I have a new obsession for wasting time at work: GeoGuessr. I've spent an embarrassing amount of time on it at the office every day since I found out about it. Which also does nothing towards making you believe that I ever actually work, which I promise I do, but as little as possible.
I was with friends this last weekend and we were joking about people who take 5 minutes for themselves every hour. I'd say my schedule is the same, but reversed. I try to do an average of 5 minutes work an hour. And somehow they still find me productive. But in my personal 55, GeoGuessr has brought me much joy. You're basically dropped anywhere in the world on a Google Streetview, then you have to guess where you are. I move around and try to sleuth it out by using signs and landmarks and stuff. It's pretty fantastic. I love it. Although I hate when it drops me in Russia. That shit is hard.
But that's not nearly as important as this last weekend. My friend Dannan, who I mentioned in my previous blog post, made her way from Ireland down to mainland Europe, where she visited my German village for a couple of days. I don't know how she kept herself busy for a day and a half here, but then it was off to Barcelona to meet up with a close friend from South Africa and her friend. This was my second time in Spain in the last month, and while I actually think that Madrid is a prettier city, Barcelona's just got a great vibe to it. We stayed in an amazing Airbnb place right on Paseig del Born, which seems like it may be one of the hipster hearts of the city, with amazing views (though they did come with 5 flights of stairs).
We hit up a couple of the big sites in the city (Picasso Museum, Sagrada Familia), but mostly we just wandered and hung out. But wandering in Barcelona is great, because in our short time there we stumbled across all kinds of exciting activities. One morning we woke up to the smells of paella wafting up into our apartment, coming from a right below our window where some random group of old people had set up to cook massive skillets of it on the street, and had set up tables for like 200 people. Another day we found a break dancing competition. There was also traditional dancing downstairs one morning. And you can't forget the Pride Parade. My favorite was probably the flamenco, though. Normally I don't get dance at all, but I think flamenco is great. This one was not free, though it was stumbled upon, but it was amazing. And came with free drinks.
But otherwise it was mostly just hanging out and eating and drinking. Lots and lots of eating and drinking. We fell into a Spanish schedule pretty early on, so breakfast at 11, lunch at 3, dinner at 10. We even went to a club one night and stayed out later than the little baby study abroad students who told us about it did. In fact at 3:30 we made a pact to go until sunrise, but about 20 minutes later we found ourselves in a cab on the way home. We had the best of intentions, though.
This being Spain, there was also a lot of wine and sangria. The little supermarket across the street even had this amazing "cask" built into the wall with spigots coming out where you could bring your own bottle and fill up super cheap. We got 1 liter one day for under 3 Euro. And it was good! But in case that wasn't enough, you could buy full casks of wine. It was tempting.
It was also the most I've laughed in a very long time. Dannan is hilarious, but combine her with Zanele and Dikelede, and it was non-stop. We were getting started at a few times, but I know it's just because we were clearly the most entertained/entertaining people around. And we were loud, but whatever. Takeaway lesson for the weekend is that there are 2 things you can't trust white people about: the first is that you'll be safe in the water, and the second is that their dogs won't bite you. I'm not sure I agree with that second one, but I've been told it's fact.
All in all a fantastic last traveling weekend in Europe. I'm here for one more month, and staying in Germany for pretty much all of it. And the weekend had a fantastic soundtrack, too. I picked up a couple of new albums last week, HEAL from Strand of Oaks, and Are We There from Sharon Van Etten. HEAL is another of these Midwest/Philly rock groups, in the vein of Kurt Vile and The War on Drugs. All in all, that's not my favorite type of rock, but there's always these amazing standout tracks. In this case it's JM, which may be vying with The War on Drugs's Red Eyes for best song of the year.
Really depressing song, but those guitars are ridiculous. And he likes those guitars. And so do I. A lot. Overall it's a strong album, definitely on the long list for best of the year.
Even more exciting though is Sharon Van Etten's new album, Are We There, which is likely to end up on the final list for best of the year. I actually wasn't very excited about it before I heard it. This is like her 4th or 5th, and I'd heard the last one a couple years ago and have absolutely no recollection of it. Which tells me I must not have been that impressed. And even when I started hearing songs here and there from the new album a couple months ago, it wasn't enough to make me excited. But then when the album came out, I figured I might as well give it a try. And I'm glad I did, because it is extremely impressive. It's also a depressing album, devastatingly so. You can hear how much heartbreak went into every song. This is evident from even just the title of my favorite track, Your Love Is Killing Me.
It's a beautiful song. And the entire album is that good. Especially the first three tracks. It's a great opening run. The second track, Taking Chances, is actually a bit weird. It's one of those tracks that I do not like even a little bit when it first starts. It's got some weird, fake drum machiney sound to it which at first I hate, and every time I listen I'm like "what is this shit." But then the real drums come in, then the vocals, and finally everything together at the chorus, and I'm in love.
I can't get enough of this album right now. Like I said, I'd be surprised if it's not in my top 10 for the year. It's in a lot of these lists of the best of the year so far, even though most of the lists I've looked at are kind of bullshit. There's some stuff I agree with in them, but a lot missing. Maybe I'll make my own. Maybe that'll be my next blog post. We'll see. I make no promises.
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| La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's cathedral which is already 125 years in the making. |
But that's not nearly as important as this last weekend. My friend Dannan, who I mentioned in my previous blog post, made her way from Ireland down to mainland Europe, where she visited my German village for a couple of days. I don't know how she kept herself busy for a day and a half here, but then it was off to Barcelona to meet up with a close friend from South Africa and her friend. This was my second time in Spain in the last month, and while I actually think that Madrid is a prettier city, Barcelona's just got a great vibe to it. We stayed in an amazing Airbnb place right on Paseig del Born, which seems like it may be one of the hipster hearts of the city, with amazing views (though they did come with 5 flights of stairs).
We hit up a couple of the big sites in the city (Picasso Museum, Sagrada Familia), but mostly we just wandered and hung out. But wandering in Barcelona is great, because in our short time there we stumbled across all kinds of exciting activities. One morning we woke up to the smells of paella wafting up into our apartment, coming from a right below our window where some random group of old people had set up to cook massive skillets of it on the street, and had set up tables for like 200 people. Another day we found a break dancing competition. There was also traditional dancing downstairs one morning. And you can't forget the Pride Parade. My favorite was probably the flamenco, though. Normally I don't get dance at all, but I think flamenco is great. This one was not free, though it was stumbled upon, but it was amazing. And came with free drinks.
 |
| Our neighborhood wine tap |
But otherwise it was mostly just hanging out and eating and drinking. Lots and lots of eating and drinking. We fell into a Spanish schedule pretty early on, so breakfast at 11, lunch at 3, dinner at 10. We even went to a club one night and stayed out later than the little baby study abroad students who told us about it did. In fact at 3:30 we made a pact to go until sunrise, but about 20 minutes later we found ourselves in a cab on the way home. We had the best of intentions, though.
This being Spain, there was also a lot of wine and sangria. The little supermarket across the street even had this amazing "cask" built into the wall with spigots coming out where you could bring your own bottle and fill up super cheap. We got 1 liter one day for under 3 Euro. And it was good! But in case that wasn't enough, you could buy full casks of wine. It was tempting.
It was also the most I've laughed in a very long time. Dannan is hilarious, but combine her with Zanele and Dikelede, and it was non-stop. We were getting started at a few times, but I know it's just because we were clearly the most entertained/entertaining people around. And we were loud, but whatever. Takeaway lesson for the weekend is that there are 2 things you can't trust white people about: the first is that you'll be safe in the water, and the second is that their dogs won't bite you. I'm not sure I agree with that second one, but I've been told it's fact.
All in all a fantastic last traveling weekend in Europe. I'm here for one more month, and staying in Germany for pretty much all of it. And the weekend had a fantastic soundtrack, too. I picked up a couple of new albums last week, HEAL from Strand of Oaks, and Are We There from Sharon Van Etten. HEAL is another of these Midwest/Philly rock groups, in the vein of Kurt Vile and The War on Drugs. All in all, that's not my favorite type of rock, but there's always these amazing standout tracks. In this case it's JM, which may be vying with The War on Drugs's Red Eyes for best song of the year.
Really depressing song, but those guitars are ridiculous. And he likes those guitars. And so do I. A lot. Overall it's a strong album, definitely on the long list for best of the year.
Even more exciting though is Sharon Van Etten's new album, Are We There, which is likely to end up on the final list for best of the year. I actually wasn't very excited about it before I heard it. This is like her 4th or 5th, and I'd heard the last one a couple years ago and have absolutely no recollection of it. Which tells me I must not have been that impressed. And even when I started hearing songs here and there from the new album a couple months ago, it wasn't enough to make me excited. But then when the album came out, I figured I might as well give it a try. And I'm glad I did, because it is extremely impressive. It's also a depressing album, devastatingly so. You can hear how much heartbreak went into every song. This is evident from even just the title of my favorite track, Your Love Is Killing Me.
It's a beautiful song. And the entire album is that good. Especially the first three tracks. It's a great opening run. The second track, Taking Chances, is actually a bit weird. It's one of those tracks that I do not like even a little bit when it first starts. It's got some weird, fake drum machiney sound to it which at first I hate, and every time I listen I'm like "what is this shit." But then the real drums come in, then the vocals, and finally everything together at the chorus, and I'm in love.
I can't get enough of this album right now. Like I said, I'd be surprised if it's not in my top 10 for the year. It's in a lot of these lists of the best of the year so far, even though most of the lists I've looked at are kind of bullshit. There's some stuff I agree with in them, but a lot missing. Maybe I'll make my own. Maybe that'll be my next blog post. We'll see. I make no promises.
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