muito obrigado

Saturday night was so much fun, despite the fact that the "let's go out to eat at a nice Portuguese restaurant" plan fell through. It was raining and cost about 35-40 euros per person. Yeah right. So being the college students that we are, we ordered pizza to our rooms. I love that you tip next to nothing (if at all) in Europe. Later, we returned to Docas for dancing. It was POURING rain and we were soaked when we got inside the club. Both nights, our favorite place was actually a gay bar, but it was the most fun (and safe;)). We all agree that going back to JMU will pale in comparison to the Spanish night life. Around 3:30, Annie, Karen, and I hailed a cab (this time, I brought the hotel card to show the driver) and made the trek back. Around 9:30 the next morning, we headed to 8th floor for another breakfast of rolls. We eat so much bread here, it's awful. The bus picked us up outside the hotel again at 11 and took us to downtown Lisboa. What a cool city! There are so many plazas and fountains and beautiful buildings. We have been SO lucky with the weather too. They were calling for 80-90% chance of rain and we got partly cloudy and sunny both days. A group of about 6 of us found a giant watch tower that we paid almost 3 euros to go to the top of for a view of the city. Definitely worth it. Next, we walked towards the water and stopped at a really cool outdoor flea market. This place was full of hand-painted tiles, homemade jewelry, scarves, etc. I later found out that where we were on the water was where Columbus and several other famous explorers disembarked on their expeditions...wow. 

Alex, Leah, Colleen and I found a cafe where we had a delicious lunch. Colleen and I each  got a burger with a fried egg on it AND french fries. Oh man, my European diet. Leah and Alex got omelets. Apparently, bread that they bring to the table before your meal (bread that you didn't ask for) isn't free in Europe. Neither is water. We're learning. 

I was also offered pot three different times during the day by shady old men. Nice.

Then, it was time to head back to the bus. It was a loong way back too (about 6 hours). As tired as we all were when we returned, we were DETERMINED to watch the Superbowl...we owed it to America. Please keep in mind, though, that kick-off here wasn't until 12:30am. About 10 of us watched it in a bar called Holy Cross (ironic?) We had the entire lower level to ourselves and watched it on a projector screen, pretty cool. Too bad it was in Spanish and THERE WERE NO COMMERCIALS! What a joke. I left after half time because I was so tired, it was painful. 

We started real classes today (it's almost been 2 months since I've done anything school related...yikes.) I've only had one so far: Latin American short stories. I'm not too thrilled about the 8-page paper in Spanish I have to write at the end of the semester, but I've heard the classes aren't too challenging in general. 

Well siesta lunch is soon, so I better head back!