She's Only Happy in the Sun, Ben Harper

Spain is an incredible country with incredible people. As foreign as I sometimes feel here, there are few times I have been as welcomed into a new place as I have been here. I'm going to be here until December, and I already don't want to leave.

I survived my first week of class without no problems. Oceanography will quickly become my favorite class, I'm thinking, especially because I'm beginning to look at summer job possibilities. (Maybe the Galapagos? Or Costa Rica again?) It's completely mindblowing to realize there's so much of the world we haven't seen at all, yet we're still focusing on outer space, instead of understanding what's on our own planet. In two weeks, we'll be going to Valencia to snorkel, observe and research, among other things, oceanic life, patterns and sustainability. How exciting! Estoy muy animada para esta adventura.

On Tuesday, two friends (Scott and Ian) and myself decided to plan a trip to Portugal. We stayed in the city the weekend before and all of us wanted to see Lisboa. What better time than now, right? Thus, the adventure was planned. We took a night train to Lisboa, arriving at 8:00 Friday morning. Our hostel was pretty far out of city center, so it took a little while getting there. (Note: when booking a hostel, look at the location. That's pretty important.) After dropping our backpacks, we decided (foolishly) to walk into city center. About 2 hours and 4 miles (pretty slow pace with taking pictures and consulting maps and such) later, we arrived at the city center. We took lots of pictures, walked up to the Castle and took in all of Lisbon. (Again, pictures later. The card reader for my camera is acting a little finicky. I think it might have finally died, actually.) After that, it was about 4:00, and from there, we planned the excursion to Sintra (thank you for the EXCELLENT suggestion, Sohpia!) and Cascais (a beach) the next day. At 6, we ate fried codfish in the Lisboa style and calamari (grilled). All of it was so fresh and absolutely delicious. European food is absolutely amazing (with possibly the exception of French dining. For real, who eats frogs legs?). We figured out the metro system in Lisboa and went (all the way) back to our hostel and went to bed early. Very early especially by European standards.

Our hostel included breakfast every morning. Euro style, with bread, hot milk, cheese and lunch meats. They love their ham here. We then caught the train to Sintra, an amazing little town built on a series of hills. We hiked to the moorish castle, rising about 250 meters. Pretty impressive, right? However, we were informed that we would have to pay 5 euro to enter the castle, and there was no student discount. So, we continued walking around the town, getting some food before taking the train to Cascais for the beach. We spent a lazy afternoon there, ate dinner at an Indian food restaurant and then returned to Lisboa. We went out into the centro again to check out the night life. Very mellow by Madrid standards. Around 12, we returned to our hostel. for the night.

The next morning, we took our packs and checked out Lisboa again. The Gulbenkian museum has incredible pieces from most art eras, including a few Monet's and Manet's. All of the artwork in there is beautiful. I can't wait until I have the chance to go back!!
We chilled in the centro until we got food, then headed for the train station. Our train left at 10:30 last night, then finally, this morning, after sleeping most of the train ride (I'm fairly proud of myself), we returned to Madrid, the first adventure under our belts.
I'm beginning to think about other big trips I want to take, and have it narrowed down to Switzerland (Interlaken area), Germany (for Oktoberfest!!!!!!) and England to visit Lauren. Everything else I think will be in the country. I can't wait for all the adventures I have waiting for me!