Exploring England

       I've noticed that the more you travel the more of a story teller you become. You meet all these people around the world all vying to know a small piece of your life. I love sharing my life with people. After my trip to England this weekend I have quite a few more stories to tell. 

     
         The first day we had in England I met my friend Dara's family and friends. It felt so weird for me to travel to a new place and hear people around me speaking a language I was fluent in. The accents however were quite different and always put a smile on my face. I was told I have a strong accent of my own! Dara, her brother Aiden, her lovely friend Milly and myself all made our way by bus from their quaint town of Andover to Winchester. We were lucky that day, because the sun was out and there was hardly any rain. Winchester was beautiful and I got to see the grave of Jane Austen in the Winchester Cathedral. After that we walked around and I was taken into all of the "posh" shops. It was wonderful and I actually bought a dress! Keep in mind it was hard to buy almost anything in England because of the outrageous conversion rate from USD to GDP which happened to be about 1.00 to 1.73 pounds. Ouch. Nonetheless we enjoyed ourselves and I was treated to a traditional Pastie. We ended up walking some more and finished our day trip with lunch at a restaurant called the Slug and Lettuce. After Winchester we met up with another of Dara's lovely friends and headed around town and eventually back to Dara's house to celebrate her birthday with gluten free Mac n cheese and chocolate cupcakes. That night we picked up our friend Alyssa from the airport and prepared for our trip to London the next day.

           Friday morning we had a 7am wake up call to be on a train to London by 9am. The weather had reverted back to it's natural grey skies and steady rain so we all could have an authentic England experience. The three of us met Dara's friend MC at the train station and made our way to London. Once we arrived the rain was more of a mist and we walked to the Tems to see all of the iconic sights of London. All of the sights were beautiful and it was just incredible to be there in that city. Coming from California I understand the appeal of those types of cities LA, New York, London. People dream about those cities and it felt surreal to be in one of them that had always been so far away from me.

            We walked around the city and thoroughly enjoyed the sights. Walking from place to place was amazing. We saw the changing of the guards and enjoyed a casual cup of Starbucks. We strolled through a beautiful park across from the palace and had lunch at a Chipotle. It was a special treat for myself and my birthday! Again we walked around London and Dara and MC took us to all of the beautiful shops and we looked at things and laughed at the prices. It was such an amazing time just walking around the city and being there. As we were walking through the city we found ourselves at Kings Cross and took a picture with the famous 9 3/4 cart. It was such a wonderful day and ended with delicious delicious Portuguese chicken from a restaurant called Nando's. To end our day we hopped on a train at 8:30 that was supposed to get us back to Andover by 9:30pm. That however didn't happen and we had to wait on a train for 5 hours!! We ended up having to take a taxi (paid for by the train company) back to Andover and finally got back home by 2am. Unfortunate ending to a wonderful day otherwise.

           Our last day in Andover was amazing, we slept in and enjoyed our breakfast and morning. Finally when all of us were dressed and ready for the day we walked downtown to pick up some tea for ourselves and potatoes for dinner. After we were done enjoying downtown Andover we went back up to Dara's house and had our final dinner with Dara and her family. The night was perfect and we finished it with heading out to a bar with Dara and all of her beautiful friends. It was a great time in England with great people and I can imagine it any other way.

           The next day we woke up early in the morning and Dara's mother drove us all the way to the airport. As an unanticipated event we got to the airport with 20-30 minutes till our flight's gates closed. We had to wait in line for our visa stamps and then run and I mean run through security all the way to our gate. All of us separately arrived at the gate in time out of breath and relieved. There are always surprises waiting for you at the airport, and we made it home with time to spare. England was an amazing experience and I am so grateful to have had it. Cheers to Adventure. 

Lisbon Portugal Dec 2013

So as my first semester came to an end instead of going home I decided to go to one more country before coming home for Christmas. I found myself planning a trip to Lisbon Portugal with my friends for an end of semester thrill. After our finals finished and we packed our bags I got a whopping 2 hours of sleep before waking up at 3am to walk to the train station luggage in tow and hoping on a bus and eventually a plane.

Like any vacation there were many bumps in the road before we arrived to Lisbon, some baggage problems and a lost group member but we eventually came together and made it to the hostel.

Upon arrival we were greeted with a welcome shot of traditional Lisbon liqueur called Ginjinha (very early in the morning) and very friendly faces. This hostel is the best place I've ever stayed in and as we found out is ranked as the second best hostel in the world!

For our first day we wondered around the city and looked at the various sights and places. Taking in this city was no easy task a place of just grandeur and beauty Lisbon is absolutely amazing. Everywhere you look there are beautiful tiles marking the walls and waves carved into the streets everything has beauty. Walking around instead of eating at the large restaurants and places among the main streets we took a chance on a small restaurant down a side street. Let me tell you we were not disappointed by the food, quality and price of this little place! I enjoyed a peach tea and a spin off on traditional Portuguese paella but with duck and it was delicious. We walked around some more and eventually headed "Home" to have dinner with Momma. I should explain and say that our hostel is called the Lisbon Home Hostel and it is known for their famous dinners with Momma. The hostel is run by two brothers and their own mother comes and cooks dinner for about 20 something odd people every night. We sat down at the dinner table and I was not disappointed. 10 euros for soup, a main dish, dessert, sangria or beer if you so please and a dessert liqueur plus Momma's company. I would say our first day was a complete success 

I'd have to say overall Portugal was amazing and I couldn't have chosen a better group of people to share it with. We walked everywhere and met such beautiful people! We ate with Momma and people and went on a walking tour on the second day. Our tour guide was named Sophia and she was PERFECT. I loved the tour because she was a local and we got to see the city in a different perspective as well as learn a ton of history. Fun fact about Portugal there was a horrible horrible dictator there named Salazar and JK Rowling spent quite a lot of time in Portugal and named Sylthern house after the dictator Salazar. 

Here's a list of the things I loved about Portugal: 

The architecture everywhere is absolutely beautiful. My favorite part was the tiles all through out the city squares and centers, they were gorgeous waves and are supposed to remind the people of their sea roots. 

Some of the buildings all around the city were abandoned or even just kind of decaying. I know that's not necessarily a good thing but just seeing these buildings in such an urban city was somehow beautiful. 

The old tiles everywhere, it added color and beauty to everything. 

I loved learning the history of Portugal. One of my favorite moments was learning about the street art all throughout the city and how people express old folk tales through graffiti. We learned about a beautiful women who found the Portuguese sailors and convinced them to stay with her in the sea and one day they left her and she got so angry she turned into a sea monster so large that when her tail hit the ocean it created all the waves in the sea. 

-Side note we also learned about traditional fado music through graffiti and how it came to be. It is said that a beautiful prostitute named Maria Severa would feel such heart break and loneliness when the sailors would cheat on their wives and children and leave her ultimately. She began to sing and created the traditional music now called fado. 

Portugal was one of my favorite experiences i've had so far with some of my favorite people. I love to travel not only because I learn about another culture but I learn more about myself and what I value. Here are some of my favorite pictures from my trip.