The cake is a lie

Guessing. I just can't help myself not doing it  most of the time. Being curious, to see what happens, when I have no idea about the correct anwser, proper solution, right decision, makes me want to improvise. Give it a go. See what happens. Just... guess.

When I realized in June, that I failed my Psychiatry exam back in Poland, it was a heavy blow, bacause it has been the last one I had to take. Like a cherry I needed to put on top of the cake. And then, some strangers hand grabbed not only the cherry, but also a big chunk of the cream and pie. The cake I worked so hard to make it real, share the joy of completing it with friends and then taste how delicious it was... looked ruined.

There will be no heroically epic story filled with awesomeness, preceeded by sadness and with maybe a lightbulb lit up above my head while having an epiphany. No story of me going through some phases. It wasn't a break-up or cancer diagnosis. For most of times, there is only one phase.

Fucking move along (FMA). Get fucking busy (GFB). Or get things fucking done (GTFD).

It wasn't what I wished for, but here I am,surprise surprise! not getting what I wanted.. I figured, that my job is simply not done yet. I just hava to put some more effort into it. I have the time. I have the technology. I have the resources. I have my friends. I have skills and knowledge. I have experience with fixing my plans.  And I want to make it happen. It is not the first time I hava deal with obstacles. There is nothing more I could wish for to face another challenge.

Afterall, most of the cake survived. If I will replace the missing parts, I will put that goddamn cherry on top. What mattered here, was the end result. But that did not mean the process behind it, wouldn't be as important. I started with preparing myself. Plannig was crucial. First, create a list of what needs to be done and things that I need to make it done. Second, collect useful materials: borrowing books, notes and flashcards with drug names from my friends. Third - start revising it all. This time, intentionally, properly, thoroughly and do not forget about having fun with it. Fourth came not only memorizing it, but also understanding what is going on with dopanergic pathways, generations of neuroleptics, autistic symptoms, affect disorders, mental impairments, intellectual disabilites etc. And fifth it was just revision after revision followed by revision.

And it worked keikakudori*.

So there was nothing else to do, but to go back, pass the exam, sign the contract and be Erasmus one more time.

So early

Too early

But Plaza de Espanya - totally worth it.

Just some walking...

Bit of waiting...

Let them board. I'll just sit and be patient. To be the last one...

... And voila! Poland! I got a pleasant surprise I did not suspect, when I got to Modlin

Łódź. The city I love.

And Piotrkowska. The street I love.

And it all ended all too soon. Time to get back with waiting for all the people to board, to be the last man standing.

Finally, a window seat!

I may not seem too happy about coming back, but I actually am. It's just exhaustion of being awake, moving around, catching a flu and having a very, very busy weekend.

Now, the time has come to eat some pizza I made last night, listen to some music and watch the new South Park episode

I wish you making your dreams come true. Step by step.
And remember - the cake is a lie. FMA, GFB and GTFD instead.





*According to keikaku**
** Keikaku means plan.

Do or do not... there is no try

Master Yoda has affected me more than Jesus Christ, Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison combined. This simple sentence sums up, what I need to do (or do not) in order to get anything around me done. This is why when I went to classes yesterday and today, I decided to be all in, no matter what happens. And it started bad.

First was the Conflict Resolution and Mediation. In the schedule it was written, that there are two groups, in different campuses. 50/50 chance. I showed up on time. So did a lot of people, both Erasmus and Spanish. But there was no one to lead the class. No professor. Some of the guys decided to ask, what is it all about. And we had to move to another campus.

So... that fun.

When we finally found the right place, even funnier thing took place. ALL of the students decided to go to the wrong place. No one showed up at the other place, except for the professor. But we got over it, lost 30 minutes, and still managed to get the class up and running.

Next was Psychology and New Technology.

The very first thing the professor said was "This class will be in Catalan or Spanish. I can talk Spanish, if you want me to. But my English is very bad. And I will not do it in English. Spanish or Catalan"

So... that was fun. I guess. 

Including me, there seems to be three of Erasmus in that one that have enrolled. All the materials, assignments and exam will be done in English. On that basis, we negotiated some further conditions. If possible, in the time of the class, we will meet up on our own, to work on our group projects, instead of sitting around and not understanding one tiny bit of what is going on. Positive side is that we will develop an application with the use of the program the professor will provide, for some sort of clinical purpose. I am really looking forward to do it!

Today, it was Brand Design time. I am not really sure, what exactly we will have to do. I know, I have no hard skills of usage of some special programs. I will rely on my creativity, aesthetic sense, psychological knowledge and teamwork abilities to get through. 

So that was fun, too.

And I skipped Internal Communication today. Because... siesta! Yeah, it took too long. But it was filled with quite interesting dreams.

Altogehter, I am glad that this will not be some lazy or easy time for me. Instead, it seems like I will face challenges, learn actually useful skills and do it all in English.

So! This will be fun!

Sweet dreams are made of these

Ah! The joys of carbohydrates! I am not a sugarfreak. I enjoy all kinds of food. However, sweet taste has a special place in my mind. Every meal is more than welcome to have a dash of honey, fruits in whateverevery invented form, plain sugar or utilizing the natural taste of some ingredient composition.

It is the reason why I could not indifferently walk past by the patisserie I go by every day on my way to UVic.

Buying them was so much fun. First thinking of the selection. No prices were given, so I assumed (correctly) that they might be somewhat more expensive than some snickers in supermarket. Along with some bread, the above amounts costs around 11 euros. So, yeah. They better taste good.

And boy, they did.

The effects of tasting were quite... inspiring. The oranges dipped in chocolate went beyond my expectations. 

Those curled chocolate chips are some sort of mixture of scraped, or peeled of the top, dough, sprinkled with some nuts, then baked, and afterwards covered in dark chocolate. At least, that is what I imagine.

Finally, the white chocolate cookie. Flavour reminded me of polish sweets, called "Michałki" ("Michaels"*). They are most commonly covered with milk rather than white chocolate, I do however enjoy the white chocolate ones. Sometimes even more than the classical ones.

Altogether, in all honesty, it wasn't all that mind-blowing. But sure as hell it raised my endorphine levels!

* Or, I guess more adequetly, "Michaelies" or "Mikeys", to reflect the diminutive, cute sound it has in original**.

** Fun fact: back in Poland, you can sometimes call "Michałek"  studies, that are good for nothing, and the scientific degree (BA or MA), acquired after finishing the studies, has in modern times little job market value, like philosophy.

IN! INDE! INDEPENDECIA!

Heard about this place called Earth? It's a strange planet. Lots of unique thing called life. So far, found nowhere else in the known Universe.
Imagine orbiting the planet. You are getting closer. You start to see enourmous amounts of water and some brown, white, grey and green areas, made of dirt, ice, rocks and woods.
Zoom closer. To the place called Europe. Move to the far, left (or if you may - west) end of it. You will be in Spain. And in that little part of the globe, continent and country, you will find Catalonia.
Zoom further. Look for Barcelona.
And look for the V

Source: Twitter @ArnauPadro

Source: Twitter @quimsb

This is what was happening yesterday in Barcelona.

It is called Diada Nacional de Catalunya, or Catalonia National Day. And I was in the middle of it.

Let me take you back, to the beginning. It is a day to commemorate Catalonia losing it's independece in 1714 to Spain. As you can easily calculate, yesterday it was the 300th anniversary of that event. Ever since, the Catalans did not forget that they were independent. Nowadays, every year they celebrate the loss of their country. And they do it in the most amazing peaceful civil disobiedence way. I think only Gandhi did a better job in India.

Now back again to the closer history, that took place on the day before today.

Starting off in Vic train station. Pretty crowded.

And Barcelona doesn't look so scary.

Until you get closer to Diagonal Avenue. The more you go, the more time passes by, the more people start to gather.

The V shape stands for two things. One is Vote, as in the referendum for independence. Something like the one, that will take place soon in Scotland. Only difference is, this one is more like a opinion rather than actual independece. And even that form is met with strong opposition from Spanish government. I am not sure, if it won't be by any chance conducted illegaly.

Finally. Our place. If you want to be a part of human flag, you need to wear a yellow or a red shirt and stand in the designated area. Four people for each one of 9 stripes - 5 yellow and 4 red. The red and yellow stripes are the official flag of Catalonia. The white star in blue you see... well, everywhere, is the flag for supporting the independence. 

Of course, there are people against it. But they live high enough, and thousands of independence supporters can't reach them, so they can bring out the Spanish flag.

Madness is getting closer.

More intense.

Here you see a vote box, made of wood and being held and taken forward by the Catalans. And some Koreans, Italian and Polish :).

The chopper that took the picture.

And the joy. It is the first time, I was a part of a crowd I was happy to be a part of. The colours, the sound, the chills running through the body along with the feeling of being inside of something so much greater than one person.

The kiddo gets it.

Along with some old-timers.

Just need to get back to Vic... It might take awhile!

I will be honest. I got a heatstroke. And I experienced the best thing in my life in Barcelona on 11 of September. I wish that one day, you will have the chance to see, hear and feel the same unique things I did.

I'm sorry, Bartolome. I'm afraid I can't do that.

Ever felt like something is changing too rapidly around you? It might get confusing at first. Then it goes to a plateau phase. Just until you get used to it - right about then all starts to seem brighter. Take me for example. I am starting to get used to the abnormal* weather in this place.
It feels like you can experience every season during the day. In morning it feels like spring, with great humidity and temperature slowly rising. In the afternoon it's like summer - staying in the sun is all fun, until you get a heatstroke.. And in the evening makes me feel like during autumn, since it is usually raining. Storms seem to be quite common now, too. Yesterday there even was a hail storm.
Fortunately, the nights are gorgeous. Full moon was just begging me to observe while smoking cigarette.

All of this goes great with studying. You know, I still have an exam to retake back in Poland. Psychiatry is something you just cannot reinvent, not when you are an ordinary, 4th year student about to take a test. Hopefully, all the vacation work I put into it will go along just fine with everything else I needed to do, sacrifice or earn to start erasmusing in Vic. However, that is a story for some other time.

For now, I am having fun with adjusting the schedule for my classes. It seems like I'll be free on fridays and wednesdays, so long weekends (as in "posts from some challenging excursions") might become quite common around here.

Let me then get back to studies. Tomorrow, it's Day of Catalonia - a day to commemorate the catalan effort to gain independece. It seems like it will be the 300th anniversary. All of it going on in Barcelona. Oh yeah. It will be fun.

* Naturally, when compared to XXI century, but still post-soviet Poland.

If it bleeds, we can kill it

 Following simple rules of thumb is essential to any activity. Just like the Arnold in "Predator" follows the said rule, I follow a similiar one, when it comes to walking around for the sole purpose of getting lost: if there is a way in, there is a way out.

You soon find a sunday market, a samba band and balloons floating above your head.

If you are in luck, you might even travel back in time.

But enough bullshit. Trail time! This one, however, did not look as promising as I expected. I'll look for a way to make it harder, but that will come later.

That mountain looked like a reasonable target.

Blackberries in Vic taste so much different than in Poland. More like... sweetened sand.

At this point, what came to my mind is either going left or right. To the right, I had the peak I have seen before. To the left... something that looked like an abandoned church, which in my mind translates to JACKPOT. So I went closer.

So close... Just some nettles to overcome!

JACKPOT UNLOCKED!

And yes, there was an easier way to get there than going up the steep, muddy, slippery, muddy, grassy, muddy and nettle-filled hills.

But let us get back to business.

Santa Eulalia de Riuprimer. Apprently, abandoned.

 And suddeny - for whom the bell tolls?

I entered the church. Just at the right moment.

The gathered flock started singing some song in spanish. To the melody of "Sound of Silence". I recommend everyone to experience it one day. And it shall be the best day of your life. Also, it was nice to get my hand shaken by complete strangers during the moment of saying the good word to people around.

But back to business. Again. I noticed a hill. And a road. See: rule of thumb at the top. 

 And I got to this mansion. First one, that did not looked like an abandoned one. And first one to look so magical.

After taking a short shortcut down the hill, it was a time for rest.

And this little tree looked right at me.

Alright. You don't know where you are, but you are on a road....

... and you are in luck. More luck than brains.

Just a quick reminder - I was on the tower to the left, but it seems like the most popular one is the one to the right. I'll get you another time!

And let me just get a selfie in 30 degress.

It was a great day. I need to sweat a bit. I ended up walking around for 6 hours, with maybe 30 minutes breaks altogether. In that kind of terrain, I say it accounts for somewhere between 22 and 26 kilometres. The nature called. I anwsered. Period.