Some things never change

There are a few things that seem to hold true in the universe, no matter where you roam. One of those, confirmed during our afternoon rambles, is the fact that all technical universities are dog-ugly. The worst and most ironic offenders are architecture schools, all of which seem to compete for Building Least Likely to be Photographed for Any Reason Except Mockery. Is it because the students and professors are generally analytical thinkers? Are they going for function rather than beauty? There has to be a reason to build the world's ugliest structures in a place like Barcelona, where beautiful buildings are everywhere.

Of course, my Georgia Tech friends will protest that there are several new and beautiful buildings on campus. Uh-huh. The rest are butt-ugly eyesores.

But even the homely Politecnico has nearby parks and gardens, including the largest rose garden I've ever seen. And you can get there by bus, train, tram, bike lanes, etc.  We walked a ways on the Diagonal, which cuts across town (if you can imagine) diagonally. "Del mar a las montanas," said the cabbie, from the sea to the mountains.  It is a major thoroughfare, maybe six lanes, plus bus lanes, subways, etc.  We live a couple blocks away from it.

We would have walked longer, but my stomach chose that time to remind me that I had been overdoing everything. Another universal fact: the first part of my body to react to anything is my stomach. No biggie. We just hopped onto a bus, headed home, and chilled out.

We met our landlord, who has 20 properties in Barcelona. He says it's like running a hotel, but with rooms all over town. He is grateful for his fast motorbike, which is a very popular means of transportation here, and for the small size of the city, which means he can have a beer with his most distant friends within 30min. Another universal fact: property managers love beer.

There are a few things I've noticed that this part of Barcelona doesn't have in huge quantities. Dogs, for example. I've seen a couple, but nothing like Atlanta. Joggers: again, there are a few, but nothing at all like Atlanta, where you see them at all times of day on all streets. People seem to get plenty of walking done, and maybe that takes care of their need to jog.  I haven't seen a ton of litter, except the universal cigarettes that smokers seem to throw wherever pleases them.

And crucially, I don't see a lot of the lovely American ideal of central air conditioning.  This seems crazy in a city that, according to my friend Dan, gets "hotter than rat fuck." Dan's knowledge of rat fuck aside, it is a real drag that the a/c units aren't central. Those hideous window units dot the buildings instead. Our own apartment has two non-central units, one in the downstairs area and none in our upstairs bedroom.

It's time to go and cook the sausage and peppers I bought earlier. Yum.