BCN

July signals the end of the school year, when teachers finally get crazy and break free after a mentally and emotionally engaging (or sometimes devastating) period. As for me, I decided to use the time to work on my academic life, so I applied to go to a conference late June, early July. As the event was in Barcelona, I considered it half my vacation, half my reunion with my dormant scholar alterego. I must say, the trip turned out to be so successful in both, by going beyond expectations, that I have been feeling transformed ever since.

First of all, I had never been to Spain before, nor had I known what to expect from the Spanish (at that point I didn't even know that Catalans are not Spanish). The tips I got was: "watch out for your purse in Barcelona" and "prepare that people will not speak English". To be fair, I didn't encounter any personal insults but I did witness a thief running away from the beach with the stuff of a swimmer. Regarding English, it was indeed true that many locals didn't speak, but never before have I been helped this many times by locals (despite the language barrier). So expectations, to some level, were fulfilled. However, the experience left me enchanted much more than I could anticipate. It was not just the unique architecture and the pleasant geographical charateristics that mesmerized me, but it was the Catalan spirit as well. Like I wrote before about Ireland, I tend to be moved by resisters and fighters. Maybe because I view my country as one (although not a very successful one).

It was not just the city that was an interesting experience. The conference I went to present my topic -- this time about domestic violence in Hungary -- was so chaotic which I thought only Italians could produce. The organizers sent out several versions of the schedule in advance. According to one version, I was supposed to present my paper twice. When I pointed it out, they apologized and told me it was going to be on Thursday. Then in the next "final" version, I was scheduled for Friday. And with a wrong title. At this point I stopped myself from sending out the tenth email. We were debating about my presentation anyway. I informed then, just out of politeness, that I am bringing a prezi (not a powerpoint). They said, after a week, that I should make a ppt instead, because they cannot run prezis. My jaw dropped but I kept calm. Instead of expressing that I find it incredible that in an academic conference in Western Europe there is no computer that can manage such a (by now) basic program, I just sent them a link that described the technical requirements of running a prezi. I hoped this will open their eyes. But it didn't: still I was advised to change my prezi into a ppt. Naturally, I didn't. I still thought they were just lazy to deal with my request. And guess what, I was right. Their laptops -- what a surprise -- had no problem running my prezi! And again, guess what: my talk was rescheduled again. I was calmly sitting in the audience Thursday afternoon, knowing that I would present the next morning, when the moderators walked to me to say that according to their schedule it is my turn now. "You know what? If I present now, tomorrow I can go sightsee earlier" -- I thought. I gave a very pleasant speech (despite the theme), because I just didn't have the time to worry. And my prezi rocked.

The trip was interesting from a cultural point of view as well. At the conference I made friends with a couple of extraordinary people, even if you only consider their origins. We took this picture during one of the lunch breaks and titled it: From 4 continents. Ethiopia -- Sri Lanka -- Hungary -- Chile. It's a pity there was no one from Australia. :-D