza.

But enough about politics. It was a joyous night that I was lucky to be part of, as could definitely be said about my entire time here.