Portugal

April 3-12

I was waiting all of my 2 month break from school for this trip and it finally came! Shawn, Katrina, Molly, Angela and myself left for Portugal on April 3 for a 10 day trip. The trip started off with a bang with Katrina and I running to catch our flight from Nue to Amsterdam. We had thought that the s-bahn would take less time then it actually had to get to the airport so we left later from Bamberg. After running around the airport, we finally were able to check in and get on our flight!! Because Katrina and I were able to make the earlier flight from Nue, we spent about four hours walking around in Amsterdam. I can actually say I was there now!
Let me tell you about Amsterdam:
I have heard just about everything about Amsterdam. I have heard that it is a hippy town with the red light district; I have heard that it is nothing special to see but the Anne Frank house; and of course I have heard that it is one of the few places where marijuana usage is legal. Now being in Amsterdam, I have different ideas about the place. I did not see the red light district, but I thought the small boutiques and shopping areas were very nice. There were many canals with thousands of bikes parked everywhere. Unfortunately I wasn't able to actually go into Ann Frank's house because the line was so huge, but I did see the outside. I found the prices in Amsterdam to be outrageously high. For example, the cheapest postcard I found was 1 euro...usually you can buy postcards around 45 cents.
After walking around Amsterdam for so long, Katrina and I worked up an appetite. After having many locals trying to persuade us to eat in their restaurants, Katrina and I picked a nice casual place to eat...what a story this brings. I decided to splurge a little bit and get a salad. There was one salad that caught my eye which had mozzarella, tomatoes, and pecans in it. Long did I know that my salad would only consist of mozzarella and tomatoes!! Oh well...it's done now! I was curious to visit a coffee shop or a.k.a. a brownie cafe. I assumed that they would have a special section for products made with the plant product. To my surprise, the cafes that we entered had no special brownies or cookies. There was only one 'store' we passed that had advertisements for herbs and other such stuff. After walking around Amsterdam, Katrina and I made our way back to the airport to meet up with the rest of the gang.

We finally made our way to Lisboa, Portugal where we would spend the next 3 nights. Lisboa is located on a river, that definitely reminds me of Lake Michigan. All the small houses are built up a hill and they are really close together. It was beautiful with all the plants in bloom and the statues filling the parks and streets. Lisboa was a clean capital with little graffiti. Many of Portugal's building are covered with beautiful tile paintings. The main sights for us was the fortress and churches.
For a small snack on Wednesday, we stopped at a fish market eating area which was right on the river. It was really neat to see the big fishing boats docked along the river. At the fish market, I tried the classic chips which reminded me of fries. They were good! We basically walked around all day Wednesday and called it an early night because the next day was my birthday!!

I was so excited to celebrate my birthday in Portugal. I knew turning 21 in Europe would not have the same extent of excitement as it would have in the U.S. The day started off with me deleting all of my pictures from my break...it was so sad. But I didn't let that get me down because I was in Portugal! Since we saw most of Lisboa the day before, we decided to check out Sintra, which is a small town where supposedly the rich and famous vacation/live. The town was pretty small with many hills. It was very beautiful with the large houses; some of the houses even resembled castles. Molly, Katrina and I wandered up a hill in order to reach our destination of the castle. The way up was beautiful! It was like walking through a secret garden! There were plants everywhere with a stone wall that led the way. We were more interested in seeing the view from the top then the actual castle, but we couldn't even see the view without paying so we headed back down the hill. On our way down, I stepped upon a water drain and happened to twist my left ankle! That's right...I sprained my ankle again! I have to be one of the clumsiest people in the world!! Luckily I was still able to put some pressure on my foot and after finding a brace I was able to walk a little more rapidly. So now I deleted pictures from my camera and I am limping around. As the day continued, my mother called me to wish me a happy birthday. Unlucky me, as I was talking to her my phone went dead and that was the end of that convo. I seriously could not believe the events of this day. We consented as a group that we would just go to dinner for my birthday and drink so wine while playing cards in the hostile.
(OOOO I totally forgot to tell you about the hostile! The hostile was in Lisboa on a hill, so there were many steps to climb to get there. Then once you were in the building, one had to climb really steep steps up to the 2 floor where our room was. Our room was a standard hostile with bunk beds, but unlike the other rooms where they had a door to close, we had a curtain! On top of that, there was only three bathrooms in the entire hostile with one toilet and shower. You could only imagine how difficult it was to get ready in the mornings with so many people wanting to shower and stuff.)
The night turned out be fun as we played our routine game of Rumi and Uno.

The next day, we took a bus to Lagos where we would be staying for the remaining of our trip. I have to say, Lagos is my favorite place now! I would go back in a heart beat! Even though we arrived there on a good Friday, many of the shops were still open because it it such a tourists' area. We immediately went to our hostile which was more like a condo. We had two bedrooms, our own bathroom for each rooms, a kitchen and a patio! It was so nice!
Now for a little information on Lagos:
It is a hot spot for British people to travel. Everyone there is so friendly! One day Shawn, Katrina, and myself were walking around as well as trying to find Shawn sunglasses since he broke his. As he was trying on different sunglasses, some British residents decided to chat with us. They were really funny to talk to and very welcoming! Another interesting fact to know...people consider Lagos to be the California of Europe. Now I have never been to California but I can tell you that Lagos is amazing!
The Friday we arrived we basically walked around. I couldn't do too much walking because my I was still in pain with my ankle; however, since we were so close to the ocean, we decided to check out the beaches. By the end of the day we decided that the Potato beach was our beach because there wasn't too many people laying out there.

On Saturday Katrina and I once again tried to register for classes with our university at home. I didn't mention this earlier, but we were trying for about three days already but had no luck. After another disappointing attempt, we headed to the beach were our two friends Shawn and Angela were baking in the sun. We all layed out for hours, which we continued to do for the next days we were there. It was sooo nice! I love the beach! Molly and I went swimming many of times in the ocean. Yes it was cold at first, but after the initial shock of coldness, it is quite warm. Later Saturday night we all went out for drinks, which were ridiculously cheap! It seemed like every bar had happy hour. The particular place we went to had the deal: 2 cocktails for the price of 1 which was 2.50 euros!! In Germany we pay around 7 euros for a cocktail! Molly, who hardly drinks, could not even resist the amazing offer.

Easter Sunday came around and Katrina and I went to church for a little bit. We didn't stay too long because it was in Portuguese and there were so many people there that they couldn't even shut the doors! Later we headed to the beach of course, where we spend the rest of the day.
Monday we took a boat trip to the caves which were beautiful! Shawn and Angela decided to take a dip in the middle of the ocean. I, on the other hand, found it to be too cold for me so I took a rain check. After our hour long boat trip, we headed to the beach once again. For dinner we decided to try this restaurant that is known for their fish. I ordered some type of fish that still had it's head on! Normally my parents cut the fish up for me and remove the bones so this was quite an experience for me! It was delicious!
Tuesday was our last full day in Lagos...so sad. Of course we went to the beach again and we also shopped around. We didn't stay in the sun too long though because all of us were feeling a bit burnt from the previous sun bathing days. I was pink for awhile but I am proud to say that it started turning brownish!

On Wednesday we were heading back to Lisboa by bus and then to the airport. We still had some time to waste in Lagos, but unfortunately it was raining so we couldn't go to the beach. Instead we headed to the Pizza Hut and shopped around a little more. We finally arrived in Lisboa around 11 p.m. We made a group decision not to stay in a hostile because our flight was leaving 7 in the morning. As we were hanging out in the airport, some strange man decided to hang out with Katrina and Shawn as they were playing cards. Soon everyone was aware of his presence and couldn't nap anymore. He was drunk, smelly, and who knows what else. Until around 4a.m when we could finally check in, this man would get up, leave, and come back. WEIRD!
Overall Portugal was the best!!

*Random thought: If you ever go, bring toilet paper or tissues...I swear they don't believe in toilet paper there. Every bathroom I went to had nichts!


PORTUGAL PICTURES

Mo's Visit

March 21-27

My friend Monique came to visit me!! My first visitor from the states! It was unfortunate that Monique was only here for a week because there was so much to see and do. While I was waiting I thought I was about to cry waiting for her arrival. It was like a little piece of home was arriving in Deutschland!
After the flight of about 8 hours, it was obvious that she would have terrible jet lag…but being such a super friend, I made sure that she did not nap until at least 9 p.m. After all, that is the only way to get over jet lag. We did nothing terribly exciting except see some of good old Bamberg. The next day we went to Nuerenberg to do some touristy stuff there. It was a bit cold outside, but we still managed to get around. Among the touristy stuff in Nuerenberg, we tried the famous Nuerenbergers, saw the grounds of the party rallies during WWII, and visited a castle and many churches. Of course we did a little shopping but I managed to only window shop…schade.

Later Thursday night, I took Monique to stammtisch to meet some of the other new foreign exchange students, many who I have not even met yet. However, we did not stay out too late because we had much more touristy stuff to do.
Friday and Saturday we stayed with Monique’s family in Frankfurt. It was her expecting Polish cousin and her German husband who we visited. They were a really fun couple to be around, even though there was slight communication awkwardness at first. Even though I have been to Frankfurt so many times, it was nice to actually see the city and the shopping areas. We left late Saturday night and arrived back in Bamberg around 1am. We didn’t have much time to sleep though because Sunday was going to be a BIG day.
If you know Germany, you know that not much is open on Sunday. However, one of the main attractions in Germany is…NEUSCHWANSTEIN. We were on a mission to see the castle and managed to take the train 630 am. Yes I have already visited it once before, but it was just as beautiful if not more the second time. Monique and I were fortunate enough to see the alps surrounding the castle covered in snow. It was one of the most beautiful sights that I have ever seen. We also visited Hochschawnstein, which is the castle that King Ludwig II had grown up in. It was also very nice, but not as breathtaking of course as Neuschwanstein. After a long day, we came back to Bamberg and passed out!

Even though there was so much more that I wanted to show Monique, she had an early flight Tuesday so we had to take an easy on Monday. Therefore, we just walked around Bamberg so more and visited the main sights in the town. Later that night, we celebrated my birthday with tequila and live club! We had quite a night let me tell you. First we went to Shawn’s to pregame, where Mo and I managed to break Shawn’s light! Then we went dancing where Mo managed to repeatedly tell Kyle that his cologne was amazing!! HAHA Love it! I don’t remember what time we came back home but we got up the next morning around 630 to catch the train to Frankfurt airport.

What a rush! The train we were on ended up having technical difficulties so we had to take another train to NUE and then to Frankfurt. Monique just made her flight by the time we made it to Frankfurt! We are so lucky! Thank you Mo for visiting…I needed a piece of home! MISS YOU ALL!