Day 18: Some familiar faces

Inside the Chinese restaurant

At work I wrote the article based off the interview I got from the CIRCA co-founder. My boss told me that she plans on having me help her with the upcoming print editions of various Le-City Deluxe franchise magazines for the future starting next week. I’m really excited!

After work, I went to Spanish class for my fourth day and learned some more transportation terms and how to tell time along with time phrases. I definitely feel that my Spanish is strengthening!

Some friends from UA who are studying abroad in Madrid, Spain came to visit Barcelona for this weekend and I met them at the train station and helped them locate their hostel as well got dinner with them. We went to a really nice Chinese restaurant and shared a lot of great laughs. It was nice to see a familiar face and also make a new friend.

When we received our check at the restaurant, the waiter also brought us each a necklace + earring set as well as this interesting sweet wine like substance to drink in tiny little goblets. It was very different. I guess that necklaces are their version of fortune cookies? It didn’t cost any extra and we were all surprised by the random present. All in all, a very nice evening.

Day 16: Slow work day and my family tree

Work was incredibly slow for me today. My boss was busy and never gave me a new assignment to work on so I was clicking around the internet and trying to find something to do. However, in the last hour of my shift, she told me she wanted me to be the interviewer for a personal interview the company wanted someone to do with a jewelry seller. I’m excited to be trusted to do that interview. I hope it all works out.

After work, I went to my Spanish class. We learned how to describe members of our family and made our árbol genealógico (family tree). We also learned about transportation and terms associated with it.

In my previous entry, I meant to describe the diversity in my class, but forgot. Several Spanish classes take place in the BIC (Where I’m taking classes) and everyone is separated by level and into many different classrooms. My particular class has 10 students. Five are American (four actually from UA, one from California), two are from Russia, two are from Sweden, and one is from Belgium. It’s interesting to hear about cultural differences when we are all discussing different things. The range of ages in my class is wider spread than a normal college class setting as well. We have a Master’s student and we also have high school students.

After class, a few friends and I walked to a local sandwich shop and they got some dinner (I get dinner at my home stay).

For dinner, my host mother made me pizza, but it was served to me a lot later than usual. It was definitely delicious! I took a picture and will post it in the future when I get a chance to upload pictures off my camera. Hasta luego!

Day 3: First full internship day and cooking class

The elevator at my internship. I have to ride it to the top of the building. It’s very old-fashioned but I’m glad there is one!

Today was my first full day at Barcelona Deluxe! I actually didn’t have to consult a map to get there and showed up a whole hour early. To kill time, I walked around the area and sat outside a book store for a little while. Now I know I can sleep in at least a half hour longer which will be nice.

After a brief walkthrough of the office and how the system works in terms of uploading stories to the web, I was given my first story to work on. About an hour or so later, I finished it and turned it in. The website was down today so I couldn’t upload it but I received an email from the coordinator aka my internship boss saying she thought my article was really good and I did an excellent job. Thanks UA Journalism courses! 😀 It was my first time writing something for a magazine and trying to keep a more flowery writing style was something different for me, but thanks to what I had previously learned in classes, I was able to have some kind of basis to go by.

I went to a café/bar and successfully ordered a bacon and cheese sandwich and a coca cola in Catalan! I was so proud of myself. I feel my Spanish strengthening daily as well.

A serving of the finished Paella we made. It was delicious!

Tonight the UA intern students as well as students from Group 1 (my group is group 3) who have been here for two weeks already we given the opportunity to take a cooking class. While I was waiting for the group at our meeting place, I got a chocolate drink. It basically tasted like four Hershey bars melted down. It was amazing and rich.

I really enjoyed the cooking class. It was so much fun! I learned how to make four traditional Spanish dishes including the famous Paella. It was all so delicious. I took

Using the blowtorch on my dessert. 😀 It tasted like candy cane to me and I really enjoyed it.

pictures of the recipes and am posting them in this post as requested and also for anyone who is interested! I worked with the students from group one because we had to split into two groups due to kitchen space. The facility was really fancy and I felt professional. I cut an artichoke for the first time in my life and learned that there is very little that is edible about it. I also used a blowtorch for the first time in my life for the dessert. It was scary at first, but really exciting! The chef who taught my smaller group’s

Tomato Soup. I highly recommend. Perhaps some of the best I’ve ever had!

name was Maria and she was incredibly helpful and kind. I enjoyed being in her group and learned a lot of things that I hope I can retain in America the next time I cook!

Tomorrow night I will take a salsa dance class. I can’t wait! It will also be the second full day of my internship, which I definitely enjoyed today.

Post thoughts/questions below! I know this entry was sort of short, but I took lots of pictures today!  I took over 100 today and will post them to Facebook soon. I can only post so many here. Hasta luego!

Dessert! Catalan Crema! 😀 This is what I used the torch on, to carmelize the sugar.

Paella! This one is a tougher dish, but it is wonderful when complete!

Pomato omelette (tortilla) with tomato bread (the commonly served bread in most restaurants in Barcelona). I prepared the bread part of this.