Okay, even I don't believe that. Even though I'm in school while in Europe, this feels like one big two month long vacation. However, this was my first time to go somewhere to just soak up some sun and not really see anything historical. It was time for the beach and I was looking forward to it big time.
So on the Wednesday after my very last final exam, a huge group of us loaded on the overnight train and made the long 16 hour journey to Lagos, Portugal. Which I'm convinced is one of the most incredible places on this earth.
Of course, the trip didn't start out quite so smoothly. Jordan came very close to not going to Portugal. Very very close. Basically (to make a long story short, as I'm beginning to realize how very long winded I am in this blog) I was having dinner in Madrid with a friend of mine north of Retiro Park (which is Madrid's version of Central Park). I kept glancing at my watch all throughout dinner to make sure I would get to the train station on time. All I had to do was hop on a train at Atocha Renfe (one of Madrid's main stations) and get to Chamartin (Madrid's other main train station) by 10:30 when our train took off. So along comes 10 o'clock when I realize that I've lost track of time and am about to miss my train to Portugal. Oh crap.
So I literally sprint from the north of Retiro to Atocha, which took me about 15 minutes. So I've only got 15 minutes to go to catch my train. Oh geez. So I get on the first train to Chamartin, which normally is only about a 5 to 10 minute ride. But then what happens? Oh yeah, the train gets stopped on the tracks in between the two stations. And time is still ticking by. So I get down to 8 minutes, 7 minutes, 6 minutes, and I'm really starting to sweat. The train finally starts back up and we pull into Chamartin and I have a mere 3 minutes or so to catch my overnight train. I sprint once again (I got a lot of exercise that day) and finally get to my train with seconds to spare. As soon as I got on the train it started moving and the vacation began.
I nearly had a heart attack, but I made it, and finally hopping on that train and having all my friends cheer as I finally ran up was the best feeling in the world. :)
Wow, that wasn't a long story short at all. That was a long story long.
So anyway, we pull into Lisbon the next morning around 8 am and immediately buy our tickets to get down to Lagos, which is in the south of Portugal. It's about a 5 hour train ride, which isn't too bad. But, oh yeah, this train was un-air conditioned. How fun. No worries though, cause it was totally 100% worth it to finally get to this little slice of Heaven.
So we finally get off the train after 16 hours of travel, and here is one of the first things we see:
This was on the walk from the train station to our hostel (which was incredible also, by the way). Palm trees, ocean, and yachts everywhere. I knew right then that this was going to be a vacation for the history books.
As soon as we got all settled into our hostel we decided to head down to the coves of Lagos that we've heard and read so much about. We've been looking at pictures of them for weeks while planning this trip and we were almost scared that they weren't going to be as impressive in person. Oh, no worries, though. Much like most things in Europe, the pictures just don't do it justice. The coves were some of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
Here is the same cove from the above picture, just from a higher up view. There were 16 coves altogether, each one different, and each one just as incredible as the next. But you had to swim some and wade some to get to all the coves, so I didn't get to take my camera to all of them. You'll just have to be satisfied in the knowledge that they were all beautiful.
On the opposite side of the Lagos marina was the main beach where swimming and sun-bathing were the only things on the agenda. White sandy beaches and crystal clear blue water was all you could see. Oh, and the occasional topless woman or man in a tiny speedo.
You can kind of see here just how blue the water was. And the temperature was absolutely perfect. Hot hot beach and nice cool Atlantic. What more could you ask for?
Of course one can't go to Portugal without sampling the local cuisine, which consisted of fish, fish, and more fish. And when I say fish, I don't mean fried fish sticks. I mean the kind that was just swimming in the ocean about an hour ago and is still staring at you as you eat it. This was one of my dinners on the first night I think. Once you get past the fins and the eyeballs, it was really tasty.
Here are a couple of pictures with some of the other Okies that went. I'm really not exaggerating when I say that these people are some of the coolest people in the world. I'm so glad that I have them here with me and I couldn't ask for a better group of friends to be in Spain with.
On Friday or Saturday night (I've kinda lost track of my days) me and four other friends decided to go down to the beach at nighttime to see the stars and listen to the water. What we didn't expect was to stumble upon a hippie beach party. And that is exactly what happened. And what is a hippie beach party without bongos, a campfire, and people playing with fire sticks? No hippie beach party that I would ever go to.
I have to say, though, for being such a weird experience, it was one of the coolest things I have ever done. The Portuguese hippies were some of the funniest people I've ever met and so fun to be around. All of us had an great time hanging out with them.
These are my friends Brian and Lauren at the beach party. We just laid back in the sand and enjoyed the music for awhile.
Here are the 4 friends who were with me. From left to right it's Brian, Lauren, Evie, and Ashley. Such a fun group.
So the last couple of days I just sat and enjoyed the shade of the umbrellas on the beach, which was extremely relaxing. However, there was a really good reason I had to stay in the shade, and that reason is:
Because I nearly fried myself to a crisp. haha Not really, but as you can see, I was really good at getting sunscreen on myself, except for this one little strip on my back. You can even see my handprint where I must have slapped it on. Needless to say, this was kind of painful, so no more sun for Jordan.
As I mentioned earlier, the Eurocup has been going on ever since we got to Spain. And the really cool thing is that Spain made it to the championship game, which has never happened before! It was such an exciting time and we were all SO sad that we weren't in Spain to watch the game. They played against Germany, and this is a picture of the watch party we sat in on. You can tell that we were by the Germans for awhile, but we moved over to the Spanish fans pretty quick.
And here is a picture of the final score. SPAIN WINS!!!!!! It was one of the most exciting times since we've been here, and I'm still sad we missed the celebrations in Madrid. But it was still awesome and it's been a really exciting time to be in Spain. After we won, we all kept chanting the Spain Eurocup motto, "Viva España! Juntos Podemos!" (Long live Spain! Together We Can!)
And on our last night in Portugal, the entire group of us decided to head down to the beach one last time at night to see the ocean in the dark. This is a picture of all the girls. We didn't take a guys picture, but there were a lot of us there too. It was really such a blast being in Portugal with this group.
And this is me and my friend Lauren dancing in the surf that night. She had taught me how to tango and we decided to show off my new skills a little bit. We also sang some Disney songs in Spanish just for fun.
On our way home, we had some time to kill in Lisbon, so we went to the big area where all the shops and restaurants were. It's really a beautiful area and this archway is the doorway to it all. You can't really tell but on the other side of the arch and the statue on the other side is the ocean, and behind me is a looooooong avenue packed with shops and places to eat. It was a cool place. Lisbon is a beautiful city and one I would definitely go back to.
And the last picture of my trip is of some souveneirs I bought while in Lisbon. I'm becoming a pretty big art fan over here because there is so much of it everywhere. And you can find some really incredible original pieces pretty much anywhere you go. So one of my paintings from Lisbon is of the big archway and the other is of a yellow trolley, which are EVERYWHERE in Lisbon. I think they're pretty cool mementos of my trip.
So all in all, as I'm sure you can tell, I fell in love with Portugal. It was really a surprise because Portugal had never been a place I really wanted to go. But as soon as I got there and saw the sites and met the people, I knew it was a place that I would love.
Regardless, it was so great to get back to Spain. I really really love this country and everything in it, and as I've explained it to some of my Spanish friends:
"Siempre seré americano, pero ahorra, siempre seré español en mi corazon"
"I will always be an American, but now, I will always be Spanish in my heart"
What an incredible experience this is turning out to be. :)
My last picture here is of my latest obsession: Nutella and Galletas (cookies). Nutella is pretty much the most delicious stuff I have ever tasted. Kind of like peanut butter, but more chocolatey and hazelnutty. People eat it all the time over here, but I just recently got in on it. And now I'm hooked. This picture is of a jar that I just bought today and I've been snacking on ever since.
Apparently you can get Nutella at some places in the US, so I highly recommend it to anyone who can get some.
And that's all for now! Hope all is well in the Sooner State!
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