Portugal-First Port

Day 1: 

I had absolutely no plans for Lisbon—except the Air B&B—until about the day before we docked in port. But wow what an amazing couple of days in my first port where I just go with the flow. The first day we walked around and came upon a little outside market—yes I did buy things. Then we ate brunch at a Portuguese place and I got a delicious omelet. Then we walked around more with no destination in mind and then after wandering we decided to go to the aquarium. It was a very cool aquarium and I am glad we went. Later that night we went out for drinks and to listen to fado—a music style.

Day 2: 

The next day we went to Sintra to see a castle that the town is known for but we could not see it because of wildfires in the mountains. After that we did some shopping for me and my clothes and I found some stuff. We got to Sintra by train and it was fairly easy to do which is good. And other local transportation is easy too. We have mostly been using Uber and just splitting the cost.

Day 3:

We went to the beach! But actually it wasn’t the best because the water was freezing and it was windy. But after tanning and reading we got a delicious lunch in a shack along the beach and then one of my friends came with me to a mall to go to Primark to buy more clothes of course! Luckily I found basically the rest of what I wanted to buy and a few extra goods. Then we went to the ship and showered and went to our Air B&B we are staying at and then right away took an Uber to a futbol stadium to see a local game! That was so fun and an amazing experience. Then some of us went out that night to a place called pink street—yes the street is actually pink, even on google maps! But it is a dirty pink now because of all the foot traffic.

Day 4: 

I slept in till 11… Then I went to get breakfast by myself and then went with mostly everyone to Time Out market which was a very cool place with a ton of food options. I got the best gelato ever! Then back to the Air B&B to do laundry.

Day 5: 

We left the Air B&B and went back to the ship and ate lunch there and I unpacked, did some homework and slept. It was my roommate's birthday so I decorated our room for her as well. Then we waited for her to get back from her field class to eat cake and then we went to get tattoos! Then that night I went with only one friend back to pink street because it was so fun the first time.

Day 6: 

I slept in again and then got dressed and some of us headed out for the day and we were heading to the grocery store but I wanted to stop at Pull&Bear—I bought more clothes…. And then we ended up walking back to the ship and going to the grocery store in the train station near the ship then we got back on and set sail at 6pm.

Field classes are a day that is required for each class we are taking. The professor organizes what we do for a day that is chosen in one of the ports. Some of these field classes can be really fun and others not so much. 

Field programs are what you  sign up for in the ports. I signed up for a handful and the money I have received from all of you goes towards those. My first one I am doing is in Morocco and it's a 3 day trip that includes camel treks and visiting villages out in the desert!