So this past weekend, Sept 17-19 My program facilitator Ana Paula and I took the train from Coimbra to Porto. Once arriving in Porto her boyfriend picked us up, for he was joining us on this program trip(right??) and we drove to different parts of Viana do castelo. Viana do castelo is a very traditional city. We seen traditional shops that sold traditional outfits.
The city is really up north and on the coast so often times we stopped to see the scene. The scene was the same: waves, the sound of the sea, and a sense of tranquility. After a day of traveling we headed to the hotel, got settled in, and we met back up to have dinner together.
For dinner we ate at a place called Ol Magel. I order facana which is a type of fish that came with salad and rice. The keep the head on the fish here, I wasn’t scared because I was so hungry..lol plus I grew up my fishing and eating fish because my mother loves to fish.
The next day we went to visit another small town Fortaleza. We just walked around and took pictured of the view. It felt like we were visiting an old castle. I enjoyed the whole trip away from Coimbra surprisingly. I told myself to make the most of the trip even though it would be me and my program director and her boyfriend. Her boyfriend was pretty cool, he cracked tons of jokes but everyone they had to break them down because I didn’t understand any of it.
Fortaleza reminded me of a castle
The streets and in the background you see the one way entrance
Another view
For lunch we drove like 15 more minutes and we were in Spain. It was my first time in Spain and I was really happy about visiting two countries in one day. We visited a city called Tui and another city name Baiona, both were also on the coast. We had lunch at a place call Xamon, it was really small in the side but had tons of tables outside the restaurant. There were tons of people there, it must have been really popular. I kept saying obrigada but I meant to say gracias, I almost forgot we were in a totally different country where they spoke Spanish. The power of languages and communication, it amazes me every time I travel. One minute I was hearing Portuguese from Ana Paula and her boyfriend and the next minute I was hearing Spanish. I ordered a tortilla com queso and jamon ( that’s ham and cheese something) I thought I was going to receive like an actually flour tortilla shell with cheese and ham, to my surprise I received basically an omelet with ham and cheese. It was so GOOD!
'
After that we drove back to the hotel, I fell asleep in the car, two hours later I woke up and we were still driving. We were lost. We pulled over to the side of the road and then after a few minutes he got back in the car and said I see the bridge back to Portugal. I stayed awake from then on, I don’t like not knowing where I’m going, so I watch intently out the window. Once we arrived back to the hotel it was still very sunny out and so I decided to lay out in the back of the hotel because there was a pool. To bad the water was very cold otherwise I would have got in the pool. The hotel we stayed in was really nice. I never had a whole hotel room to myself ( now I know how you feel –mk) I laid around mostly at night, turned on the tv and tried to find something on the four channels to watch. The second night the movie PS I love you was on so I enjoyed watching that as I waited to meet back up for dinner. For dinner we walked across the street to a small little restaurant I forgot the name of it but it had a home feel to it. I order salmon and it came with potatoes and cabbage( but this cabbage taste very different from the US because usually I wouldn’t eat cabbage, but this was good). If it’s one thing I spend my money on its food, I always make sure I eat well. The next morning we ate the free breakfast ( bread, cheese, ham, fruit, tea, coffee, and water) and then we left the hotel to head back to Coimbra. It took like 40 minutes to get to the train station. We got on the train from Porto to Coimbra, took about 1hour or so. The rest of the day I did laundry and cleaned up. Talked to my friends about my weekend and cooked a big dinner so that I don’t have to cook the next day :)
Then Monday came and I went to this beach called Faivela. It was really nice because its like a hidden beach so there wasn’t a lot of people there. I enjoyed the sound of the water, there were these mini falls, to get to the beach we had to walk across a wooden bridge. At first I was scared because the bridge looked dangerous but to my surprise the water was clear I could look down and see the bottom. The water was so shallow, like to my knees if even that. With the sun and the sounds of the water it was destined I spent my whole day there. Something about me and traveling, its like a light switch from the busy Leslie that has to do list and scheduling meals and shows in Madison, to the chill Leslie that has no plans and leaves when I please. I enjoy both lives, for when I am in Madison I long for calmness and uncertainty and sometimes when I travel I miss having a schedule and business. I feel bless to have experience both. Realizing there necessary, and I’m fortunate to have to choose one over the other, I just live in both, and it creates a wholeness of self.
Well after the beach headed home to cook dinner and then I talked to my new roommate in our small room. Her name is Datianna she’s a first year student studying chemistry. I think I may try and find my own room though, I really value my privacy and if I can find something for the same price or cheaper than why not? I have some friends that are looking for apartments now so I could just get a room with them. J
Oh ya, today at the beach I wrote my first poem in Portuguese so as I close this post with a poem:
O som de agua faz me completo
Eu escucho por reposta
Porque eu tenho medo de preguntas
Porque eu tenho medo da reposta
Então eu aprendeindo eschuchar o som
The sound of the water makes me complete
I listen for the answer
Because I’m scared to ask my questions
Because I fear the answers
So I learn to listen to the sound
No comments:
Post a Comment