Patatas Bravas and Paella
A Journey through the Iberian Peninsula
The day after I last published Kaloramic in August, I started at Columbia Law School. Over my first semester, I read four hundred cases about property, contracts, and constitutional law, met brilliant classmates who challenged me to think differently, and slowly fell (back) in love with Columbia, New York City, and being a student. (What’s the most interesting thing I learned this semester, you ask? Look up adverse possession.)
Before succumbing to the all-encompassing experience of law school, however, my college friends and I planted the seeds of an escape: flight tickets in December. During the semester, I spent my little spare time — and appetite for additional text — slowly nurturing them by reading Don Quixote, the famous tales of a knight and his squire wandering through Spain.1
As finals and the cold approached in December, I went into hibernation. Thanks to my friends and their planning, by the time I submitted my last final and raced back home, these seeds had bloomed into a full-blown adventure. So, for the second year in a row, I took off at midnight on Christmas — this time, headed east to Portugal and Spain.
Our Tale of Five Cities started with Lisbon, a late but welcome addition thanks to TAP Air Portugal’s stop-over program. Lisbon struck us with its innate beauty —where every narrow street, church, or building becomes a breathtaking view if you look just the right way (though, maybe that’s true everywhere). Plus, it had a holiday makeover: Christmas markets and lighted decorations atop every cobblestone street. Our stay in Lisbon was brief but beautiful, and set the tone for our main destination.
Spain was the focus of our hometown adventure, but not in the traditional sense: my amorphous Georgetown crew had a range of relations to this country. Two had grown up for some time in Madrid, one spent months working at a foundation in Granada, one spent weeks in Barcelona through a school program, and so on. In fact, only two of us (myself included) had never visited. As a result, our journey through all these cities — plus Seville, because why not — went on different paces, driven by different voices, and were a range of familiarity and newness.
Embodying Don Quixote (and his dutiful squire Sancho Panza), we wandered through the streets of Spain with planned excursions, and just as many detours. Of course, we hit the must-sees — the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, the Alhambra castle in Granada — and were left mouth-wide-open by the intricate Islamic and Catholic architecture. But equally memorable were our mindlessly entertaining conversations. (Are you a diva or soup-apologizer? Who would win Survivor? What is gatekeeping, really?)
Our weeks in Spain were the exact opposite of law school life. I traded in physical hibernation for an intellectual one — we clocked in over 20,000 steps regularly, but I mostly gave my brain a rest. While I generally tried to eat healthy during the semester, my meanderings in Spain were primarily fueled by patatas bravas (crispy fried potatoes with sauce), paella (a huge rice-based dish), and the occasional Taco Bell (yes, even in Spain). I usually don’t nap, but after consistent late nights, touristy-mornings, and these carb-filled lunches, I caved into siesta culture.
Along with collective excursions and detours, each of us engaged with Spain through our own lenses. The watch-enthusiast picked up some rare pieces in a flea market; the sometimes-gambler made a trip to the Barcelona casino. As for myself, I found some bubble tea, played pool at bars, and watched Man United games with strangers.
This was also not a traditional friends’ trip. Eight of us came together from countries — each with a different flight path and itinerary. Some came to Spain for two days, others stayed more than three weeks. Unlike my semester, our trip crescendoed not at the end but the middle: at midnight on New Year’s Eve, when all eight of us ate twelve grapes in Barcelona’s Plaza de Espana, hugged, and celebrated through the night.
I’m grateful for these friends at many levels. Without their detailed planning, we would have had no trip. Limited by my lack of Spanish and vegetarianism, I would have struggled to navigate restaurants and cultural norms without them.
Most importantly, with each passing year, each of us makes more sacrifices for trips like this. Complicated cross-continent flight patterns, missed birthdays and family gatherings, all just to be back together. Maybe for this reason (or maybe because of the comparatively slower Spanish lifestyle, or maybe because my brain really needed the rest), we prioritized spending this precious time together more than crossing off every item on the checklist.
During this break, I also started going through and deleting all my duplicate (or unnecessary) photos and videos. This started with the practical purpose of saving storage, but had three additional benefits. First, we capture all these moments to visit them in the future, so we owe it to ourselves to look at them at least once. Second, you get to remember all the incredible moments of life (also why I started Kaloramic two years ago). Third, you start realizing that some videos could just be photos, and not every photo needs to be taken. At some point during the trip, instead of pulling out my phone at every picturesque view, I just stared in awe.
After sixteen days on cobblestone streets, I landed back into a cold Northeast, ready to re-enter the physical hibernation of winter and law school. Even I don’t know when (or what) I’ll be sharing in my next Kaloramic. But thanks to my friends and family, the seeds for the next journey are probably already planted somewhere.
Published by Miguel de Cervantes in 1605 with a second part in 1615, Don Quixote is considered the first modern novel. It read like a sitcom — each chapter a loosely connected but often self-contained tale. At 940 pages, it took me nearly the entire semester to get through.
love u king <3 beautiful piece!
Very nicely written!!! When are you getting your friends to India, we would love to host all