ADC

I wanted to write a post alllll about the beautiful hotel that I will be working at in THIRTY DAYS!!! Whenever I tell people about my upcoming internship, the first question I get is, "How did you even land this position?!"

Let me explain a little about why I have this internship in the first place....

I am currently a student at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Florida, studying Resort and Hospitality Management with a concentration is Spa Management. I am also working towards a Spanish minor, but that is beside the point. For my major, all students are required to fulfill an internship requirement to graduate. We have to have three internships, 500 hours each. In 2013, I fulfilled the first two required internships at Massage Envy Spa, working 30-38 hours a week on top of taking five classes each semester. It has been five months and I am still exhausted from working and studying that much! However, these requirements are helping me built an awesome resume and I am thankful for that!

Now as for how I got this current internship...

It is a crazy little story. Mom and Dad were in Portugal last fall and stayed at the hotel, Albergaria do Calvário (ADC), for one night. They both fell in love with the gorgeous property, as well as the warm and hospitable staff. They chatted with the owner many times, and during one of these encounters, one of my parents asked whether or not they ever take interns to work on site (it is still ambiguous to me about which parent to give this credit to, as both of them claim that it was their idea to ask...typical Freedman antics...our life should be a sitcom!). The owner, Peter, told them to have me email him to inquire about a summer internship. So after they returned from their trip and showed me their pictures and told me their amazing stories of their lovely stay, I knew that I HAD to work there.

After many emails and skype meetings and paperwork exchanges, it became official in December of 2013 that I would be a summer intern at ADC. While my job description is vague, Peter is going to expose me to as many areas as possible that allow the hotel to run smoothly, such as marketing, accounting, housekeeping, front desk, food and beverage, etc. It is a unique internship above all else!


I have never been to Portugal before, but the pictures are absolutely and stunningly beautiful! Here are just a few of the town Évora, where ADC is located:

Aren't the buildings in Portugal soooo beautiful??

And the landscapes?!?! To die forrrr