Jason's Daily Notes

The work week began. There was snow!!! (But just a light dusting.) In the morning, Pawn and I went outside to play in it; the only place that had enough accumulation to actually look interesting was at the playground across the street (Slade Gardens). There we tossed a couple snowballs back and forth, drew in the snow, and Pawn made a tiny snowman.

I made eggs for breakfast. Pawn said goodbye around 11am (her flight was at 3pm). I then continued applying for jobs in the afternoon. Snow began falling from the sky, but it was melting when it hit the ground. I got a few applications out, including one for Heineken's graduate programme.

In the evening, we had plans to go to Bernadet's for a gourmette (communal cooking/grilling dinner). I took 3 buses, stopping in Brixton to buy some beers along the way. Asia was late. We met Bern's flatmate, Ashley from South Africa who now works as a business analyst for a hospital in London. We chatted and enjoyed dinner (including pulling Christmas crackers) until around 11pm. We agreed that I would do the planning for our upcoming road trip, then cleaned up. Mike rode his bike back home, while Asia and I took a bus to Vauxhall, where we parted ways.

It was cold. Even with my hat on.

My job search continues. I'm desperately applying for jobs, but nothing has come up so far, so I'm beginning to lose faith.

It was Mari's last day in London, so Mike and I met her and Fern at Surrey Quays (the Wetherspoons) for Sunday Roast. (This was after Fern whined about not going to the Islington.) Good times.

After our meal and drinks, Mike and I walked over to the Odeon and watched Les Miserables. The volume was really loud! But the movie was good (Mike was much more impressed with it than I was; I took some time to get used to the fact that it was a musical and they would sing throughout.)

Returned home with Mike. It was cold. Mike had work to do (for his big project) but ended up procrastinating with it. Some of my friends in LA were hung over from the last night (Les' bday?!), and I was giving them (specifically Jenn!) advice. :D

Pawn returned in the evening, just for one night before her flight the next day. I cooked eggs for dinner. I pumped up the air mattress. We went to bed pretty early (around 11pm).

It was a slow and lazy day. Mike and I ended up staying home all day. We made Dutch pancakes for lunch. It was great.

Made dinner. Hung out in Mike's room. We watched bloopers from The Big Bang Theory and 2 and a Half Men and then like 5 episodes of New Girl.

We were just too lazy to go out.

I spent the day at home, re-writing my CV and applying to jobs. With only about 2.5 weeks left, I have to go down swinging and trying for every job opening that I can.

I went to the library in the afternoon to return the Barcelona guide book. I borrowed two other books; hopefully they'll help with my job search.

Returned home. Had dinner with Mike (sauteed chicken with tagliatele pasta). We watched some TV - Mr. Bean was on. Mike had a massage scheduled, so he left for that. I was excited about having a big night out, because when else would we be able to do it?

After Mike's massage (which was delayed but still apparently worth it), we got ready and headed out. It was late - around midnight - when we finally headed out. We walked to Clapham, and we went to Revolution. It cost £5 to enter, and £2 for the coat check. It took a little bit of time, but before long we had made some friends. Oonagh (we would later learn her name), and Susie, and their friends Tom, a girl from Newcastle (she was big and would fit in on the Geordie Shore), Susie's old friend Kristen who was really sleepy, and a couple that rode in the taxi with Mike.

We went to SoHo, an adventure of a taxi ride. The foreigners (Mike and I) had to guide the locals to our destination. We ended up at O Bar around 2:30am. They closed at 2:45am, which meant just one beer down quickly.

After that, some confusion as to where to go next. We somehow walked all the way to Trafalgar Square, where we caught a bus to Borough and their dorm. They don't allow visitors in at this time, so I tried to make a spectacle to sneak Mike and Oonagh in. Didn't work. We parted ways and took the night bus home. Why didn't I kiss Susie?

Woke up with mom and uncle at the hotel in Earl's Court. We had some time (their flight was at 3pm). So we took our time getting ready. We had breakfast downstairs in the hotel's nice dining area. They brought out bread and slices of meat for us, along with coffee.

Checked out at 11am, and we took the tube together to Heathrow. I was on WhatsApp along the way.
At Heathrow, I found out that the luggage weight allowances were different than expected (and they were limiting the weight of the carry-on hand luggage too (!?). So we had to re-pack each of the bags, which was annoying at the least.

We then searched fo the VAT refund office, which was outside. The wait was insane, so after 10 minutes in the queue, we gave up and I told them to just do it after security. We had food at Leon.

I said goodbye.

Returned home. Mike had called me and said that I might be able to help him with his work, but that didn't materialize. (He had gotten a promotion, and he was heading up a big new project, and he was getting paid much more now. Incredible!)

I made dinner. I baked the vegetarian pies that were left in the freezer. Together with some peas.

After dinner I met Fernanda for drinks. She was at the Cittie of Yorke pub, near Holborn, for her friend Mia's goodbye drinks. I arrived there around 10pm, just as everyone (Emi, Melanie, Margarita, etc.) were leaving! Fern and I finished everyone's beers. We then went to McDonald's. Then, we went to the Wetherspoons (Shakespeare's Head) to meet Mari, who had just had a date with an Australian named Kane (whom they had met selling Dutch pancakes in Camden). We had a cider, and then they kicked us out. Home around 12:30.

Flight from Barcelona to London in the morning. We were up at 7am. It was still completely dark outside. The cafés were still closed.

We took the metro, having to buy single tickets since our travel passes had expired. We walked out at Passeig de Gracia and then got on the train to the airport (having to wait 15 minutes). At the airport, I discovered that our terminal was on the other side of the airport from the train station. So, we had to walk, outside, in the chilly morning air, for like 15 minutes! And check-in took some time too. Frustrating. Luckily, security was relaxed and quick.

We got to the gate, having our passports exit stamped, just as the plane was already boarding. We bought some food from the café (we hadn't eaten anything!) to eat on the plane. We boarded a bus that took us 30 seconds to the plane. We sat in the very last row of the plane.

Since we had such a late start yesterday, I wanted us to start earlier today. It sort of worked.

Our first stop: Park Güell, a fantastic display of Gaudi landscape architecture and design. We were a little early (it didn't open until 10), so we had breakfast at a cafe/bar near Joanic metro station. The deportes newspaper was dedicated entirely to Lionel Messi having just won the Bal d'Or for the 4th year in a row. We then took a bus (another small bus) up to the park. There was already a large group of Chinese tourists by the entrance. But we got to go in and see much of the park before it got too crowded.

We took plenty of pictures. My mom stayed in the open-air balcony/plaza area while my uncle and I explored uphill. There were lots of makeshift souvenir sellers pushing their goods in blankets on the pathway. I may have damaged my eyes by staring into the sun as I took pictures :X

After the park, we took the bus to Lessps station, and then we returned to the city center, where we explored the central market. The Mercat de la Boqeria was really nice; I was looking for a maracunya popsicle, which had been recommended by one of my friends, but no luck. Instead, we opted for fruit smoothies: I got the banana coconut, which was creamy and delicious. Next, we went to search for the Filipino restaurant. Although we had the directions written down, I had left it in the hotel room, so we relied upon my memory to figure out its location. I got us close, and my uncle found a group of Filipinos who pointed us to the right direction. And there we were: Manila something restaurant. We were the only ones eating there, and the emplyee was not very friendly. I had a chicken curry, which isn't too Filipino but was still decent to eat.

We then returned to the hotel. It was our last full day in Barcelona, and I wanted to spend time at the pool and the beach. So back at the hotel room, we called housekeeping to freshen up the room (ugh!) and hung out by the pool on the roof. It was chilly but sunny. No one else was up there. Then, my uncle and I set off on our own to see the beach and actually touch the Mediterranean :)

Dinner was in El Raval, which we hadn't explored yet. We went to a bar/tavern that didn't seem very touristy. Nice, hearty food for dinner with sangria de cava and cake for dessert. Yum.

And back to the hotel. Our flight to London was in the morning.

We woke up too late, again. It was already 10am. I wish that we had had an earlier start to see more of the city. Oh well.

We started with a walk to the water. The sun was too bright, and the beach too far away, so I insisted  that I shop for some sunglasses (gafas del sol?) in the nearby shopping centre (Diagonal Mar). For 11am on a Monday, it was really crowded. Was today a holiday? (Later, I learned that there were lots of big sales going on everywhere for this week only.)

We spent about 20 minutes wandering through the mall without finding anything reasonably affordable (I would only need the sunnys for like 2 days so there was no point in spending more than €5 on them). We then caught the tram into the city (while waiting 12 minutes, I ran back inside the mall and bought 3 empanadas).

Our sightseeing day thus commenced. We got off at Plaça de Catalunya, where we took some pictures and peered into the ice skating rink that was going on. We then walked down La Rambla (I began shopping for a Catalonian flag) and around Barri Gotic. We saw the ancient Roman burial ground (Plaça de la Villa de Madrid) and walked down the narrow medeiveal streets to the Cathedral (La Catedral). It was already 1pm, so they were charging €6 to enter. I balked and continued our walking tour. We ended up at the Plaça de Sant Jaume, home to Barcelona's Ajuntament and the Palau de la Generalitat. I looked up places to eat for lunch, which took some time to decide. We just walked down until my mom spotted a not-touristy and nearly empty bar/cafe that was selling tapas. So we sat and had tapas. I ordered a jug of sangria to wash down our plate of meats and cheeses and bread.