Life of a Consultant

I've been totally unable to blog over the last few weeks. Actually, make that last few months. I mean just sit down, breathe and let my mind flow. That seems like a far-away state of being right now. More like it has been workdays of about 10 to 12 hours, and then after-work time with colleagues. I've also moved cities (temporarily). I'm currently living in Santander, a city in the north of Spain (where its cold and rainy all through summer).

Apart from work, I've been engrossed in the book I'm reading right now "Shantaram." It is a true story of a man that takes you on a journey like no other. I have been so absorbed by it, that part of the reason I havent been here more can be attributed to it. I will surely write a review once I'm done reading, which I hope for my sake isn't soon (I dont want this book to end).

I moved here in the first week of June and plan to stay on till the end of July. I have a cozy company-paid flat all to myself, which is sweet. I feel lonely here, have to admit. But the company pays our flights/trips on the weekends (to Madrid/Barcelona or lower fare) and been using that up to travel.

I've managed to travel to a new place every weekend since June. Visited the Basque Country over two weekends - Bilbao and San Sebastian. Bilbao was two weekends ago, and in fact, I just got back from San Sebastian a couple of hours ago. I'd gone to see a friend from high school in Oman who later went to my rival school - Georgia Tech. Was good to catch up and hang out with someone from home after a while, and actually speak english all day.

Also made a weekend trip to Belgium with three colleagues last weekend, to Brussels, Brugge and Gent. Brussels gave me a good feeling, apart from being a historic and beautiful city, its people seemed to be pretty relaxed and "assle free" :-) The Pee-Boy and Pee-Girl statues were super cute. Brussels has a modern and easy-going air to it which was evident in the manner people dress there (for instance people don't tend to copy shop-windows) or "escaparate-dressing" like they do here in Spain. Also a lot of different cultures seem to thrive there, especially Arab. The cities of Brugge and Gent were enchanting with their little canals and old cobbled streets. I bought a lot of chocolate, which will last me possibly till year end. Overall a good time and the weather was favorable without any rain. Tried a beer called "Westmalle" which I really liked. Anyone tried it?

Today is Sunday and I've just realized how tired I was after the last few weeks of intensive work and travelling/partying. And the proof is: I slept yesterday afternoon at 5:30 pm and woke up this morning at 11:30am. Thats 18 hours straight :-)

Next weekend I'm going to Ibiza :-) I hope to be up to it!