Portugal

Day 15: Saturday was nice and relaxing. We got to sleep in and went to Pizza Jardin for lunch with a group of people who were staying in town: Megan, Arianna, Stanton, Will, and some others. The pizza was delicious. Afterwards, Megan, Arianna, and I went to the fountain at the park to layout, which was fun! I wish we had a park like it in Georgia, its gorgeous! People over here get to lay out super late because the sun doesn’t go down until about 9:00. After laying out, I was able to get in a siesta, dinner, and a run before going out. We went out with six girls down to Sol: Megan, Arianna, Chelsey, Tamra, Kathryn, and I. Two good clubs we found were Cocoa and Moondance, but all the drinks are really expense in the clubs, so we try to go content. Also, a lot of people are walking around Sol trying to get you to come to their club or bar and giving away a “free drink” or other promo, which is cool for your first drink. We met a group of guys who were from Italy, but in Madrid for a bachelor party. They were wearing GAME OVER t-shirts and came to Cocoa with us for the end of the night. At 5, we took the bus home and when we got off, a sketchy group of Spanish guys followed us to the colegio. We had to buzz the guard a million times before we were let in and after he let the guys in too. He had to chase them out and called the cops on them because they were being so rambunctious. They were trying to jump the gate and we watched off the third floor balcony. It was a fun night.

Day 16: Sunday was a pretty good day also. I slept in until 2 and went to Burger House for lunch (the delicious American place). That Sunday afternoon, we took the metro to the bullfight. It was really an awesome experience. I thought it was cool but there were some girls in the group were a little queasy and one girl in our group, Victoria, fainted. Luckily one of our teachers was there with her family and was able to help. We got yelled at as we left the ring because people aren’t supposed to leave the arena when the bull is in the ring. The group left after the second one, but the second bull was very wild and hurt the matador pretty badly. Afterwards we went to an all you can eat restaurant in Sol… not worth it. But I really enjoyed the bull fight.

Day 17: Monday we went back to school. Just a regular school day. That night I was planning on going to wine with Dani and a group of people, which we did, but afterwards when a group walked by who was going out I hopped up and went to the Moondance club with them that night. It was a crazy Monday night. Met some people from D.C. My white shoe broke and I couldn’t find anywhere else to buy one, so I walked around the club barefoot all night. Disgusting. When we got home, at 2:55, made curfew, Jacqui came to my room and stunted me up through my window onto the roof. We broke my wall. It was a really fun night.

Day 18: On Tuesday we ha a field trip and our teacher had told us we had to be ready at 9, but at breakfast, she told us it was actually 10. We walked to the American Museum, but luckily we didn’t have a tour guide so we only had to stay as long as we got our info to write our paper. It was a quick trip. I went back to the colegio and slept until lunch…. 2:00. After lunch, Megan and I went shopping and I spent so much money and it was so great! Got a ton of new clothes. Good day.

Day 19: Wednesday was another school day and I had two presentations due for both of my classes. They were over the same topics so I just printed off my paper twice and presented it twice. I hope that’s not against the code of conduct…? Wednesday afternoon we went rowing at Retiro Park until dinner. I got a boat with Christina and Brittani, which was a lot of fun. Gorgeous park!! Wednesday night I had to do my cism/computer class, which I wasn’t able to do any of the access work (half of the class), but I think I at least got a C in the class because I did so well on the tests. The week flew by.

Day 20: Thursday I had to be at my field trip at 9 and we went to El Pais, the newspaper-manufacturing place. Learned a little bit about how they write the paper and the history of it. When we got back to the colegio I grabbed my bag for the weekend and got on the bus for Portugal. I’m sitting by Dani right now and we are each listening to one of the two headphones for my ipod. I’m really excited for Portugal, even through this eight-hour drive. It’s going to be really nice to stay in the same hotel for the whole weekend. Portugal is an hour ahead of Madrid. When we got there, we ate dinnerin the hotel and we had cod. Afterwards, we went out to a place in Portugal calle El Barrio Alto. It was fun, but I was so tired, I only lasted until about 2.

Day 21: On Friday, we had to be at the buses by 9 for the tour of Portugal. Some of the things were cool and we got some nice scenery shots, but I was really tired and did sleep a little bit on the bus. Afterwards, we were dropped off the bus at a good place to shop and Dani and I ate lunch at The Cool House. Italian was good. We shopped and of course I bought some new clothes, and then we walked home, which took a while. I went for a run down a main road bfore dinner and that night we went to a dinner to watch fado, a guy play music. There was lots of red wine, really fun, bun we went home after it… orbably about 1. I roomed with Dani, Lauren, and Lena for the weekend.

Day 22: Saturday was beach day! I feel lost without having a week at the beach this summer. We took bus about an hour, stopping at some nice places along the way. We got to the beach at about 1 and ate at an Indian Italian place (Me Jacqui Dani Christina Megan etc). Really delicious food. We went to the beach, which was again acceptable to go topless. There was a really high cliff there that we jumped off, which was dangerous but fun. I only went once. The water was COLDDD! Afterwards we took the bus back, stopping at a castle for pictures. We got home and ate chicken at the hotel. That night we went to a really cool place, but it had a 12 euro cover (18 dollars) so only half of us went in. We didn’t know the cover went towards drinks. So the rest of us walked around for a while and a group of us ended up at barrio alto (Christina megan marymichael wes). It was fun, but once again I was so tired I only made it til 3. I feel asleep in the cab ride home.

Day 23: We had to be back at the bus at 10:00 and started our journey. We stopped for lunch at a really cute place, that took a while. I had a cold cut appetizer and pork chops for lunch. We are back on the bus watching Vicky Christina Barcelona… same movie we watched last bus ride. I am getting sick and getting homesick. Not enough sleep. Thanks for reading ☺ Went to McDonalds for dinner!