THEN AND NOW IN BARCELONA

Tonight, I write from Barcelona. I was last here 14 years ago at the end of medical school in 1998.  Over the years, Barcelona has remained one of my favorite cities. Therefore, when the opportunity to present at an international meeting came up, I leaped at the chance. 

Much is the same in Barcelona- great food, great museums, friendly people, and beautiful women. However, as I wandered around town, I noticed a different mood in the city than the one I witnessed last time. There was a palpable sense of less hope, more dread, and more frustration. 

I witnessed all of these emotions yesterday as I walked the city on the day of the national work stoppage. People were striking due to austerity and the global economic downturn, and Spain has been particularly hard hit with employment around 25%.

I had thought that this was simply a transport strike, but I quickly realized the strike was more widespread when every destination I visited was shuttered.

Few people were mulling around in the morning, but they seemed more purposeful, more busy, and more serious than I remembered from my last visit.  Later, I noticed that crowds were gathering, and so were the police.  On the main drag called La Rambla, political signs adorned the lampposts. Some spoke of Catalan independence while others spoke of socialism without secession. The undercurrent of tension was to be found everywhere.

As I headed back to the hotel on foot, I noticed that the crowds had become considerably bigger and louder.  They were amassing in the city center in the Placa Cataluña.  There, I heard several loud explosions. Initially, I took them for gunfire or a bomb, but they turned out to be some form of firework.  Quickly, I headed in the opposite direction to my hotel.  I stayed in the remainder of the day and could not fathom how different this city that I love was on that day compared to my last visit.

It is true that it was a special day – a general strike. However, the city and the people of Barcelona were measurably different from 1998. It turns out that I, too, am different 14 years later. 

My last trip was all about pleasure and sight seeing at the end of four long years of medical school. This time, I am presenting at an international medical conference.  I have two kids and a wife whom I love, and I think about their future and the state of the world I will be leaving them all the time.  On this trip, I am less interested in partying and more interested in understanding and experiencing the Catalan culture and its people. 

There is no doubt that the Catalan people have been frustrated for hundreds of years.  However, during my last visit I had a simplistic, romantic ideal of the place.  That is no more.

In many ways, Barcelona feels more real and less ethereal.  That does not mean Barcelona is any less special to me. If anything, I am drawn more to this city – its emotions, its will, and its people… not to mention its Football Club. 

Now, Barcelona and its people just feel more grown up, more self-possessed, more introspective, but still hopeful… kind of like me. 

I have never seen a reflection of myself in a city until this trip, but Barcelona is not just any city.  

Visca Barcelona!