My first few days in Barcelona have been a whirlwind, distorted slightly by jet lag. I still can’t believe the view out of my living room window in my 7th-floor apartment. I’ll include a picture in my next blog post, as well as pictures from my adventures around the city.
Today I started my internship at Gastronomica Activa, planning food events and cooking classes for both tourists and locals. My supervisor told me that next week I would have to attend a chocolate tasting; clearly this internship is going to be very difficult. My main project is to plan food events (such as wine tastings, traditional Catalan foods tours, etc.) for a tourism agency in New York. I may not be the world’s best cook, but I’m great at eating, so thus far my internship seems to be wonderful. I’ll write about the chocolate tasting next week!
Barcelona’s fantastic cuisine is a bit wasted on me, as I’m a very picky eater. I don’t eat fish or red meat, so finding things to eat while out in the city has been a little bit of a struggle. Yesterday I went out for lunch and ordered an omelet, salad, and what I thought were chicken fingers, but ended up only eating the salad. Hopefully I will branch out a bit, and stop being so lame so that I can enjoy all the great food in the city! Another lesson of the day: if you order “café mas pasta,” it’s actually not pasta, but a croissant. No worries, though, I like croissants.
Its hotel terrace week in Barcelona, where 4-and-5 star hotels open their terraces to the general public June 1-8. On said terraces, there is live music, magic shows, even synchronized swimmers. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen synchronized swimmers in real life, and I’m really looking forward to it. My roommate Claire and I are going to a hotel terrace tonight to see what the hype is all about. I will keep you all posted – hopefully I’ll see some synchronized swimmers or something, and I can’t wait to let you know what this terrace week thing is all about.
By Kelly Greacen, Boston University