Portugal

SO...I went to Portugal last weekend!

Initially I thought it was going to cost a lot of money, since I was traveling internationally, but we had some luck.

I found round trip bus tickets to Porto for 56 euros per person for me and two friends, Andrea and Marissa. Our plan was to stay with Andrea´s housekeeper, Isabel. We left at two in the morning from Salamanca's bus station to Porto, on the coast of Portugal.

We arrived there after a 5 hour bus ride from Salamanca. We took a taxi to the train station from the bus station for four euros, where we met Isabel, her daughter, Isabel, and her son-in-law Aderito. They showed us around Porto for a little bit before taking us to their town, Aveiro. We were exhausted from the bus ride, so they took us to their home and showed us where we would be sleeping.

I had hardly expected to have my own room, let alone my own bed. It turns out that Isabel was the most accomodating hostess ever. Not only did she provide housing in her four floor mansion, but she absolutely refused to allow us to pay for anything the entire time we were there. We had homecooked meals and traditional portuguese treats, including Bacalao, tripas, and ovos moles.

We took a nap before actually starting our day in Portugal. When we woke up around 2 pm Portugal time on Saturday, we went to lunch at the mall with three generations of Isabels. Again, Isabel I refused to let us pay for the buffet that she bought us--which was basically a three course meal where I tried fresh sardines. They were good.

Then Isabel III, the granddaughter, wanted us to visit the mall's pet store. (For those of you who know my puppy obsession, I had no objections). There were adorable puppies, including white labs and alaskan huskies. Aww...

Afterwards, Isabel I took Isabel III and Nicolas (grandson), and Andrea, Marissa, and I went with Aderito and Isabel II. We went to the river and took a boat ride through the city, which resembles Venice. When we finished there, we got in the car and were just getting tired when we made our next stop. We were at the beautiful Aveiro beach (the closest beach to Salamanca). There we walked down the pier and could see the entire Atlantic Ocean.

The walk woke us up a little bit, so we decided to stop for tripas, which are these portuguese waffle crepe things. Delicious. You can get them filled with chocolate, ovos moles, or some other options.

After that, we visited Isabel II's house, and guest house. Isabel II has her own hair salon in the house. It was really a fantastic place. Additionally they had a farm in the back of the house, with geese, sheep, bunnies, and a chunky chicken.

When we had seen their house, we returned to Isabel I's house for dinner. Outside, she had been grilling chicken and other meat for us to eat. It was uneccessarily nice of her. She simply refused any help. We sat down to dinner with the entire family and talked in a mix of Portuguese and English.

We were too tired to go out again, so we went to sleep, and woke up at 7 am to head back to Salamanca.

The trip to Portugal cost me 56 euros. I doubt to receive any greater generosity in Europe than I did in Portugal. Overall a very fun experience.

Pictures are here.

Barcelona this weekend!
-Michelle

Madrid!

On my way to Madrid, I had to make a connection in London. For some reason, the pilot of my flight from the U.S. couldn't land the plane when we approached London for about 20 minutes, so we spent that long doing figure eights in the air while waiting for the control towers to approve our landing. Therefore, when we did finally land, I had to sprint, take a train and a bus, to get to another terminal for my connection. I arrived at the plane as the gate was closing.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for my luggage. So I spent my first afternoon in Madrid with the close I had been wearing for 12 hours on two airplanes. I felt really sanitary. It was irrelevant, however, seeing as I just got to my room and fell asleep.

After my two hour nap, I woke up and went to orientation with the group in some hotel meeting room. We went to dinner afterwards--appropriately in a Chinese restaurant. API paid so I still hadn't spent a dime in Madrid at all. When we returned to the hotel, my luggage had been delivered. Phew!

Later that evening, the people in the Salamanca group all went out to a little place for cafe in the Plaza Mayor. It was good to get to know each other, even though it's likely that we'll all be in different Spanish classes, and we won't be living together. Regardless, they seem nice.

Today, API made our wake up call for 7:15 a.m., so by 8:30 we were on a bus to El Escorial, the burial place of all of the deceased Spanish monarchs. Imagine a circular room made entirely of marble, and lavishly decorated with golden highlights. It was actually probably more of a hexagon or octagon, and each side had three extravagant tombs. The bodies are only allowed to be placed in there once they have decomposed fully into skeletons. Ergo, there was a decomposition room as well.

The fact that El Escorial is the resting place of such famous monarchs in Spain is its most redeeming quality. The rest of it is not so special. It is a building made entirely of huge pieces of granite stone taken from nearby mountains. Additionally, it contains the second most important Catholic library in the world (behind the Vatican), whatever that means. Art inside features works by El Greco, Valasquez, and other lesser known Spanish artists.



We returned to the hotel in Madrid around lunchtime, and some people and I went to a restaurant and all ordered the Menu del dia, a menu very similar to Miami Spice. It is basically a three course meal, with three or four options for each course, all for a deal price. Overall a good choice if you want to try many things, but not spend much money.

Later today, the group is heading to the Museo Prado, which should be pretty cool.

That's it for now.

-Michelle

Pre-Departure Considerations

Do I have everything? Academic Programs International, API, suggests that we bring no more than two duffle bags, a handheld and a backpack. I only have one duffle and it's not even full. I don't think I'm forgetting anything...

Current thoughts: My flight lands at 11:30 am in Madrid Barajas Airport and the pick up time with the resident director of the program in my terminal is at 2 pm. In the other terminal, the pickup time is 1. Should I figure out how to get to that terminal? I think it would save me some time from just sitting around in the airport.

They also told me to send them my cell phone number. Er, I don't have a cell phone for Spain yet. Remaining calm. That reminds me: I have to set up my skype account so that I can call U.S. cell phone numbers unlimited from the internet. If you are dying to talk to me, remind me in the comments, e-mail me your phone number (michelleidalo@gmail.com), and I'll give you a jingle as soon as I have wireless internet, either on my iPod Touch or computer.

I hope that I'm fully recovered from this cold by tomorrow afternoon. It would not be fun to fly congested.

Well that's it for right now. I'll update again when I get a chance.

Hasta Madrid!
-Michelle