Like a boil

I slept in really late today. I woke up around 10:00 and went back to bed. I never fell completely asleep after that, staying just conscious enough to bask in the fact that I could stay in bed as long as I wanted. It was great.

Anyway. It took 5+ months, but I officially and completely realized today that I love Barcelona. I didn't even do anything particularly interesting: walked around a little, read at a cafe, went to the beach. But today it all finally clicked. It took a while. Just in case I didn't make it abundantly clear, either intentionally or inadvertently, I was a little miserable when I first got here.

Barcelona has three tall buildings. The Torre Agbar looks like a giant condom. (A friend pointed out recently that condom is kind of a euphemism; it looks more like a penis than a condom. Okay, so it looks like a giant penis.) It lights up at night. The other two are right next to each other down by the beach; people call them either the twin towers or the two towers. (I stick with two towers--there were only two twin towers and these aren't they.) From my apartment, the Torre Agbar is to the northeast and the two towers are to the south. I used to sometimes pretend that the Torre Agbar was the Empire State Building and the towers were the twin towers, and that I lived in pre-9-11 Chelsea, not winter 2006 Barcelona. I never do that anymore.

I don't necessarily love Barcelona in a "need to stay forever" kind of way. Maybe more in a "we'll always have Paris" kind of way. It grew on me. I love jamón serrano and outdoor cafes and how cheap good wine is. I love the art scene and the beach and the mullets and piercings. And flaky as they are, I even kinda like the people. They're pretty patient with my bad Spanish and nonexistent Catalan and are always telling me to calm down when I rush myself (tranquila is a word I hear a lot). I like cities that have an energy or a mood that you can feel. I felt New York's right away; Barcelona's took longer, but it's definitely there. I'll always have 2006.