Read me!

A blog is about shamelessly, narcissisticly, and myopically promoting the author, right? Right.

Pre-Interview Pep Talk

Read everything I write so my editors love me for drawing billions of people to their website so I get a job one day.  Or cut the middle man and just offer me a job.

In other news: Half of Columbia University is crossing the pond next week to check out the ole parent country! (England...)  I actually can't wait to see everyone, and, almost equally importantly, know more about London than someone else in London.

Spain! (No clever subtitle.)

OK fine it’s official: I treated this blog like my 4^th grade reading journal.  Once you miss a day or two it gets really hard to take the time and mental energy to really update your teacher (immediate family and sorority) about your thoughts on the latest Cam Jansen novel (trip to Spain). 

Let me put it this way…Cam Jansen was AWESOME.

For those of you who don’t happen to know everything I’ve been doing here, almost a month ago (Weird. Sad. So many emotions.) I took a trip with Libby, Ben, and Alexis—Alexis is studying in Barcelona and writes a hilarious/offensive blog that you should probably bookmark—to Madrid and Barcelona.  The plan: Thursday to Sunday in Madrid, (then Ben had to go back to London to study and be a student and be successful, yada yada yada), and Monday morning to Thursday night in Barcelona.

If my Madrid trip was a program on public broadcasting (weird reference?) I’d have to start the broadcast by paying a strong, wise black man (I always assume that’s what the guy looks like) to say “The following broadcast is made possible by the generous support of the Adam Klaber foundation….and viewers like you.”

Uncle Adam, a high-profile, James Bond-esque businessman (I told you I’d make you sound good!) is saving the world economy in Europe this year.  He manages Western European Services for IBM, so he was happy to show me and my entourage “real Europe.”

If Uncle Adam’s version of “real Europe” is even a little bit how "real" Europeans live, I’m moving to Madrid.  He wined and dined us.  Treated us like princesses (even Ben).  Took on the persona of Justin Timberlake in The Social Network...only less sleazy and more fun.  He knew amazing restaurants, cool bars, great tapas, local markets, and he even sponsored our trip to the palace.  I’m going to type his name several more times in the hopes it comes up on a Google search so that future clients read this blog, note his unprecedented generosity, and feel persuaded by my articulate rhetoric to do business with him.  And then he’ll give me a job after graduation.  I mean, what.  Adam Klaber. Adam Klaber.  Adam Klaber.

Barcelona was okay, too, I guess.

But actually it was awesome.  We took an overnight train from Madrid to Barcelona, which sounds horrible but was actually fine.  They only had first class tickets left, so we felt like the richest of the poor; it was Lib’s 21^st birthday, so at midnight we toasted with bottles of water and Toblerone bars; and then we popped some sleeping pills (the good kind) and woke up in Barce. 

Lex was the host of the year and showed us around and took us out and let us eat kiwis and clementines (in bulk) in her room.  We saw the city and went out for more tapas and were propositioned by American businessmen (flattering?)…all in all a really great weekend.  And by weekend I mean week.  Sorry Lex.  (She had class.)

There’s so much more I want to say about London and Spain and how every major metropolitan area should learn from Barcelona and make locally grown fruit cheap and accessible, but I’ll save my philosophical musings and social justice rants for another post.  I’m sure you’re devastated.

Here’s what you actually want to see…

Instead of writing captions (subtext: I'm feeling lethargic this morning) maybe we could come up with a "create your own caption" contest.  Winner gets a print of the picture.  And my autograph.  Actually, depending on funds at the end of the semester, maybe just my autograph.

PS for those of you not born between the years of 1987-1993, here is some relevant literature behind the Cam Jansen reference: http://camjansen.com/.