In Transit (Barcelona and Madrid)

I just got onto the train for Madrid to rendezvous with my mother. Camp Nou is not open today (since its Sunday) so I decided to just go straight to Madrid. The past few days in Barcelona have been extremely enlightening. For one, I learned that transcription initiation is bidirectional (completely contrary to what students have been taught for the past decades). But perhaps most importantly, I was exposed to the vast potential of epigenetics and reprogramming. Chromatin remodeling is going to be the next hottest thing as I observed it to be by far the common motif from this conference. I am again reminded that having the opportunity to go to such “meeting of the mind” gatherings allows me to learn about only the most cutting edge research not yet offered in textbooks.

Man, Im excited. My mom is a great travel companion.

A brief recap of the stay so far…

Went to flea market first day; shady place that offered bargain deals of everything from antiques, to kitchen appliances, to shoes, to SNES games, to playing cards with pornography. Out of necessity, I bought a nail clipper, and out of impulse and peer pressure, I bought a bowler hat.

Additionally, I bought a camera. I was at the electronic store for over an hour, on two separate occasions conflicted over whether I should buy a camera and which camera I should buy. Finally, I just couldn’t bear not taking pictures of what I was seeing. After the digital camera broke over a year ago, I had planned but not followed through on purchasing a new one. I got a Panasonic that has a Leica lens. Super nice. Biel was quick to point out that I’m an annoying photographer.

It has rained here and there over the past few much to my disappointment. I had envisioned sunny skies and sandy beaches, but the city smell and surroundings of the hotel and convention center remind me more of mother island Taiwan.

We checked out the Barcelona Cathedral and Sagrada Familia, and also walked down La Rambla. I could not really recall much from my last stay here, but I recognized the Nike shop where I bought my Barca shorts as well as a Starbucks where I bought a drink. We went to a tapas bar Wednesday night and drank sangria. Tapas dishes included: a lentil and spinach dish, calamari dish, mushroom dish, and chicken kabobs, all of which were quite tasty.

Surprisingly, my Spanish is marginal enough to get by here. Someone also complimented me on how good it was. Perhaps if poetry doesn’t work out, I’ll start the 2A series con Español. I could read menus and translate for people. Languages are so awesome and I hope I can be fluent in Spanish and German. Once at a restaurant, when I couldn’t understand something on the menu that was in English, I looked at the German version and was able to figure out my query!

The group consisted of the 5 members of the lab and each time we went out, it was extremely difficult to make a decision to go somewhere or have somebody take charge and be the leader (or enabler).

For the coming week, I’m thinking about going to France and Amsterdam. Maybe as day trips or one night stays. I wonder if it will be feasible. Although I would be traveling by myself, it would be a great experience to see these places again with the perspective I have now. I am here. I envision myself running into some random groups of travelers and awkwardly tagging along. Hahaha.

Starring out my window, I can see the beautiful morning Catalunian country side which is quite a relieving sight for my eyes sore from posters and power point presentations.

I haven’t touched a white piece of plastic that flies around in almost a week. Doing good so far. The conference has made me really excited about research and I really want to move on from disc and get some sweet publications and make my mark in the stem cell field. But I know it will only be a matter of time when the dark side of the force will draw me back to playing ultimate. I hope not. Espera.

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So while I was purchasing my train ticket, my credit card was rejected. I predict that this is probably because I had bought that digital camera a few days ago and my bank probably shat a brick and froze my card. Now, I have no means of paying or withdrawing cash. But what am I going to do? I suppose I can call my bank later on because I had planned on going shopping since I have some money saved up.

I made it to Madrid fine and took about an hour to make it to my mother’s hotel. She was not there so I left my backpack and decided to check out the city. So where to?

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I went to Bernebau Stadium, which is where Real Madrid plays. I didn’t go to Camp Nou this morning so I decided to may this Spanish Club a visit. Sweet. I paid for a tour where you could enter the stadium and check out the trophy room and whatnot. Unfortunately the pitch was being changed but the stadium is gorgeous. I took a picture with Kaka, but didn’t have enough money to pay for it. And I took a picture with the champions league trophy. But no money to buy the picture. Fucking cal national. I’m literally stranded because of having no money. And hungry. Bur for now, sleep on the couch at the hotel.