Day 22: McDonalds

McDonalds

For the first time, I had absolutely no work to do at my internship. My boss wasn’t in the office for me to ask for another assignment so I just observed others quietly and did other writing work.

After work, I was craving French fries for whatever reason and decided to finally go into the McDonalds I often pass on my way home from work. I ate their first menu option which was a sandwich called a “CBO” where the letters stand for chicken, bacon and some type of onion flavored sauce. It was incredibly good, especially the bacon which was even baked into the bread a little. With my meal, I received a complimentary limited edition Euro cup glass. Mine was the Poland/Ukraine one. It was a very satisfying meal and I liked enjoying some familiar, though unfamiliar food. I may be returning once more before I go back to America.

CBO and fries

Speaking of which, I realized that my journey in Spain is halfway over. I feel that these final three weeks will go by faster than I expect and I’ll be home before I know it.

After lunch, I went home and relaxed some before dinner. After dinner, I accompanied my host mother to La Nena and enjoyed some pleasant conversation with her.

It’s been incredibly warm here; though I’m sure Alabama can compete and win the heat battle. The heat has made me sleepier than ever, which is a little depressing. It also makes it too hot for me to want to go and explore in the afternoon. Hopefully it’ll cool down a few degrees soon.

Day 20: Park Guell, Barcelona Zoo and the Festival de San Juan

Park Guell

Day 20 of my experience was definitely the most packed and nonstop thus far. I had a blast!

At the top of Park Guell

First, I met with my friends who were visiting Barcelona from Madrid and we went to Park Guell. Getting to the park is an uphill walk, but once we got to the park, we knew it was fully worth it. The park was beautiful with its Gaudi architecture and pathways. I took lots of pictures and even some videos of myself going to the top of the building which can be found at this link. It was really cool to see all of the little structures and even musicians playing throughout the area. The view from the top was absolutely breathtaking and it was an amazing way to see the city of Barcelona.

Afterwards, we ventured to Jaume I to walk around the Gothic district of Barcelona a

A fountain in the Gothic district

bit and so that my friends could check out the Chocolate Museum (Yes, it was my third time being there, though I didn’t actually go through the exhibits this time and just stayed in the café).

Lion’s at the Barcelona Zoo

We also went to the Barcelona Zoo, which in my opinion was much better than the Aquarium I visited previously. I got to see a wide variety of animals and learned a lot about ones I never heard of before as well as ones I already knew about. Unfortunately, my camera battery died halfway through the Zoo and I didn’t get a picture of my favorite animal: the giraffe, but I can definitely say that I had an incredible experience there and it was worth every penny of the ticket to enter.

My friends and I literally went through every single animal area and saw each and every animal we possibly could. We even caught the end of the dolphin show! It was all really fun. We saw a total of 74 different animals including several different types of monkeys, lions, tigers, bears (oh, my!), and even some African Elephants. We also saw animals I didn’t know existed but was definitely fascinated by like the Patagonian Mara. I will also never forget the number of peacocks I saw in random places yesterday. Very amusing creatures.

Afterwards, our feet were in a lot of pain from all of the walking we had done thus far so we went in search of a late lunch/early dinner to allow us a short rest break.

This day was the Festival de San Juan which is basically all about celebrating the Summer Solstice. Part of the festivities included fireworks and we began to hear them quite early on in the day. Some were incredibly loud. People also had snappers/poppers and sparklers. So much noise! It was a little frightening at times when we heard it come out of nowhere or from unexpected places.

Magic Fountain in Montjuic

I wanted to show my visiting friends Las Arenas since I thought it was an amazing view of the city I had seen in the past, so we went to the Espanya area so they could see it. We went all the way to the top as I had previously done and took in the incredibly evening view, which was also different than the last time I had gone. In Espanya, there is this thing called “La Font Magica de Montjuic” or the Magic Fountain. Every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening from 9-11:30 a really beautiful fountain/light show occurs. This was my first time to finally get to see this spectacle. My camera came back to life shortly so I could snap a few pictures and then died again, but here is a video of the Fountain Show via YouTube. It’s absolutely marvelous. It was even more magical with all of the fireworks people were launching in celebration of the festival, definitely an amazing experience.

Afterwards, we headed back to the hostel my friends were staying at so we could drop off our things and go to the beach to take part in the festival’s main festivities. We went to the Port Olimpico beach area to participate since we knew the Barceloneta (major tourist area) would be the most crowded.

If I only had one word to describe the festivities, I would say they were loud. It was expected with all of the fireworks, but there were thousands of people as well. We found an area to sit on the beach overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and watched fireworks for about an hour or more while eating sandwiches. It was a once in a lifetime experience for sure. My friend really wanted to touch the sea before she left Spain and so we walked to the water, took off our shoes, and enjoyed the sand and sea. It was a really wonderful experience especially since our feet ached from all of the walking we had done all day through Barcelona.

Overall, this was an unforgettable day. Even if I didn’t have a working camera for half of it, I know I will always remember Saturday, June 23, 2012.

Day 17: Lo intento!

Pizza I had for dinner on Day 16

I learned in my Spanish class that in Spanish, “lo intento” means “I try” and seems to perfectly describe how I go about each day here.

My Spanish School

On day 17 of my experience, my internship supervisor had me conduct an interview with a jeweler. The company is called CIRCA and basically they buy jewelry, renovate it, and resell it, though their main focus is on the buying part. The man I interviewed is one of the co-founders of the franchise and he was a native of New York like me. My boss doesn’t speak fluent English so I conducted the interview wholly while she observed and made a few remarks here and there. Actually, there were five of us in the hotel lounge where the interview was held: A press secretary, the other co-founder of CIRCA, Mr. Chris Del Gatto (the man I interviewed personally) and my supervisor. It was a really good experience and it was cool to be trusted to do that kind of work. My boss also had me take pictures for the story I will write, so the work is wholly mine.

After work, I went to my Spanish class and learned terms to help me describe my neighborhood and different household terms. I really do feel that my Spanish is getting better and better each day which is a really exciting feeling.

Near the beach in Barceloneta

After class, I went to a tour led by some staff members of the program I am a part of and walked around the Barceloneta area of Barcelona. I was in this area recently when I went to the Aquarium but it was really cool to get a tour of the area and learn what restaurants to consider eating at in the future. Along with me and some interns that have been here for a while, a majority of this group was new interns that recently arrived on Monday. It was nice to meet some more new people and hear about their future plans and excitement. After the tour and some amazing ice cream, some of the new interns and some older interns went to get some Tapas.

Mango ice cream I had. It literally tasted like I was eating a whole mango rather than flavored ice cream. Fantastic!

For those who have never been to Spain or heard of Tapas, if you ever come visit, that’s definitely a major thing to add to a to-do list. Tapas are basically like appetizers and are absolutely delicious. My group, including myself, was 6 people and we ordered a random variety of Tapas including things like “Patata Bravas” which are like cooked potatoes with mayo and some type of hot sauce on them, absolutely delicious. We also had fried Calamari, a Ceviche salad, Tortilla, Cheese, Pan con tomate y oregano among a couple of others. It was about 7-8 euros when we divided it out and we were all full in the end. It’s an excellent plan for anyone who wants to try a variety of Spanish food for a low price and all of it is very tasty.

This particular day was very long because of all the nonstop things I did. I left home at 8:30 in the morning and didn’t return until 11:30 p.m., definitely long.

Day 2: Metro after Metro

When my alarm went off at 7 a.m. this morning, I opened my eyes and realized, it was pitch black. It was hard to believe it was morning when my room was swallowed in darkness. Because I couldn’t see, I knocked over random things on my desk until I finally was able to grab my alarm.

The sign outside the building at my internship. The picture was taken from inside the front gate.

When I finally got up, I got dressed and studied a few maps to make sure I knew which way I was headed. Afterwards, I took a metro most of the way to my internship for the first time. I allowed myself an hour and half to get there and when I walked down the additional streets after the metro, I got to my location with thirty minutes to spare. I estimate that the real time in the future will be less since I spent part of my time today double checking maps.

My internship coordinator was very friendly and also gave me three previous Deluxe magazines to look at to see what kind of stuff they publish. Tomorrow I start my first full day at 9:30 a.m. and cannot wait!

Afterwards, I walked to the Hard Rock Café, the meeting location for my internship group for our planned lunch outing. Instead of taking the metro again, I chose to walk to Hard Rock Café which is about a 30-35 minute walk. On my way, I stopped at a café and got a drink as well as a small restaurant. I’ve been incredibly thirsty since I got here, but I suppose jetlag along with all of the walking are naturally bound to cause thirst.

El Glop – The restaurant where I had lunch with my program group

After we met at Hard Rock Café, we walked to this restaurant called “El Glop,” which I later learned refers to the act of swallowing. Kind of like “the gulp,” if you will. There, we were each treated to the meal of the day. I had a cooked spinach dish as my appetizer, gnocchi as my main meal, and incredibly juicy and delicious watermelon for dessert. The whole meal was very good and I felt very full afterwards. I understand why Spaniards have siestas.

Incredibly juicy and delicious watermelon!

Since then, I have returned to my home stay and have been relaxing and taking some time off from running around. My body is still recovering my jetlag but I am trying to avoid sleeping to keep from throwing it off any more.

Tomorrow I have my first full day at my internship and can’t wait to start doing some work! I look forward to working on the tasks and projects I’m assigned and getting to continue to work on my Spanish. My internship group is also receiving a cooking lesson! We are going to learn to make Paella 😀

Hasta luego!

PS: The Pictures page was taken down because I could not figure out a good way to share all of my pictures. I may attempt to put up a flickr link again, but there is a great space limit with that. I will definitely upload my pictures to Facebook soon!

Day 1: Homestay and Orientation

My first meal in Barcelona — Pizza prepared by my host mother. 🙂

I’m staying at this lovely homestay with a really nice woman. She’s about my mom’s age and speaks fluent Spanish of course, but also some English, which has been very helpful. She’s incredibly sweet so far and very helpful.

My first meal in Barcelona was a slice of pizza my host mother prepared. It was delicious. Did you know that Ham is like a really big deal in Barcelona? It’s everywhere and in many dishes.

Afterwards, I went to an orientation session our intern group had. I met the remainder of students from UA as well as other students in my group who were from California, Florida, Texas, Colorado, and a few other states. It was neat to go around the room and hear about everyone’s different internship plans and goals. As part of our orientation, we went to this hotel and got treated to free coffee and pastries. All of the things I had were wonderful.

The store we shopped at.

Finally, our group was split up and taken to the Las Rambla area to walk around and see some things. We went to what I dubbed as the Barcelona version of “Bed, Bath and Beyond” so that those in our group staying in apartments could get sheets and things for their places. It was neat to see all of the stores and things on Las Rambla.

I also learned that those who call Barcelona the “pick pocketing capital of Europe” are definitely not joking. I witnessed a man today with an empty shopping cart walk quickly through a crowd of people and when he got past them, had a large orange purse in his shopping cart. Unbelievable. I also saw many others attempt to

The salad with just lettuce, corn and chopped apples with oil. 🙂

scam/pickpocket. Must always remain careful!

I returned to my Barcelona home around 10:30 p.m. and was welcomed by a lovely dinner my host mother had prepared. 🙂 Part of that dinner was a salad which was literally lettuce, corn and chopped apples with some olive oil on it… it was actually really good.

I can’t wait to see more of Barcelona tomorrow and also get to go to my internship location for the first time!

Also, I can’t quite figure out how to embed the slideshow into the pictures page on here. I’ll keep playing around and hopefully it’ll be directly on here soon rather than just a link.