Porto, Portugal

Our travels have finally begun!
Emily, our friend Anna, and I made a quick weekend trip to Porto, Portugal this past weekend. We left early Friday morning and it was about a 6 hour bus ride, with some odd stops on the way - 45 minute break to wash the bus?

We arrived in Porto, unfortunately with some bad weather. The skies had turned grey while we were napping on the bus and when we pulled up to the bus stop the weather was quite drizzly and chilly - and none of us had brought rain coats! I asked the bus driver where the taxis were, only to learn our first Portugal custom - they like to drag. Instead of just pointing me around the corner, he takes my arm and as I'm turning to try to motion to the girls, he drags me over to the stand.

We get in the taxi where we have our first Portugese lesson. I learned two words by the end of the trip: abrigada and tris. Abrigada means thank you. Although it seems easy now, it took us the whole three days to learn. We said quite a number of variations and it wasn't until the 2nd afternoon that someone finally corrected us. As the taxi dropped us off at the hostel we tried one of those variations... and I think he somewhat understood.

The hostel was great! The people were really friendly and helpful, and we felt right at home. We lounged for a few hours as the rain poured down, and finally headed out to explore the city. The location was great, and we quickly found our new favorite pastry shop.

Saturday the weather cleared up and we used it to our advantage. We walked down by the river and crossed the famous bridge to head to a wine tour. We tried 2 types of port wine and then went on a half hour tour of the wine cellar. Of course we had to buy a bottle to accompany all the pastries we were to bring back. After the wine tasting we had lunch at an Indian restaurant right by the river. It was delicious and just what we were all craving! We hurried back to the hostel where we were meeting to go to a Faro show at a local cafe. Faro is the traditional music in Portugal. This is where we learned the word tris, which means sad. Although we could not understand all of it, the main themes seemed to be love and sadness. After 3 hours, Faro was lulling us to sleep. We munched on some pan and then decided to nap, which turned into a sleep for the rest of the night.

Sunday was supposed to be quite the rainy day again, but our luck turned around. We started off headed to the modern museum of art. On the way we stopped at the famous Casa da Musica, a well known architectural site of a music hall. We passed some time there, exploring the exotic architecture of the building. From there we headed to the museum. The bus didn't seem to be coming, as it was Sunday and most of the transportation was a little slower, so we decided to walk - good choice! The sun came out and warmed us up from the rainy cold, and we enjoyed a nice Sunday stroll to the museum. After the museum, thanks to the change in weather, we decided to venture down to the beach. Ofcourse on the way we just had to stop in to a fabulous looking cafe. We got some pan and the most delicious cheese, and something that was supposed to be like pita. Great pit stop! We finally made it down to the beach at a beautiful time to watch the beginning of the sun set. After some time exploring the beach and picking stones, we ventured back to the hostel to have a quick dinner before heading off to catch our bus home.

It was a busy weekend, and lots of fun. This weekend we will head to Sevilla, Spain and from here on we are pretty much booked for the next few months!

We have a home!

This has been a busy last week. And I still can't believe a month has gone by! Emily and I celebrated our one month arrival anniversary here our first night in our apartment.

We're all moved in and have a fridge full of groceries and more importantly, a kitchen to cook in. Tonight we are planning on beginning our Friday Shabbat dinners! We might not have time to make challah, but for the future that's the goal! We live with 3 Spaniards and 1 boy from Peru. Everyone is really nice and I think it will be a good living situation, and more Spanish practice.

After some rearranging of my room, I finally got settled in. It's freeeeeezing though, and because heat is really expensive here we don't use it much. So, I had to go out and buy a new big, white, fluffy comforter --- my favorite! Now I'm feeling right at home...

Classes started this week as well. I think my schedule is finally settled:

Geografía del Tercer Mundo
Historia de Arte Contemporaneo de España
Historia de Arte de Escultura de España
Cultura Hispanoarabe

Not bad... no classes on Friday, and out by 2 every day. None of them seem too hard, even though the art history classes are both upper level, but some of hte professors talk so fast! Hopefully, I think I've solved this issue, as I began to bring my computer to those classes to record the lectures. I think that will really help to go back and review/study/understand my notes, and as the grading system is a little different here, I definetly need to be prepared for the one final exam at the end of the semester. Although most Spaniards just cram the week before, I really want to try to study a little each week to keep on track.