Hola from Barcelona!

Well, I've been here about 18 hrs. I don't speak Spanish at all, but I've never felt more like I don't speak Spanish than today. In fact, even the small ammount of Spanish I attempted on the phone (por favor, habitacion de Kevin) was greeting with "yes sir, I'll connect your call."

As expected, my sleeping/eating schedule is pretty messed up at the moment. I arrived at 8 am local time having slept only here and there on the plane. I think my big mistake was that instead of taking a 1 hr nap this morning and waiting to sleep for real until tonight, I fell asleep for 3 hours. So, when I went to bed at 8 this evening thinking "great, I'll get a full night's sleep and be fresh to go tomorrow," I instead woke up at 1 am.

Skype is a wonderful thing. For only 2.95/mo I am able to call my parents, my grandparents, bridgett and breighan with unlimited minutes.

So, that's Barcelona. I went walking a bit but really didn't do any sight-seeing or anything. I'm just tried to rest up as much as possible since I think this next week will be one of my hardest ever.

A final thought: I recommend reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food. It reminds you that the food industry is indeed an industry and that it is dangerous to think of food in terms of its nutrients. A product that contains a similar amount of protein, carbs, and types of fat as a real piece of food does not make it just as healthy (e.g. whole wheat white bread, low carb pasta, etc.) The book's mantra is: "eat food, not too much, mostly plants."