Well, well, well...on the internet again, Finally!!! I hope I am not the only one that goes for 6 or 7 days without the internet and feels completely out of touch with reality...is that not an oxymoron? is the internet reality, or an artificial place?
Ok enough of that business...it is way to late here for that! The last week has been an absolute blast. Last saturday I left Madrid after a night out on the town with Marc, and my new friend Daniel. We went to a local disco and had a blast partying and dancing until some rediculous hour of the morning. It is real stange not having dinner until 10:30 or 11 at night, then leaving to go out at 2:30 or so! but what can I say say, these Spaniards know how to have a good time!
The flight was a little tough simply because I had to be up at 11:30 and we hadn't been up before 3 in the afternoon any other day! I got to the airport early and the flight went smoothly...it is about an hour from Gate to Gate much like a flight from Phoenix to San Diego. If any of you were wondering it is just over 500km (you do the conversion to miles!)
My Uncle and Aunt, Ita and Po, picked me up in Lisbon and it was straight to a little village in the Alentejo called Villa Nova de Millfontes. Villa Nova is a little beach town that is straight out of the late 1800's. It is a cute little town, full of people that are vacationing during the month of August. Apparently August is the Month that everyone travels in Europe. Continuing on, that afternoon we went out for a little snack on the bay, we ate some clams and some octopus salad, both very traditional dishes of the area, and washed it all down with some nice cold beer. I must admit that it was quite superb, quite beautiful. That evening around 9, we met up with my cousins, Domingos and Francsico, and went with them a few other cousins of there's to a family friends, The Castelo Branco's, for dinner. It was quite the spread, Aunt Luiza used to be a caterer for weddings, and I believe that she still has a commercial kitchen somewhere in Lisbon. Needless to say, it was very tasty, bread, cheese and Lochs with capers for appetizers; a white soup with a potato base and chives for garnish, served cold; then for the main course it was a homemade spaghetti bolognese. Finally, to finish it all off it was three separate deserts! A Passion fruit moose, a Chocolate cake with a chocolate moose filing, and another cake that seems to have slipped my mind i think it was some sort of creme brule.
Ok ridiculous, enough about the food right!!! It is just unbelievable, the night went on...Don't these people realize that I am tired!!! haha Apparently there is some fellow that passes time here every summer and rents out the only disco in town to throw a private party! Luckily a friend of a friend knows the guy and got us all wrist bands to go to the party that night!!! Free entrance and Free Drinks all night long! Turned out to be another long night! We were dancing our shoes off all night. Here are the links to the Two hottest songs (listener be aware that it is quite different!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w--fJDFjMA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn9rTYGsOyc
Needless to say we had a blast...for the next four days we did the same thing, we went to the beach after 2:30 in the afternoon when we woke up, stayed on the beach swimming, chatting with family, and playing volleyball, went home made dinner and then went out all night as late as we could (usually were home by 5:15 or so!).
The only other thing that really stood out from the time down in Villa Nova was that one night we had a pizza party at the house that my cousins had rented out! There other cousins, Martin and Sebastian, are both from Italy and we made everything from scratch...Great night everyone had fun, reminded me of a few nights with John and the Prager's making pizzas and having a good time with everyone hanging out!
Now, I finally arrived in Lisbon. Yesterday was my Uncle Ze's birthday, he came and picked me up from Villa Nova with his sons, Pedro and Miguel, and we all went out to dinner and then after that returned to Lisbon. Today was really relaxing here. I woke up around 11:00, ate a fresh bread from the market that my grandma had already gone to pick up, then we went for a coffee at the Cafe up the street (it must be new because it was not one that I had been to) with Tia Checa. After that we relaxed for a while, had a lunch with Uncle Joao who works right around the corner, and then went for a little stroll around Lisbon to Baixa.
Well, I am completely running out of Gas here. Until next time!
Phil
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
After 18 Short hours of travel...I am finally here
Hmmm, how to start off?
- the trip over here went pretty well. Woke up in the morning of my flight had some breakfast, finished packing my stuff, picked andrew up from water polo practice, and then left. The drive through LA went surprisingly smooth, and included a nice Chinese lunch with the the brothers (+Jeff) and Dad [unfortunately mom had a meeting for school so she couldn't come with]. Got to the airport and there was a huge security line that I had to in to get checked in. I ended up with a window seat so that was good for the flight...only a few issues with it...it was row 50 (THE BACK), and the two nice old ladies next to me slept the whole time so I couldn't get up and walk around or PEE! Arrived in London a little bit early, on very little sleep, maybe two hours, and took my time getting to the next terminal. Heathrow airport was pretty nice, and surprisingly the sun was out in London that day (what a surprise)! Getting to my flight for Madrid was not a problem, it was a quick flight only an 1:45min and I finally landed. It took a while to get my baggage at the airport but luckily it all arrived, and nothing was missing.
A friend of mine, Marc, from ASU picked me up with one of his Friends, Daniel, and we came here to Marc's family's house in the outskirts of Madrid. It is a beautiful house, not like in the states but it is quite spacious by European standards. After spending a couple hours of relaxing, we were off to have a dinner at Daniel's girlfriends house. We all picked up some food at different restaurants in the town they live in, Posuelo, and met at her place to eat and have a couple of beers. I barely made it to dinner...didn't realize why I was so hungry; I ate breakfast at 9 am in London and nothing until dinner at 10:30 (WAY TOO LATE)! It was nice meeting some of his friends but by like 12:30 I was falling asleep in my chair while they were all carrying on!
Today, the 20th of August, we had quite a busy day. we woke up at 10:30 (very early for a student in Madrid) and went downtown. To get there it was a short 10 minute walk from Marc's house to the bus stop, and then a 30 minute ride in. When we arrived we went to a housing agency for students and checked out some different apartments to see what there was out there and figure out how to go about renting one. Looks like there are plenty of options out there. After that we walked all around the city checking out the different barrios or neighborhoods, and had lunch at a little chain restaurant in Gran Via. Walking all around took it out of me...it must have been around or just above 95 degrees all day long. Finally, for dinner tonight Marc and I went out to a place called Tapas y Canas...another little chain, but we ate traditional Tapas from Spain and enjoyed the evening breeze on the patio outside.
Well hope that was not to dry! Everything is good here.
Until Next Time,
Phil
P.s. Photos to come
- the trip over here went pretty well. Woke up in the morning of my flight had some breakfast, finished packing my stuff, picked andrew up from water polo practice, and then left. The drive through LA went surprisingly smooth, and included a nice Chinese lunch with the the brothers (+Jeff) and Dad [unfortunately mom had a meeting for school so she couldn't come with]. Got to the airport and there was a huge security line that I had to in to get checked in. I ended up with a window seat so that was good for the flight...only a few issues with it...it was row 50 (THE BACK), and the two nice old ladies next to me slept the whole time so I couldn't get up and walk around or PEE! Arrived in London a little bit early, on very little sleep, maybe two hours, and took my time getting to the next terminal. Heathrow airport was pretty nice, and surprisingly the sun was out in London that day (what a surprise)! Getting to my flight for Madrid was not a problem, it was a quick flight only an 1:45min and I finally landed. It took a while to get my baggage at the airport but luckily it all arrived, and nothing was missing.
A friend of mine, Marc, from ASU picked me up with one of his Friends, Daniel, and we came here to Marc's family's house in the outskirts of Madrid. It is a beautiful house, not like in the states but it is quite spacious by European standards. After spending a couple hours of relaxing, we were off to have a dinner at Daniel's girlfriends house. We all picked up some food at different restaurants in the town they live in, Posuelo, and met at her place to eat and have a couple of beers. I barely made it to dinner...didn't realize why I was so hungry; I ate breakfast at 9 am in London and nothing until dinner at 10:30 (WAY TOO LATE)! It was nice meeting some of his friends but by like 12:30 I was falling asleep in my chair while they were all carrying on!
Today, the 20th of August, we had quite a busy day. we woke up at 10:30 (very early for a student in Madrid) and went downtown. To get there it was a short 10 minute walk from Marc's house to the bus stop, and then a 30 minute ride in. When we arrived we went to a housing agency for students and checked out some different apartments to see what there was out there and figure out how to go about renting one. Looks like there are plenty of options out there. After that we walked all around the city checking out the different barrios or neighborhoods, and had lunch at a little chain restaurant in Gran Via. Walking all around took it out of me...it must have been around or just above 95 degrees all day long. Finally, for dinner tonight Marc and I went out to a place called Tapas y Canas...another little chain, but we ate traditional Tapas from Spain and enjoyed the evening breeze on the patio outside.
Well hope that was not to dry! Everything is good here.
Until Next Time,
Phil
P.s. Photos to come
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