Mini Reunion in BCN

A cool thing about staying in Barcelona after the MBA (aside from the great weather) is that people often drop into town for various reasons. Some for work, some for fun, whatever the case, it's always great to see my old IESE pals when they cruse into town.

This weekend brought Hurricane Juha and some perfect spring weather, ideal for enjoying with friends. Friday night we staged a mini-reunion to get our drinking muscles ready for the real deal in one month's time. Diego, Juha, Alex, and Nuria and I got together with friends and significant others for dinner in Gracia, followed by a late night at my former home-away-from-home, Sutton Club. I hadn't been there in nearly a year, and when I woke up Saturday morning - uh, afternoon - I remembered (vaguely) why.

Sadly I have no photos from the event (imagine that) as I couldn't find my camera on the way out the door... And what's frightening is that Juha was snapping away like crazy with his camera. Hopefully his photos will never see the light of day. Or glow of the internet.

So Saturday was a wash... though we did manage to drag ourselves allllll the way to Calatrava in the late afternoon for a birthday BBQ. It's really strange for me to go back to Calatrava these days, especially for events like this one, which was virtually all first years, a few of whom I know but many I don't. It's weird to go back to your old house and find your old terrace full of strangers. It was nice and all, but... well it's just not the same.

Saturday evening Frenchy and I went on a photo-taking adventure at Cerveceria Catalana at the request of Chris, who is now living in Houston. That place is amazing. Even at 8pm (really early by Spanish standards), the line is out the door. But the food is good, so it's worth the wait, as long as you don't chew off your own arm in the meantime. Post-tapas, it was time for the first of many going away parties for students from the class of 2008. These are strange times for those finishing the MBA - fun and sad at the same time. I'm glad that part is behind me. I think I had enough wistfulness last March to last me a lifetime.

Cerveceria Catalana


Gosh, and here I thought I didn't accomplish much this weekend, and I'm only up to Saturday night! Sunday morning Frenchy and I went to see an apartment in Gracia which I know all too well because it's Ian's old place. We're thinking about taking it over in a couple of months. Yes, I might be going back to having a roommate. A French roommate. Frequent updates on how we confuse each other, slam our faces in refrigerators, smash bottles of olives in the checkout line in grocery stores (that was Friday evening), and nearly kill each other skiing are certain to come.

Anyway, after that we went to play squash. And NO ONE WAS INJURED. Though Frenchy did hit me in the head with his racket once. Hey, at least he didn't smash it on the door of the squash court this time. Post-squash, it was time for the beach and, in a very athletic mood, we went by bicycle. The idea was to read on the beach. Hmmm. I think Frenchy read 2 pages of his last-IESE-case-of-all-time and I read the inside of my eyelids.

But wait, there's more! Then we had a Guitar Hero party with Muktambar, Edwina, Juha, and Amaya! And then dinner at La Gavina in Gracia. And you know what? I'm exhausted just writing about this. I need to go to bed.