I’ve set a goal for myself to visit at least 10 different countries by June. Thus far, I have England, Wales, and now… PORTUGAL!!!! under my belt with Italy and France coming in the next few weeks. I’ve deemed this journey mission impossible because a few months ago I would’ve never thought I’d be traveling Europe or studying abroad for the full academic year. But it’s happening and I’m lovin it, as the McDonald’s commercial would say (P.S. McDonald’s does not taste the same in Europe as it does in the United States).

I just got back from Portugal early this morning. It’s currently 2:23pm in London and I am EXHAUSTED, in a good way of course My 3 girlfriends and I decided to take a different fall break route than most of our friends and go to Estoril, Portugal, a little beach town in the southern part of the country with a ton of history and catholicism breathing out of every historic establishment. We were approximately 30 minutes away from the country capital, Lisboa, and learned that the Portuguese way of life is a tad bit different (or maybe a lot different) than the American or even British way of life. Talk about relaxation, these people do not stress and you cannot force them to do so. There is no rush in any daily activity and boy oh boy do these people LOVE breakfast food. Eggs are served with every meal of the day without a doubt! But without fail, you can always find your typical hamburger on the menu like any European country. I think that’s kind of gross, but whatever.

The people were very accommodating language wise. I was warned not to speak Spanish to them because they find that offensive. If anyone has studied Portuguese, you would know that the languages are almost identical, but I guess there is still some historical/cultural tension. For instance, we would be at a restaurant and the staff would claim to speak English, German, and French but not Spanish. Ummmm, please spare me who are you fooling! lol There is no way you don’t speak Spanish and your countries are that close to each other and languages that similar. But not all of the Portuguese found Spanish insulting. In fact, on election night, I got in this really deep conversation with a half Angolan and Portuguese man about the significance of the Obama election and the work ethic of black Americans. He spoke in all Portuguese and I replied in all Spanish. We communicated very well, but he swore I was Cuban since he couldn’t believe that an American actually took the time to learn another language other than English lol.

So the night of the election we stayed up until 7am Portugal time celebrating the Obama victory with tears, screams, and plans of excitement of how we were going to contribute to the change when we got back to the states. The following morning we were still in complete awe, but ran to the nearest beach store to pick up Portuguese newspaper coverage on the election results. We layed on the beach almost relieved that this entire thing was over (yet just beginning) with confidence in our new President and his ability to deliver. Afterwards, we celebrated with a delicious Portuguese dinner and proceeded to pack our bags for our next afternoon check out.

I honestly could not have asked for a better vacation and, as an avid Obama supporter, a better victory. Enjoy the pictures, there are more to come in the following weeks!

P.S.

I read Toni Morrison’s new book A Mercy about a Portuguese slave girl in Portugal. How cool is that!!!!!