Blogg, Barschool in Barcelona

Wow I haven't blogged in a long time! I have just been having such a good time these past couple of weeks that I haven't had a chance to write anything.

Week 3 we learned our last drinks and our instructor Nicklas took us on a pubcrawl, which was one of the most entertaining experiences i've had in a long time. We started at a champagneria, where we got some incredible cava and rosado. I have not yet reached the age where I like wine, but it was actually really, really good! We also tasted some spanish specialities, which also tasted incredibly.

After that we visited a bar where they made the craziest shots, they basically almost lit the entire table on fire. They also served a "Monica Lewinsky"- only for the bravest ;-)

We also went to the bar where our flairing instructor works and got a "Kiss me baby", very tasty! We finished off at a club and danced for the rest of the night- a truly memorable evening.

But it's definitely not all fun and games here, you really have to study the drinks to succeed. You can't come here and expect a 4-week vacation with tanning and partying, the Barschool in Barcelona is a much more serious and abitious school than that. If you don't study and don't learn the drinks, you won't do well, and in my opinion you would be wasting your time here. Out of respect for our incredible instructor Nicklas, I feel that everyone should do their very best while being here.

Speaking of doing well, our test is tomorrow!!! 18 drinks in 18mins, and a 1.5-hour theoretical exam about alcohol. I'm a little nervous, not so much about the practical exam, because I feel i'm doing quite well there, but more about the theoretical. I need to study tonight, and that's why i'm saving the rest of my blog post for tomorrow! ;-D

It's Wednesday in week 2 in Barcelona, and i've had the misfortune of getting sick! I havn't been to school either today nor yesterday, which really bums me out since we're doing fancy, fruity vodka drinks (which are my absolute favorite!).

Thankfully they're pretty easy to learn, just different combinations of vodka and juice and the occasional peach or melon liquor. My favorite drinks so far have been the flying alabama slammer, the madras, killer koolaid and pearl harbor.

Being sick in Barcelona sucks. You just lie in bed and watch the extremely clear, blue sky outside your window, and think about all the delicious drinks they're making without you. I can defintely recommend bringing some vitamins/something that keeps your immune system up. 

I can't go to the beach either, since the sunburns I acquired during flairing were quite severe. So I can definitely recommend bringing some SPF 50 with you as well!

The girls I live with are super nice though, they have offered to help me in any way they can if there's something I need.

Friday we spent the day on the beach practicing "flair" (tricks with bottles and shakers) which was very fun, but also quite painful if you accidentally hit yourself (which you did a lot). We were taught by our instructor Nicklas and an extremely talented flairing bartender who could do the most incredible tricks. It was very entertaining and awe-inspiring to watch, but I don't think I would ever make flairing an everyday thing for my bartending career, as the risks of making a mistake, breaking a bottle, or even hitting a customer are just too high in my opinion.

Thankfully flairing has been made a very small part of the course, and the focus is on having great knowledge about a wide variety of drinks and serving them with the service the customer deserves.

The people on the course are here for many different reasons. My friend is here just for the experience, and perhaps to be a bartender part-time while studying, while i'm here to be a bartender in my year off before studying. Others here plan to be a bartender for the rest of their lives.

Learning and mixing drinks is extremely fun, if anyone has tried playing "Restaurant" when they were kids, it's just like it. I remember I always wanted to "own" the restaurant and make the food/drinks, so mixing drinks in real life is kind of like a childhood dream coming true.

We have the weekends off, and my first weekend in Barcelona has been spent on a little shopping, washing clothes, relaxing, and tending to the sunburns I aquired on the beach flairing.

It's been 3 days since I started on the Barschool in Barcelona, and I am pleasantly surprised. Looking through some of the other websites from other barschools, you could get the impression that the only thing you learn inbartending school is what the drinks taste like and how to get a nice tan while throwing bottles into the air on the beach.

That definitely is not the case with the barschool in Barcelona. Here the goals are much more ambitious, and it is emphasized that bartending is a much greater art than one might think. It's about service, adjusting yourself to the customer, logistics, effenciency and high quality. Here we learn many more than the regular, mainstream drinks one might meet in a diskotek, and every detail in providing the correct, quality service, from facing the napkin correctly to preparing garnish.

That said, it doesn't mean that the barschool in Barcelona is any less fun. We have a fun and helpful instructor, that motivates us and makes mixing drinks interesting, as it's emphasized that we should take great pride in bartending. Furthermore our appartment has a nice, central location, just next to Sagrada Familia. It's a cozy place and there's a supermarket just across the street so we can make our own food.

So far we've already learned 24 drinks, including a Bloody Bull, a Godfather, and a Flying Alabama Slammer. We've also learned 2 different shots, a Monkey Brain and a Brain Dead.

Intelligent face engaged! It's not easy making 3 different drinks at a time!!!