I spent my first day of work in search of good food. To take pictures of it that will be published in a magazine. And in a few places, to eat it. For free. That’s right. Oh my God, if this is what the world of cultural journalism can be like and I can be a part of it, I will never want to retire. Allow me to elaborate.

The Offices of BCN Week

The day started off only slightly awkwardly. Even though Bettina had explained at orientation what kinds of things would be smart to wear on our first day in our internships, I had the impression that my work environment might be a little different from the rest: a little more casual, maybe even a little bit grungy. So this morning I spent a long time staring at the outfit I had laid out the night before  – a basic black shift dress and leather flats -  and trying to decide if it would make a good impression at an underground cultural newspaper. I decided it wouldn’t, so I switched to my vintage Disney World tee shirt, black shorts, and pink Reeboks.

When Lena and the other editors, Nuria and Joe, came over to formally introduce themselves, they apologized profusely for the wait I had while they finished their meeting and for the appearance of the office. I told them that I thought it was the coolest office I’d ever seen, and they laughed. I think they thought I was joking, but I really wasn’t.

Maybe a relatively normal person would not be okay with this kind of work environment, and I felt sure that most of the other University of Dreams participants were in much more “traditional,” “tidy” workplaces. But I was way okay with where I was. I felt like I could kick up my heels – or in my case, my pink Reeboks. The editors made me feel so at home, and we did a lot of laughing and getting to know each other before we got down to brass tacks.

My first assignment, which Lena gave me, was to take my camera and a list of addresses of various restaurants around the city to photograph a selection of their culinary offerings for next issue’s shortlist.

The shortlist is, as its name suggests, a short list of places given the thumbs up by BCN Week’s staff, and every issue it has a different theme. Next month’s will be “geometrical foods,” so that is what I was shooting all day today. Lena didn’t give me too many instructions before she sent me out – she seemed to have a lot of faith in someone she had only just met. But I managed to do okay, I think. To aid in the search for the designated restaurants, I bought myself a Michelin mapbook of Barcelona, its neighborhoods and its metro system (and I am obsessed with it – I recommend one of these to anyone who is planning on moving to a new city. I had one when I lived in Paris, and it was a timesaver and thus a lifesaver).

I definitely got lost a few times, and I got on the wrong bus more than once, too. But by the end of the day, I had not only gotten all the pictures I needed, I had also been given free food by almost all of the friendly restaurant managers, and even offered a drink by one of them. The best part for me, though, was that thanks to Lena and her assignment, I had been able to get to know some ridiculously cool areas and people that I might not have discovered on my own for a long time. I’ll admit, I took a lot of pictures of non-work-related things as I trekked from one restaurant to another.

It’s just that, well, you wouldn’t believe how photogenic this city is. You’d want to capture it all, too.

Kelly Doyle-Mace was a runner-up for the 2009 World Traveler Internship and chronicled her prize for the STA Travel Blog – a spot as a University of Dreams Intern at BCN Week in Barcelona, Spain.