A journey of food, culture, and self-discovery in Spain.
Hi, I’m Mel — a writer and explorer moving from Florida to San Sebastián to study Gastronomic Sciences and share the adventure along the way.
Nice to Meet You.
I’m Mel, and I created Mel in Motion to document my leap into a new life in Spain; where I’ll be studying Gastronomic Sciences and exploring food, culture, and healing along the way.
I’m a storyteller, student, and adventurer who believes food is more than what’s on the plate; it’s history, culture, justice, and joy. This site is where I’ll share the ups and downs of moving abroad, starting grad school, and discovering Spain through flavor and connection.
What Is Gastronomic Science?
In short, Gastronomic Sciences is the study of food in context.
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It’s the exploration of food from all sides. Think: culture, politics, ecology, tradition, innovation, and sensory discovery. It integrates research and narrative, critical thinking and bodily engagement. It's not culinary school; it's systems thinking through the lens of food.
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Spain, and especially the Basque region, offered the right combination of depth, rhythm, and cultural richness. After years of burnout in the U.S., I needed a place where I could slow down and study something that mattered. I didn’t just need new skills; I needed a new way of being.
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Through blog posts, guides, and my Learning Hub, where I’ll be documenting my classes, reflections, and cultural discoveries. Follow me on all socials too!
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You can subscribe for updates, explore my Learning Hub, or reach out directly through my Ask a Question page. I’d love to hear from you!
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![Spanish flag flying]()
Moving to Spain
This is my real time experience moving to Spain from the United States and creating a life for myself in the Basque Region. Why, how, and everything in between.
I’ll talk about navigating Spain’s student visa process, finding housing in San Sebastián, what to pack, and handling paperwork by myself. But more than that, this is about what it is to start anew as a trauma-informed woman without the usual support system.
It’s not just a move. It’s a reclamation. Of autonomy, purpose, and possibility.
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![Masters Students Graduation]()
Gastronomy & Grad School
Step into the lived experience of studying Gastronomic Sciences at the Basque Culinary Center. This section offers a first-person lens on what it means to learn food as both science and soul; from food justice theory to classroom provocations. You'll find essays on sustainability, culinary anthropology, and what it's like to pursue higher education in a new country as a neurodivergent woman.
If you're interested in where academia and activism converge, or you simply enjoy studying about food on a deeper scale, you’ll find here.
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![Library full of books]()
Language Diaries
Learning a new language as an adult is not just grammar and vocabulary, its also about identity and determination.
As a neurodivergent traveler studying Spanish and Basque, I’m charting an experiential curriculum of connection, culture, and courage.
These diaries are part essay, part love letter to the messy process of becoming multilingual in a place that speaks with more than words.
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![Personal Journey]()
Personal Journey
This is the unfiltered real stuff, the parts that don’t fit in a box. It’ s where I write from the gut: on recovery from trauma, surviving ADHD and C-PTSD, and restarting life with kindness and determination.
Here I share about all the things I’m figuring out. Restarts, silent victories, setbacks, and learned insights from change. Maybe sharing my story can help or inspire someone out there.
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![Camino del Norte, San Sebastián]()
Outdoor Adventures
This is not a record of conquest or extreme challenge. It’s a return to the body through slowness and presence. Here, outdoor adventures look like morning swims, hiking mountain paths, markets at sunrise, and the reverent hush of the Basque hills.
Whether I'm identifying herbs on a remote trail or catching my breath in a mountain breeze, these stories are about reconnection: to land, to stillness, to self. If you're craving rooted movement and sacred stillness, this is your trailhead.
Gastronomy & Basque Culture: Explorations
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Everyday Ethnographies
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![Experimental food]()
Learn + Play
Curiosity is my first language, and this is where it’s free to roam
Part lab, part research, here I follow creative impulses, curious inquiries, and experimental enthusiasm. Could be an unknown (to me) cooking technique, or reading an offbeat book, document the process of learning for learning’s sake.
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![Basque Country Tradition and Culture]()
Culture + Tradition
I believe that culture is alive. Passed down by hands, tables, stories, and time.
With its focus on values, ritual, and daily rhythms that define the way that we live, eat, interact, and remember, this space is concerned with respecting the past, bearing witness to the present, and envisioning what we take into the future. -
![Justice as it relates to food]()
Food + Justice
Food is never only food. It’s labor, land, power, access, and care.
This space looks at the larger picture of food: equity systems, sustainability, and creating a more equitable and nourishing world. From ethical hospitality to food insecurity, cultural appropriation to quiet resistance, I explore where justice appears- on the plate and far, far beyond. -
![Taste and Flavor]()
Taste + Flavor
Taste is personal, cultural, political, and deeply sensory.
This isn’t a recipe archive or food review. It’s a space for savoring. For slowing down. For exploring how flavor carries memory, meaning, and mood. Whether I’m unpacking the personality of a local cheese or tracing the emotion in a childhood dish, this is where I let the food speak. It’s sensory, yes. It’s soulful too.
Support Me!
I couldn’t do it without your help. Click the button below to see how you can support my journey
In just a few weeks, I’ll be boarding a one-way flight to Spain with two suitcases, a backpack, and a heart full of anticipation. This isn’t just a move abroad — it’s the beginning of a new chapter rooted in food, culture, and courage. But what does it really mean to start over in your mid-30s? Why Spain? Why now? And what happens when excitement and fear live side by side?