Genevieve 2.0

Greetings from sunny Barcelona. At long last I have arrived!

My trip over here was the sort you only dream of. I flew the very green Aer Lingus without incident or delay. I arrived on time and in one piece (which if you know me is quite an accomplishment) and my bags also arrived on time and in one piece. There was a sea of yellow taxis waiting for me at the airport and I was whisked off without delay to my beachside (almost) apartment.

The only thing missing, of course, is Greg, who is scheduled to arrive on Monday.

For those of you who don't know, forgot or simply didn't pay attention to my incoherent ramblings, I am here to attend the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics and pursue an MSc in Competition and Market Regulation (see http://www.barcelonagse.eu/).

So far, things are going well. I showed up for my first day to find all kinds of nice people from all over the world in my program. Classes haven't officially started: the first two weeks are sort of a pre-season to give us all a refresher course in Advanced Math and Statistics. Take a look at my notes from the first day:

WHAT???????? The formulas contain more Greek letters than I have seen since Rush Week at AU. I have no idea what any of this means, but I dutifully write it all down in the hope that it will make sense someday.

Sadly, I seem to be the only student who doesn't know what this means.

I also seem to be the oldest student, by far. The very sweet Niels, who sat next to me today and is clearly at least 13 years my junior, very politely asked if I had taken time off between college and this graduate program. Um, yes. He then asked if I was on Facebook. Facebook? Oy. I feel a generation gap coming on. I read an article about Facebook in The Economist, but to be honest, I wasn't all that solid on the details of what exactly Facebook is. But...when in Rome, or Barcelona as the case may be, do as the Romans do. So, after much consternation and much trial and error, I figured out how this Facebook site works and I now have a....(I don't know the term. Is it page? site? registration?)...presence there. Ah, the things I do to fit in with the cool kids.

No one said it was going to be easy, right?

On a brighter note, I'm managing to make my way around the city without speaking English. In general, Spaniards understand me, but furrow their brows and make quizzical faces upon hearing my thick Argentine accent and latin american vocabulary. However, there are a large number of North Africans in Barcelona for whom Spanish is a second language. I am pretty much incomprehensible to them. I did, however, run into a Brazilian store clerk today who was simply enchanted with my accent and happily mimicked everything I said with a special emphasis on my argentinisims.

So far, no particularly interesting things to note (still trying to erase the image of a drunken Englishman pee-ing in the street), but I will be sure to report any that arise.

For those of you who dutifully tuned in to our Buenos Aires blog, I apologize for being so neglectful and leaving you with a cliffhanger. I will endeavor to be a much more responsible blogger from here on out.