./april 2023

understood 1% of what the X-ray nurse said

after 1 and a half months with a terrible bronchitis that prevented me from having a normal life, finally got better

started taking vitamin D supplements
discovered I had vitamin D deficiency
Doctor Fernando confirmed that, to no one's surprise, what I had was allergic bronchitis
on the day of the appointment, was notified that "Dr. María Castillo is no longer working with us. You will be seen by Dr. Fernando"
rescheduled the appointment for 1 week later
when it was time to go back to the doctor for the follow-up, my appointment was canceled with 45 minutes notice
only got better after taking an antihistamine that my mom had made me pack. Basically all the doctors were useless
had an X-ray
understood 99% of what the spirometry nurse said
had a spirometry test

came across the best selection of books being sold in a bookstore I've ever seen in my life

was invited to spend a day at a friend of a friend's house

scored 3 goals. One was with my left foot
ended up being 100% within a few hours
got very scared of regressing in my bronchitis recovery by answering the sporting call of my Brazilian genes
had an asthma attack because I wasn't used to running and suddenly, recovering from a terrible bronchitis, went to play soccer
played soccer
bought 4 (four!) board games
was surprised by a giant dragon

talked with a Romanian lady who was absolutely certain they had set up Daniel Alves: "everything indicates it was a trap"

traveled to Bilbao

watched a KKK procession (Note: Holy Week processions in Spain feature pointed hoods)
established silent bonds with a polyglot Italian and an Austrian who really needed to pee
visited the most expensive city in Spain
entered a painting called San Juan de Gaztelugatxe
accidentally watched a documentary about Johnny Depp's life together with 2 other people who didn't know we were a community

ended up owing information about Nanico, the Mischievous Monkey
established contact through Google Translate with such individuals and we exchanged important information about the game Nanico, the Mischievous Monkey
discovered that fans of old Hebrew children's CD-ROM games are looking for the original copy, in Hebrew, of Nanico the Mischievous Monkey
discovered the name of "Nanico the Mischievous Monkey" in Hebrew

had fun with the 1h30 commercial called Mario: The Mario Movie

watched a 1h30 video about a fangame of a game I've never played in my life

watched a 1h30 video about JK Rowling

received a major revision, which according to the first reviewer, "is more of a rejection than of an acceptance"

submitted a revision that responds very well to all the points raised by the reviewers, and if accepted, could very well be the dictionary example for the term "Miracle"

was brutally humiliated for not knowing information theory

worked madly for 1 and a half weeks and fixed the paper
talked with the lab people and selected the best ideas on how to fix the paper
was inspired by silvia saying "you have to be like Dongmin at the end of the third season of The Genius"
was depressed for a couple of days
in an act of divine inspiration, we went to the movies

traveled to Santiago de Compostela

saw the body of the Santiago guy. It had less light than I imagined

had an intimate guided tour with a guide our age whom I grew quite fond of
discovered many, many facts about the life of "Saint James" (if that's his real name)
infiltrated a 5-star hotel and discovered how the rich live
lay down in the middle of a square while imitating a Portuguese person
suggested that silvia take a shell she had eaten home

lost a bet and had to start writing another paper

met an Italian woman

discovered in the worst possible way that in Italy they have a strange and probably very racist stereotype about Brazil

got two boiled eggs as a gift

participated in the ancient beyblade tradition of Romanian Orthodox Easter
discovered that Italians really do talk while moving their hands
discovered that on Italian trains they also carry two phones in case they get robbed
discovered that Italy is like Brazil but different

watched a tourist put four loose tangerines in a shopping cart

traveled to Granada

spent about fifteen minutes watching frogs doing frog things

decided to buy a mug and gave up buying the mug
got a sock too small for my foot as a gift
for the first time in my life, slept in a church
saw the bodies of the Catholic Kings
ate a fake pudding called pionono

for the first time in my life, had glasses break on my face

April was an eventful month. The most impactful data I can give about this topic is that, among the four weekends of April, silvia and I traveled on three: to Bilbao, to Santiago, and to Granada. Three out of four is 75%, vulgarly known as "more than half" -- which means I finally became one of my biggest nightmares: someone who travels.

This traveling thing left me (1) exhausted and (2) thinking about what it means to travel. So, what does it mean to travel? Is traveling important? Is it necessary to build character? Is it all that they say? Well, for 23 years of my life I practically never left Rio de Janeiro, so one thing is certain: it's possible to live without traveling. But so many people say that traveling is important to know other cultures, to form memories, to get out of the monotony... is living without traveling a life worth living?

After so much traveling, my answer is: traveling is a hobby, that's all. Just like gardening and playing board games, except more expensive than the latter -- something I thought was frankly impossible. The truth is that after visiting very famous (and beautiful!) places like the Sagrada Familia, the Alhambra, the Seville Cathedral etc, I feel... fundamentally unchanged. It's cool to go there and see the beautiful place and all, without a doubt, but it's not something that changed the way I see the world, you know?

In short: I could live the rest of my life without traveling, and I don't think my life would be fundamentally worse -- traveling is a hobby and nothing more. For comparison, this is something I can't say about reading books: if I couldn't read books anymore, I feel 100% that my life would be worse in some fundamental way.

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