barceLOna abroad: Portugal

So Sorry I haven’t written in ages….to be honest I have just been having way way way too much time and the fact that I only have less than a month left is freaking me out. I have wanted to spend little time in my room on the computer, and more time out with my new friends! Let’s see where did we leave off…Portugal was amazing!!!! I went with 5 other girlfriends: Laura, Natalie, Danielle, Shyia, and Dana and we all had a blast!! We landed Friday morning at 8am in Lisbon where we got settled into our great hostel called Lisbon Hostel Living. It was so adorable, clean, and a great experience. We had a tour scheduled with We Hate Tourism Tours (which I HIGHLY recommended if you are going to Lisbon) at 9am so we had to hurry to our meeting point. Here we got in a van and took off with 2 tour guides and had a wonderful day. We went exploring through the town of Sintra and had delicious tasting pastries that originated from the town Sintra itself. We went exploring through the countryside of Sintra and outside areas of Lisbon, blasting music with the windows rolled down. It was as if we were on a road trip going up the coast of California…it was gorgeous. We stopped midway for lunch (not sure where we were to be honest) and had some delicious soup, sausage, and cheese and bread. We then made our way to Cisscach (not sure on the spelling), which is what they refer to as “little Monaco” because it is a small, ritzy beach town. It was fun and adorable! Here we had AMAZING, maybe some of the best gelato I have ever had. It is a chain, but you would never know because it so so sooo delicious. We then made our way back to Lisbon…and of course stopped for more famous pastries, but please forgive me…I cannot even explain what they were or the name of the name. What good am I right? They were puffy on the outside and had some type of cream filling in the middle…all I know is that I could have eaten about 10 more. Our tour guides then took us up on a hillside to watch the gorgeous sunset over Lisbon. This was a sight to see and I will never forget how gorgeous it was. We then got dropped off back at our hostel for a home cooked meal. I guess our hostel has a well-known chef so people who aren’t even staying at the hostel come in for dinner. We had delicious chicken, couscous, and chocolate mousse. It was soo tasty and reminded me of a meal my mom would make. The chocolate mousse was unreal, unlike anything I have had before..mmmmmm soooo good! We then woke up the next morning and went to the flea market in town. It was a lot of fun and a lot of random things…from books to jewelry to old clothes. I got a ring for 2 euro and that made it a successful trip for myself. We then took a four hour bus ride to w beach town called Lagos. Look up pictures…it was beautiful!!! The tourist season had yet to start, so the town was very quiet, which was nice. We stayed at a hostel called the Rising Cock and word on the street is that it is something like the 3^rd best hostel in Europe? Anywhooo….it was great and the people there were so friendly and accommodating. There was a hostel mom who everyone calls Mama who makes unlimited crepes in the morning for us…uh oh…I nearly had about 6 every morning. They were so delicious and just could not say NO. I am paying the price for it now. We ended up laying out one day on a private cove that no one really knows about except for locals. We had to literally climb down a cliff to get here, but WOW was it worth it. It was something out of a movie and reminded me postcards that you look at and say “I wanna go there!!!!” It was a sight to see…absolutely amazing!

On another note, Mom and Dad have been visiting for the past week and a half so far. It has been wonderful having them see my life here and meet my friends. They have been doing the usual touristy things during the day and we usually meet up in the afternoon to hang out and have dinner in the evening. It was has been a treat having them here and I hope they have enjoyed it as much as me. I was really excited to show them my living, and have them meet my friends. My friend Vinny had his parents in town this week as well, so all of us and many kids went out to dinner one night, which was a blast. My parents also got to see one of my soccer games here…who would have thought they would get to see me play one last game in a foreign country!! I am off to Morocco, Granada, and Sevilla tomorrow morning at 6am for spring break. I am so excited but a little anxious. A lot of my friends went to Italy and Croatia for spring break and I am going with my program and about 30 other kids to Morocco. It should be a blast, but I am already missing my friends…time to meet some new ones I guess! I will try to write after Africa, but seeing as I will only have about 2 weeks left in Barca…I might be a little occupied with the social scene and will finish this upon my return in boring Santa Rosa…