Today I have a busy day ahead of me. I don’t have a printer yet and I need to print out some papers that a professor sent me to read. What this means is that I have to walk 20 minutes under the hot Barcelona sun to my department and have them printed there. But I’m determined to make this as painless as possible. The earlier I get there, the less sun I will have to deal with. Luckily, I have discovered a delicious coffee that helps me wake up in the morning.

At the nearby town of Sant Quirze (only two train stops away), there is a huge commercial center called Al Campo, which is the French’s answer to Costco. But unlike Costco, it is several times bigger. It’s like 3 airplane hangars big and in there you can find *anything* you can think of. Household items, electronic equipment, soccer (sorry, fútbol) balls, sports clothing, hair tint, car coolant, jamón ibérico; you name it, they have it. It’s a little intimidating when you walk in because you get immediate choice fatigue. So when you go, you better have a list of things and a healthy sense of agency; otherwise, you can end up like some people I’ve seen there: completely dazed, wandering aimlessly through the aisles.

So back to the coffee. At Al Campo, I discovered a coffee by Lavazza called Qualità Rossa, which has to be the best coffee I have ever tasted after Puerto Rican coffee, which for me continues to be the best thing in the world. Qualità Rossa has flavor notes of chocolate. It makes for a rich brew, low in acidity. In the United States, it’s sold on Amazon, if you care to try it.

After I get those papers printed, I have to buy T-shirts, an item of clothing I haven’t owned in years, because of the heat. Finally, I want to visit a small church in Bellaterra, which is the town next to the University. It’s ancient, and I’m curious to see it.