Lisbon, Portugal!

It's been awhile since I've written, which unfortunately seems to be becoming a habit. Life is busy though! School is going well; I have midterms this upcoming week so we'll see how that goes. I'm not too worried about Spanish or Phonetics or Marketing, but I am a little nervous for Sociology. I have to prepare a presentation about what I am eventually going to write an 8-10 page paper on (in Spanish, people). I should really get crackin on that soon, but I thought I'd update you on my recent whereabouts first!

Last week we had a couple days off school, giving us a 5 day weekend. I took the opportunity to buy a bus ticket and visit Lisbon, Portugal. I stayed with a lady I found on couch surfing, and I met a lot of wonderful people along the way. I loved Lisbon... it's one of the most beautiful places I've been to in Europe so far!

Best thing ever: eating cereal with soy milk for breakfast again. This is one of the things I miss most about home! I got to eat this every morning for FOUR mornings! Let me tell you, I was one happy girl.
Here's me and Flavia, the woman I stayed with. She's great! Behind us is a beautiful view of Lisbon.


Apparently this is Portugal's symbol... and someone had so much national pride he wanted to graffiti it. I love it, and I love that someone else loved it enough to write "Love!" next to it on the wall.
I went to the Palace of Pena in Sintra, located just outside of Lisbon. Not only was the palace beautiful and majestic, but I had the perfect day- blue skies and warm weather. I hiked up a huuge hill (don't know if you can consider it a mountain?) for about 1.5 or 2 hours to get to this place! It was great to be able to get some exercise.


At the palace I met some other English speakers who became fast friends! Above is me, Joana, and Bili. Joana is Portuguese and Bili is Brazilian, and then Martin, who is Norwegian, took the photo. They were so fun and so welcoming! I hung out with them this day and then again the next night.
Above is the Moorish Castle, which served as kind of a look-out back in the day! You can see all of Sintra (and beyond) from up here, including the ocean. I got out of breath walking up and down all the stairs along this castle!

This is a bridge that was designed by the same guy who designed the Golden Gate in San Francisco! Kinda cool, and since I have some ties to San Fran I thought I'd post this picture!

I am continuing to learn a lot, eat a lot (of course), and enjoy my time here overall. More to come soon, but for now, I really must get started on homework! Love you all.