The 3-11 Workweek

Hola ladies and gents. Brain is extra smooth today so the quality of this post is going to be questionable. Let's recap the past week.

I fly into London on an overnight redeye and arrive on Thursday morning. Not much to report there other than I abused a $100 gift card to Starbucks and saw the main tourist stuff. Queen Lizzy did not make an appearance at Buckingham unfortunately. I try to go out on Friday night but I don't find a bar without a massive lineup so no thanks. Saturday I fly into Barca in time for nighttime festivities. At the airport heading there I meet a couple of 20 something year old American vacationers so we plan to hit the bars together that night. I make it to my airbnb around 930 pm, worried that I won't have time to get my stuff together in time for the club but then I find out that the club doesn't even open till 1am. 1 minute into walking into my airbnb (which is nicer than I was expecting) some guys line up outside my door which is wide open because I'm in such a rush I didn't even bother to close it. Conversation went something like:

Me: "Wtf are you guys doing"

Them: "Just getting back home, you moved in here?"

Me: "Yep"

Them: "We live right next door"

The rest is history. Next night I'm rap battling them at 5am (I lost). Cool thing is that there's only two apartments on our floor so we have the floor to ourselves. Brendan and Daan (American and Dutch) are literally my university-self reincarnated. They're a couple of degens doing school remotely so they go out every night until 5am and sleep until 2pm onwards. They've been on a two week bender now which is dangerous for me because I have to actually have some brain cells during the week.

Let's talk a little more about that. The 3-11pm work week. Sounds terrible right? Not if you do it right. Last fall I worked 2-10pm for two months so I knew what I was in for. There's unforeseen benefits you might not realize until you try it, but of course there's also downsides.

Pros:

- I can go out until 5am any night I want and not have that nagging feeling of knowing I have to be up in the morning. I don't even set an alarm.

- If I don't sleep in, I have the morning to do whatever I want. You wouldn't enjoy going to the beach at 6pm (if you we're on the 9-5 schedule) and sightseeing is not nearly as good during the evening as it is during the day. This way I can do all that stuff in the morning/afternoon.

- This is particular to Spain and a couple other places around the world, but the nightlife doesn't even start until midnight so I'm not missing out on anything there. 

Cons:

- You do get socially neutered by the schedule. All the pre-going out social stuff like dates, meetups and group dinners happen around 8-10pm but I'm still working so I miss out on a lot of that stuff.

- At first, it'll be weird working when the sun is down and everyone's out and about but if you make the most of your day in the hours that you have in the morning, going back to the 9-5 schedule is going to feel awful.

My work week this week has been waking up at 8 or 9 am, going to the beach to get some color so I don't look like Casper the Ghost anymore. Reading, listening to music or just lying there for a few hours. I found an outdoor gym at the beach so I go there around noon to workout with all the Catalonian meatheads. Then I come back home for around 2pm to make lunch and get the work week started. Honestly, it feels nice knowing you did all that stuff before work because it is often mentally draining to sit in front of a laptop for 8 hours and by the end, it can be tough to pick yourself up and go to the gym or do something productive outside of work. Around 10pm I get the daily message from Daan asking if I want to join them for drinks. My mantra is to try to avoid the devil's juice from Monday to Wednesday and then send it Thursday to Sunday. I've already broken that rule but I take comfort in the fact that I have principles, even if they only exist in my head. By the time midnight rolls around I'm ready to hit the hay.

First impressions of Barcelona? Coming here, my expectations we're high because anyone and everyone who's been here talks about it like they're handing out money at the door. This posed a problem because happiness = results - expectations right? If I come here expecting to live out heaven on earth, I'm going to be disappointed even if it's way better than any other place I've been to. It's impossible to be objective when judging a city but I've narrowed my criteria down to 5 things. Aesthetics, # of people my age, nightlife, ease of transportation, and historical richness.

Aesthetics - I haven't seen any of the tourist stuff yet but even so, Barca is definitely up there when it comes to appearance. It's got the balance between the local vibe and tourist trap, meaning that while you still see tourist shops and attractions, it's not overwhelming like Cancun or Miami. There's also a beach like a 10 min walk away from me so if you get sick of the city feel, just go lie down on the sand for a few hours.

# of Ppl My Age - There's no shortage of people my age. Not surprisingly, there are a ton of tourists from all over Europe who are generally less tightly wound than your average North Americaner.

Nightlife - So far I've only had 3 nights out but every night here feels like Saturday night. You won't have trouble finding a bumpin bar/club any day of the week. Stay tuned to hear what I think after a full weekend here.

Ease of Transportation - I live so central that I don't need to take the bus or subway but I hear they exist here.

Historical Richness - Every city I've lived in, I like to read about the history so I have a better understanding of the roots of the things that I'm seeing. Haven't had the chance to do this yet but I hear some hot shot named Gaudi lived here?

Overall, I'd say Barcelona met expectations but didn't exceed them because they we're already so high.

As a general travel rule, obviously consult people if you know if you're going to a new place but don't feel the need to talk to everyone because you'll end up raising expectations too high you might be disappointed. The more of a blank slate you are, the better your experience is going to be.

I'm about to go on an absolute heater this weekend. If you're reading this, I hope you are too. Have a sick long weekend.

Till next week

- MS