February

It has been a busy two weeks here in Pamplona. There are two major highlights to speak of:

1) Rome. I went to Rome not this weekend but eight days ago to visit my sister, who is studying abroad there this semester, and my brother, who was visiting here for the week. It was a fantastic time. I got there around 3pm on a Saturday afternoon and had enough time to eat pizza and have some wine with my sister, walk around her neighborhood in Trastevere and walk around Ancient Rome for a bit before having an amazing dinner at this place called Vecchia Locanda. When I say the food was amazing, I don't mean it was just one particular dish. I mean everything including the bread had the same effect on me that those mangos had on George Costanza. After dinner, I went out to get a taste of the Roman nightlife. I went to one hip and trendy bar, a divy student place and then a club. It was a pretty cool night overall. In the morning, I woke up and had a nice breakfast with my sister before heading home. It was an awesome trip though too short. I am very excited for Eastertime now since I will go back to Rome with my parents to visit my sister. It should be spectacular.

2) Getting warmer. By getting warmer I wish I meant that spring was upon us. Unfortunately, the weather in Pamplona is still around the normal winter temperature. It hovers just above or at freezing. What I meant by getting warmer is that if I am going to stay in Pamplona for longer than just this year and if I am going to do the master's and phd like I want, I have always known that I had to thrash out some a solid idea for a potential thesis. Not only does the idea itself have to be compelling, it also must be compatible with the research center here so that I can do the PhD as I keep up with the workflow at the center. I have flirted with several, more specific ideas since January. Common themes that keep recurring are social entrepreneurship and public-private partnerships broadly speaking. I have had some very fruitful conversations with some people recently that are helping to hone more and more what I want to do here. I don't have specifics right now except that I hope to have a very clear proposition by the end of March.

A third thing worth mentioning is that I have been hanging out with what you might call the New York crowd here in Pamplona a lot more. All of us are in a similar boat. We are from New York and came to Pamplona to do research or a degree. It's always good to be around people who have similar struggles.

As you can see, I am continuing to enjoy Pamplona, but think I will be even more comfortable once I have fully warmed up. Hopefully, by the next post, I will be nearly there....