"10 Points for Gryffindor!" ... Lagos, Portugal

Wow where to begin.  It's been over a week so this is going to take some mad memory skills.  Last week in Sevilla I was mainly busy with homework and classes I think so we only went out one night.  Mackenzie and I tried to go book train tickets for our travels after but apparently we can't book trips outside of Spain at the Sevilla station so it was kind of a waste of time.  Our Lagos group went to the bus station to buy our tickets but between Sara and me that is all we can remember.  I feel like I'm always busy but that sounds like a pretty uneventful week so maybe I'm forgetting something.  Oh well our Lagos trip makes up for it.

picture of Portugal from the bus

Thursday night everyone in our group went out except for Mackenzie, Caroline, and me because we valued our sleep and our bus left at 7:30am Friday morning.  I was there to wake Sara up, Kerry magically woke herself up, Harrison woke Danielle and Stephanie up, and then there was Tyson.  We waited for him at our meeting spot but he never showed up.  The night before he had gotten sick and apparently gave Stephanie and Danielle his phone so there was no way to call him.  Everyone who had gone out that night had little to no sleep and were still drunk so to say the least it was an entertaining walk to the bus station which was a good 45min walk.  When we got to the bus station we got coffee and I got a croissant at the cafeteria and then we found our bus.  The bus left right at 7:30 and one guy had to run to get on as the bus was pulling out.  I was looking out the window as we started to pull away and saw Tyson running through the bus station looking for the bus.  I told the others and all of us started yelling at the driver to stop and starting banging on the windows.  Danielle ran to the front of the bus and begged the driver to stop pointing to Tyson and thankfully he agreed.  When Tyson walked on the bus everyone on the bus started clapping and one of the guys behind us yells "10 points for Gryffindor!" ... hints the name of the title.  We were all so happy he made it and it started the beginning of an awesome trip.

Lagos!

The bus ride was 5 hours long and when we got to the border the police looked hard at all of our passports.  When we finally got to Lagos I had directions to the hostel that I got from the hostel that was seriously like a treasure map.  It only talked about landmarks we would see as we were walking.  We found the hostel and when they realized we were a group of 8 instead of a group of 6 and 2 separately like we had booked it they offered us our own apartment.  We agreed and it was literally a minute away from the hostel so we could use all of their facilities.  The staff was sooo nice and one lady we were told to call "mom" because she was there to look after us and cook us crepes every morning.  She even gave us our keys without requiring the deposit that usually is required and locks for the lockers that normally you have to rent.  Our apartment had 12 beds, our own kitchen, 3 bathrooms, 2 showers, and a deck on the roof!

After we got settled in we put on our bathing suits and headed for the beach.  The beach was gorgeous.  There were huge rocks and caves everywhere and the water was so pretty.  After laying out for a bit and testing the water Caroline and I took our cameras and went on an adventure through the caves to different beaches.  We eventually got to a point where we couldn't go any farther with our cameras because we had to swim to the next place.  On our adventure we met a guy from Wake Forest named Gerson who knew some of her friends which was really cool.  We walked back to our towels to drop off our cameras so we could explore farther.  Mackenzie and Sara joined us but Mackenzie brought her camera even though we warned her not to.  When we got to the spot Caroline and I stopped at Sara and Gerson joined us on our adventure while Mackenzie had to stay behind.  I started swimming thinking the water was pretty deep but suddenly I swam on top of a rock and scraped myself up.  It was well worth it though because it was amazingly beautiful and I was sad I didn't have my camera.  Eventually we decided to head back but to put a twist on things we decided to swim all the way back to the first beach instead of climbing through the caves.  It was a long swim but we made it and afterwards we felt like champions.

After a nice long day at the beach Caroline and I headed back to the apartment first.  On the way I stopped at a souvenir shop to get a postcard.  It said you could get a stamp too so I decided that would be the easiest way.  However when the man gave me a stamp it wasn't a sticker and didn't say the price.  I decided there was no way it was real and went back and said it wouldn't work since it doesn't have a price and could I just get my money back.  He gave me one that did say the price and I asked how I was supposed to put it on.  He said glue and I said I didn't have any glue so he gave me some.  I kept asking are you sure this is going to work and he told me 3 times "you are so stupid" which I don't know if what he was trying to say was lost in translation or what but I was shocked.  I ended up walking away with my glued-on stamp pretty sure it wasn't going to make it back to the US.

When we got to the apartment we discovered there was no hot water so we both took freezing showers.  It was humorous how horrible my shower was because not only was it cold but the shower head wouldn't stay on the wall so it kept falling and spraying everywhere.  It was nice to be clean though.  When the others came back they went to the front desk and they sent someone over to turn on the hot water so after that we had hot water.  For dinner we went to a famous burger restaurant called Nahnahbah's that was featured on "Man vs. Food" and was voted one of the top 50 burgers in the world.  They have a burger that is a kilo of meat that you have to order 24 hrs ahead of time and if you finish it then your meal is free.  We didn't do that but I helped myself to an amazing burger, homemade chips, and a sex on the beach.

After dinner we went over to the hostel for trivia night.  It was 5 euro and you got to play and have unlimited sangria and beer.  The sangria was good and had a good amount of wine in it instead of fruit juice.  We also met a lot of people in the hostel and had a lot of fun playing trivia.  After trivia the hostel had a free bar crawl.  At the first bar some of the people we met bought us all shots that the bartender set on fire which was really cool.  Then at the second one they had fishbowls full of drinks that you drank with really long straws.  We met some of the girls from our program there that we had seen earlier on the beach.  Our group split up into smaller groups after that but in the end we all made it back safely to the apartment.

The next day we woke up at 9:30 for mom's crepes.  She cooked us as many crepes as we could handle until we literally had to say stop because we were so full.  There was jam, chocolate, chocolate swirl, and she gave us money to buy fruit even though usually you're supposed to bring your own fruit.  My favorite crepe was chocolate and strawberry.  She also served magic drink which is basically lemon rinds boiled which is then a yellow liquid and when you mix it with lemon juice it turns clear.  It was really cool and tasted good too.  We went to a different beach Saturday.  We just walked farther up the main road and found another one that was extremely pretty.  It was more secluded than the other one.  We laid out and cooled off in the water and then decided to go to a really good Mexican restaurant for lunch.  I had a burrito that was so big I couldn't finish it!  We also got chips and salsa which were good.


After lunch Tyson, Caroline, Sara, Mackenzie, and I went on a small boat tour of Lagos which included going in the caves and stuff.  It was pretty and our driver pointed out how some of the rocks looked like different things like elephants.  There was a booze cruise with our hostel that was longer and had unlimited beer and sangria but it was 40 euro so I was more than happy with our 8 euro tour.  After the boat tour Mackenzie, Sara, and I went back to the beach for a little bit.  Sara left to get in the water as soon as we got there and found herself some Portuguese men to talk to the whole time we were there (typical).  She got information on where to see the sunset that night though so it was time well spent.  Danielle had also gotten information on where to see the sunset so after we got back from the beach and showered off we walked to Ponta da Piedade.  It was a pretty long walk but when we got there we realized it was well worth it.  We had a perfect view of the sun setting over Lagos and we were near a bunch of huge rocks and gorgeous ocean views.  We even saw someone standing on top of one of the rocks fishing which looked really scary.  Even though it was cold from the breeze this scene was breathtaking and probably one of my favorite moments since I have been in Europe.

After the sunset we all went back to the apartment, sat on our deck, drank, and talked.  It was nice and relaxing to just hang out with everybody.  Eventually we decided to go out to bars but after awhile Tyson, Mackenzie, Caroline, Stephanie, and I were tired and ready to go to sleep.  We stopped at a pizza place on the way back to get late-night which was so good.  Then we went back and got in bed.  Mackenzie and I woke up at 8:45 so we could get breakfast at 9 and spend a couple hours on the beach before our bus left at 1:45.  The crepes and magic drink were amazing again.  I had bought a banana so I had chocolate and banana crepes.  We went to the same beach we did the first day which was nice and eventually other people from our group came down to join us on the beach.

Sara and I left to meet Tyson and Caroline for lunch at 12 and I hopped in the shower quickly before we left.  By the time we got to the restaurant it was about 12:30 and our food wasn't coming very quickly.  It was a cute little place and I wish we had time to enjoy it.  They served breakfast and all sorts of other things.  I got a strawberry milkshake and a toasted ham and cheese sandwich.  We got our food around 1 and since I wasn't packed yet and they were I had to literally grab it and eat it as I ran back to the hostel to pack up.  I threw my stuff in a bag and thankfully the rest of the group was back by the time I was ready to go.  Someone from the hostel also showed up right when we needed to leave which was nice because we didn't have to go back to the hostel.  We quickly walked to the bus station and made it with 10 minutes to spare.  The whole thing was extremely stressful though.

The bus ride home was long and uncomfortable.  I watched "The Wedding Date" on my ipod which is one of my all time favorite movies but even it didn't make the ride seem shorter.  We got back to Sevilla around 8 and didn't want to wait for dinner from our señoras so Tyson, Sara, Kerry, and I decided to eat dinner at Domino's.  When we walked in there was no one at the counter and the bathroom was locked.  Kerry found the keys on the counter and went anyways and we stood there trying to figure out how to order.  Eventually someone came and I ordered a medium pepperoni pizza that was on special for 7 euro.    I ate the whole thing by myself and it was amazing.  I was so stuffed afterwards though that I couldn't get the churros con chocolate that I had wanted before we got pizza.  When we got back to our apartment we unpacked and did a little bit of homework and went to sleep.

Monday was a normal day of class and I found out that since I didn't send my postcard with the glued on stamp in Portugal I would have to buy a new one in Spain.  So all that struggle was for nothing except a good laugh.  Today for my Spain Today class we took a field trip to the Andalucía Parliament building which is one of the biggest buildings in Spain.  We were kind of left to fend for ourselves and Caroline and I had to figure out the bus system.  We knew which line but didn't know when to get off so we literally held the map out the whole time watching where the bus was going so we would know when to get off.  We made it there 20 minutes early so spent the time hanging out in a really nice hotel where we were all supposed to meet.  Once everyone got there we went to the building and had to go through security which was a lot like airport security.  Then we had a tour guide take us around but no one understood him because he had a really thick accent.  Even our teacher said he had to pay close attention to understand what he was saying.  It was a cool building though.

After our tour our teacher took us to Rayas which is the best ice cream place in Sevilla that serves gelato.  I got something with caramel in it and something else with a type of cake in it.  It was really good but a little bit pricey (4.50 euro).  Caroline and I then found our way back but we kept seeing random old, pretty buildings which was kind of cool.  We've been here for a little over a month but there is still so much to see.  I wish I had more time to explore but I'm really busy with school and then this weekend Sara and I are going to London.  I'm extremely excited for our trip ... especially to see platform 9 3/4!

I have a 5-6 page paper due in my lit class the day of the final (Wednesday) that is about my time in Sevilla but it has to be in a certain style that is like really descriptive and has a lot of imagery which should be interesting to do in Spanish.  Thankfully I have this blog so I can remember what happened.  For my Spain Today class I have a presentation Thursday on Cataluña and Catalán nationalism that I'm almost finished preparing for.  Other than those 2 assignments basically all I have are my finals Tuesday and Wednesday.  It's crazy how little time left I have until my Europe adventure with Mackenzie.  I literally have 5 days left in Sevilla since I'm going to be in London this weekend.  I started making a list of things I need to do in Sevilla before I leave which includes eating churros and going to see Plaza de España.  I don't know if I'll have time for another blog until after London but I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories from that!