Lisbon, Portugal

So I wrote this blog about a week ago, but have not been able to post it yet. So here's a post from a early last week, and I will update soon about my trip to Rome!

All semester I’ve been participating in a communication interest group (which I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned in my blog before) – and this past weekend our group was taken to Lisbon, Portugal. We were supposed to meet with someone working at a news agency in Lisbon, but unfortunately he had to cancel. So instead we met with a Portuguese communication professor, but I’ll talk more about that later.

Early Friday morning my interest group met to start our 5-hour bus journey to Lisbon. There is only a 1-hour time difference in Portugal, so we arrived at the hotel around 230pm, and were on our own for lunch. After lunch was our visit to the university in Lisbon, where the professor spoke to us about current communications in Portugal. A lot of it was statistics (slightly boring) but we did learn a few things:

• Portugal, just like everyone else, is experiencing an economic crisis right now.
• TV is the most important medium of communication in Lisbon
• Although the country is behind European Union standards (Portuguese people have not yet embraced current communication mediums to their full extent), they are slowly catching up.

After the university visit, we met with a young Portuguese woman who gave us a quick tour of the city. She brought us down the main drag with lots of shops, to an old outdoor elevator where we got a great view of the city.

Lisbon is actually quite hilly, and we walked around one neighborhood called Barrio Alto (that’s the Spanish translation, which literally means tall neighborhood). It was full of trendy boutiques and lots of bars – apparently it’s a popular place for young people. Although we wanted to see the nightlife of Lisbon, we were too tired from the journey to go out Friday night.

Saturday morning we went outside the city a bit to small town called Sintra, where we climbed up to a beautiful castle (I can’t even remember how many different types of architecture were incorporated, but it was upwards of 5 different styles). It was actually quite small although it appeared to be big from the exterior, I suppose due to the many facades. Once again, there was a great view from the castle. It seems every city I visit in Europe there is something to climb with a view of the city.

We left Sintra to see the Torre de Belem, a tower that played an important role in the Age of Discoveries, which was right on the water. There wasn’t much to see other than the building and the view, but that was pretty enough.

We also visited an old church connected to a monastery (which is no longer in use) close to the water, followed by a stop in a pastry shop! Our interest group paid for a pastry and a coffee, both of which were delicious.

Midnight on Saturday marked my friend Kelly’s 21^st birthday, who was also on the trip to Lisbon, so in our free time after the tours we went shopping for a bit, another quick dinner, and then we got ready to celebrate. It was fun to be in a hotel so that we could all hang out, and we ended up in the Lisbon Hard Rock Café of all places… I’m a bit disappointed we didn’t make it to Barrio Alto because I heard it was a lot of fun, but we were able to dance to American music in Hard Rock, which was what the birthday girl wanted.

Sunday we didn’t have any time to explore since our bus left at 10am, but Lisbon was a beautiful city and all the people were very friendly. Nearly everyone there spoke fluent English since it’s a requirement to study English in school. I loved that most of the buildings were painted bright colors – it made the city quite vibrant. I hope to come back to Lisbon at some point in my life because there’s a lot more I’d like to explore.

This week is the Feria in Sevilla – a big festival to celebrate spring, so we have the week off. I had plans to travel to Italy on Tuesday but unfortunately my flight to Milan was cancelled due to the ash cloud from the volcanic eruption in Iceland. After much frustration and searching for new flights, my friends and I were able to book a flight to Rome on Friday (it was the first one we could find). So our although we can no longer see Milan or Venice, we’ll still have nearly 4 days in Rome. Italy was the number one place I wanted to visit while I’m abroad so I’m really bummed I won’t be able to see more of the country, but compared to other travelers I’m quite lucky. I have a lot of friends who had been traveling before the volcano erupted and are now stuck in other countries with nearly no way to get home. All of Europe is a mess right now.

Although I’m not in Italy, at least I’m able to enjoy the Feria, which began Monday night. The Feria grounds extend around the outer edge of the city, but luckily, fairly close to my apartment. The ‘alumbrado’ marked the beginning of the Feria Monday night at midnight, which is the lighting of the main entrance.

Inside the grounds, there are hundreds of ‘casetas’ - or tents - which families can rent. During the week, friends and family members can visit the tent to eat, drink, and dance flamenco. It’s quite a production and seeing all of the casetas together is actually quite amazing. Many women wear flamenco dresses and men dress up in suits, despite the heat. Some of my friends’ senoras have even lent their students flamenco dresses to wear, but those of us who don’t have dresses simply wear flowers in our hair instead. Walking through the Feria is fun in itself, seeing the outfits and the horse drawn carriages in addition to carnival rides! It feels like the whole city is there celebrating.

I’m actually quite happy that I was able to see more of the Feria, because if I had left for Milan as planned I would have missed all but Monday night. I will explain in my next post why my original trip to Italy has been cut short.

So now I have a few more days in Sevilla to enjoy the sun and the Feria, before I’m off to Rome for the weekend. Once I’m back from that trip, I’ll only have 3 weeks left in Spain before I go home! I can’t believe how quickly my semester is going (I apologize if I’ve written that too many times, but it’s true!).

The Rim of Africa

This past week was fairly low-key with classes (nonchalant as usual) and some relaxing by the river. I did invest in a weeklong bike pass, which turned out to be a great purchase. There are bike stations all over the city that you can rent a bike from, and you have half an hour to return it to any other station. It’s not only reduced my travel-time to school but it’s also great exercise!

This past weekend I had planned a trip to Gibraltar and Morocco, so on Friday morning my two friends, Alex and Trish, and I boarded the bus to Algeciras, a small port city in Spain where we had booked a hostel. After a few hours on the bus and getting lost in the small streets of Algeciras, we made it to the hostel and dropped off our stuff. Then it was another bus to Gibraltar, a small British Colony on the southern tip of Spain, known for its monkeys! Once we crossed the ‘border,’ which consisted of walking through customs, we took a cable car to the Top of the Rock, where we began to search for nice-looking monkeys to crawl on our heads.

At first we were all a bit intimidated by the monkeys – there were many signs warning against feeding the monkeys (500 pound fine!) and we quickly realized they tend to become quite aggressive at first sign of food. When Trish reached into her backpack to get her camera, one of the monkeys charged her until she zipped back up quickly! No injuries, but we were definitely a bit scared after that. As long as we didn’t unzip any of our bags following the first incident, the monkeys stayed pretty calm. We also realized young monkeys are the best ones to hang out with since they’re young enough that they don’t get aggressive and they’re small enough to climb all over you! The three of us all successfully had a monkey crawl on our head, and each time was documented! (The picture of the monkey on my head is actually on my friend Alex's camera and I haven't gotten it from her yet, so that photo will have to wait for the next blog.)

Aside from the monkeys, Gibraltar was actually quite pretty. From the Top of the Rock, there were many beautiful views of the coast of Spain, as well as a glimpse of the mountains in Morocco.

The Mediterranean

After visiting with the monkeys, we visited St. Michael's Cave which was quite beautiful. It was a hospital in the 1940s and is now occasionally used as a concert hall.

After climbing down the Rock, which took much longer than expected, we ate dinner at a pub. It was so strange to hear British accents mixed with Spanish in Gibraltar, and to see pubs as well. Gibraltar is the only place I’ll visit during my semester abroad that is officially English speaking.

We spent Friday night back in Algeciras and were up early to get a ferry to Morocco for the day. Unfortunately, due to the extreme windiness, all of the high-speed ferries were canceled which forced us to take a slower ferry (35min vs. 1 ½ hours). Not only did the regular-speed ferry cut our visit in Morocco short, I also thought it was going to capsize. Although we were able to lounge in comfortable recliners (it was a pretty nice ferry) the ship was rocking so much I feared for my life, while the majority of the other travelers were vomiting. Luckily I didn’t get nauseous at all, but it was certainly not an enjoyable ride…

Our ferry brought us to Ceuta, which is actually similar to Gibraltar in that it’s a Spanish city on the northern tip of Africa. That’s where we met our tour guide, Abdul, and got on the bus with everyone else who signed up. The first city in Morocco we were taken to was Tetouan, about 30 minutes from Ceuta. We were brought to the ‘medina,’ which is the center of the city, where we wandered through the streets, avoid being haggled, and saw many outdoor markets.

After seeing a bit of the city, we were brought into a building filled with carpets, where different families try to sell the carpets, rugs, and throws that they make by hand. At first we thought it would just be a tour, until Abdul sent Alex, Trish and I into a room where a man proceeded to showcase nearly his entire collection to us, expecting us to buy at least one. As soon as we made it clear we weren’t interested in spending nearly 100 Euro on his collection (many of the blankets he showed us were beautiful, just not in our budget) he quickly showed us the door.

We ate lunch in a traditional Moroccan restaurant with many performances (dancers, a man balancing many candles on his head, henna tattoo artists) throughout the meal. We were served soup followed by couscous, which was actually delicious! Although Morocco is known for its delicious cuisine, we had heard many horror stories about students getting sick from the Moroccan food, but luckily we were all fine.

Since we got a late start to our day, we drove straight to Tangiers next – another half hour on the bus. We did another quick tour of the city, ending with a visit to a Moroccan apothecary where a man showed us various types of spices, teas, lotions and other remedies. It was pretty fun actually, and there wasn’t pressure to buy anything like at the carpet place. I ended up buying Moroccan tea for only 3 Euro, which I’m excited about because Morocco is also known for their tea, which I tried at lunch (and was delicious).

Abdul, the tour guide

At this point it was time to head back to Ceuta to catch a ferry back to Spain. Once we got to the ferry station and said goodbye to Abdul, we discovered that not only were the high-speed ferries still cancelled (due to the wind), but our 830pm ferry was delayed to an unknown time. We ended up having to wait until a little before midnight for a ferry, but luckily we had made friends with some older British people who were on our tour and were quite entertaining.

We made it back to the hostel quickly after our ferry ride and were up early on Sunday to catch a bus back to Sevilla. Although it felt like I spent more time traveling than sightseeing, I’m still glad I went. Gibraltar was a lot of fun, and although Morocco certainly wasn’t glamorous, it was a place I wanted to visit. There was a Spanish man also waiting for the same ferry on Saturday night who told us he felt Morocco is like Spain was 20 years ago. I find that very interesting because 20 years ago, Spain was transitioning after the death of dictator Francisco Franco. My impression of Morocco was that it was quite underdeveloped in terms of technology and the economy, and there was quite a bit of poverty. The culture is quite rich though, from the food to religion and much more.

This past week the Fordham Study Abroad Advisor, Dr. Mendez-Clark, came to visit Sevilla to evaluate my program. On Wednesday morning, some other students and I met with Dr. Mendez-Clark and two other professors from other universities in the US to get our opinion on CIEE. We talked about our classes, home-stays, trips and the staff members – which made me realize what a great program I chose. I’ve improved my Spanish so much since I’ve been here, not only thanks to my classes but also thanks to living with Ignacia. There are three other Fordham students here in Sevilla as well, and on Wednesday night we all met with Dr. Mendez-Clark for tapas. We were able to talk a bit more informally about the program – though it was still all positive.

This weekend my program is taking me to Lisbon, Portugal, which I hear is beautiful. We’ll be there from Friday until Sunday, and next week is Feria (a festival in Sevilla to celebrate spring)! We don’t have any classes, and on Tuesday morning I’ll be going with Alex and our friend Jackie to Italy. I can’t wait to go – Italy was my number 1 country that I wanted to visit while abroad. We’ll start in Milan, take a train to Venice and finish in Rome. I’ll arrive back in Sevilla on April 26, and I’m sure I’ll have a lot to write after these two trips.