A eulogy for T-Jov

Today was a very sad day. My T-Joven stopped working. Translation: my oh-so-precious Metro card expired.

While this might sound trivial or insignificant, this T-Joven – a credit-card-sized piece of paper – I have guarded and carried like a child for the past three months. 90 days and nights. Of bliss. Of bad decisions. Of the times of my life.

Though some lost, ripped, frayed, dropped, misplaced or, heaven-forbid, had theirs stolen, mine remained with me during every purse change, coat switch and baggage check. Yes, it’s worn. And yes, its plastic sleeve is scratched and cut. But this paper card was still my faithful ticket onto every Metro, bus and nit bus I took.  

Today, the card-swipey-machine at the Metro station slurped it in and spit it right back out as if it were just one of those T-Mes (month) passes, or worse, one of those single-ride passes, without a history or a story. I wasn’t expecting this and I couldn’t help but get just a tad bit defensive.

My card, in its small entirety, I have come to understand, represents the culmination of my trip. And though a swipe machine wouldn’t know it, the very card it so simply just spewed back out stands for every good, bad and indifferent moment that I encountered while here in Barcelona. It followed me to and from class during my 45-minute journey. It got me home at 4 a.m. after dancing in clubs. It got me lost when I thought I knew where I was going. And it stayed with me while I traveled, improved my Spanish, gained friends, lost friends, tried new things and explored. Now, its days are up.

It’s not even that I care so much that it expired. It’s more that today, for the first time, I finally realize my time here in Barcelona is up. Having my card thrust back into my hand hit me like a bullet: my Metro days are numbered; my late-night bus rides will soon be a whisper in the wind.

I suppose I better soak it all in fast, but the T-10 (10-ride pass) that I had to purchase today to get me through the next two weeks just won’t be the same. I may as well be a tourist in my own city, counting down and perfectly calculating every trip so I don’t waste a ride. Que pena! Though my 3-month pass was just another expired card for the swipe machine at the Universitat Metro stop, it was so much more than that to me. I knew this day would come. I just didn’t expect it to be today.  

So today was a very sad day.

May you rest in peace, T-Jov. Thanks for the rides.