whitney juan barcelona

It only took a bus ride to Monfalcone, a train to Venice, a train to Treviso, a bus to the airport, a plane to Girona, a bus to Barcelona, and a taxi to Carrer de Provenca for me to realize that I don't really know Brandon Hanick. I first met him two years ago during Athfest and now only know him in the context of two weekends. I heard his band (King of Prussia) play at the 40 Watt and somehow ended up having a long conversation with him. Following another small encounter and a message on myspace, I found myself just a few days later in his bedroom recording background vocals for his latest EP ("The Time of Great Forgetting"). Brandon moved to Barcelona the next day, and now two years removed, here I was at his doorstep. Juan and I didn't see much of him over the weekend, but we did catch him play a show at the Miscelanea on Friday night. I felt like I was home. Not really in a physical sense, it was more like the completion of something strange that began two years ago and had been floating around in space ever since looking for an end. Whatever odd bit of closure I had been seeking, I found in Barcelona.


Barcelona is beautiful. It was nice shaking things up a bit in a new country. I mean, I don't feel like I'm a tourist in Italy anymore... I speak the language, I'm familiar with the culture, the flow of everyday life, and so on. It was nice to be vulnerable again, to depend on a map and street signs to get places, and to trust that (in the case Juan wasn't willing to speak for me) someone would understand English or maybe a few Spanish words pronounced in an Italian accent (or maybe they were a few Italian words poorly pronounced in a Spanish accent). Regardless, nodding your head "yes" or "no" gets you places in any part of the world, except maybe in India (I hear they just bob their heads in little circles there).



We spent most of the weekend admiring the architecture of Gaudi. The Sagrada Familia was incredible. Gaudi designed the church and began building it in the late 1880s and it's still being built to this day. It should be completed in 2030, so Juan and I decided that we will meet back in Barcelona when we're both 43 to see the finished project. Guell Park was also great. Very whimsical. Unfortunately, we only had the funds to admire the facade of Gaudi's buildings, so we greatly appreciated and took advantage of the park's free entrance. When we weren't searching for one of Gaudi's buildings, we were looking for vegetarian food. We found a few great veg restaurants, one was even completely vegan, but we also ate a lot of falafel. Thank God for deep-fried chickpea mash and the gracious souls who sell the stuff all over Europe. We also drank a lot of fresh juice (coconut-kiwi was my favorite). Ah, and then there was sangria, which is not so typical of Barcelona, it's more of a rest of Spain kind of thing... which is probably why we were charged 30 euro for only two glasses, but I'm trying to forget that.



Now I'm back home in Staranzano. The girls have finished school for the year, so now our play schedule will be a bit more flexible. The rest of the summer will be pretty quiet, dedicated to my yoga practice, reading, improving my Italian, and learning French (required by the Peace Corps, assuming I receive my final placement in West Africa). I'm focusing on being aware, present, centered, and calm. Very calm.