From Paris to Portugal: May 2011

The amount of time I've been away from home. I have a really hard time believing that that number is true. In my posts last semester I wrote about how yes, I did miss my family, but how at the same time I was happy about what I was doing.

This is still true, but as my friends and I were walking back from McDonald's one day and through the university to our apartment, it kind of just hit me: I really have been gone for so long.

Maybe it's just the having no classes this week because of Queima das Fitas, a week long celebration filled with traditions, concerts and all the alcohol you could want, that I've had a moment to sit down with my thoughts about this almost year I've been away from home. Maybe it was the recent Mother's Day, or maybe just simply the desire to be home spending quality time with the family rather than with the termites ;) in my apartment.

I have learned a lot while being away. In so many ways, I have grown up. I haven't had the luxury of a car for a while, so I have had to learned how to handle public transportation...often with my luggage in hand. Paris was enough - with my bags and getting to the train station, but since I don't live in a city with an airport here in Portugal it is a bit more tricky. Traveling requires the bus to the train station, the train, the metro and then and only then, the plane to go to another country in which I probably have to do the same this but in reverse.

Grocery shopping and bringing it back to my place is a workout. The walk is uphill and with cobble stoned streets. I sweat every time, sorry to inform you, but I do have a better understanding of how the Europeans stay fit ;)

It's hard to know how much I've missed at home while studying here in Europe. I have seen so many things and been so many places, but there are some things at home that I would have liked to see as well. Apparently my younger sister, Katya, is taller than my Mom now. She was a bit taller than me when I left back in August, but now this really means that I'm the short one in the family. How did that happen?

I would have liked to help her get ready for her first dance. Even though I would have probably been away from home because I go to school out-of-state, it still just seems that I'm farther away than normal. She looked beautiful in her pictures.

I am glad I got to see my dad in February. It was so god to have someone here to help me with the transition, and in a lot of ways, made us closer. We got to talk and he helped me get along with my Portuguese in general but especially when we went to deal with my visa problems. To this day I still have that acquaintance at the Foreigner's Office and it has saved me quite a bit of problems and euros.

Since I've been gone my cousin graduated from her Master's and my brother got a new job. I would have enjoyed celebrating with them after all of their hard work.

And my Mom. Well, she is my mom and my friend. I think I would have liked to travel with her, so in a way I wanted her to come here. Of course I'd like to see all of my family, whether in my old environment or my new one here in Europe. My mom and I are very similar - physically in looks (everyone I meet calls me Pam Jr.) and in the way we speak, act and think. Sometimes I feel like I am living her life a bit - traveling around Europe, studying, speaking languages. I have been feeling pulled towards focusing on education in foreign countries or in foreign languages in the States. Some of you might know that my Mom used to be a language teacher. She speaks five languages (English - she's pretty good at that one, French, Portuguese, German, and Spanish). Don't mess with her ;). I hope that we will be able to get a good cup of coffee when I get home, or maybe even if she's able to visit me during the summer in Europe a café olé or a galão.

I spoke with my friend Katie yesterday about our apartment in Madison next year. Katie spent her year studying abroad in Kenya and, like I've mentioned before, we saw each other over Christmas in France. It is weird to think that I only have only year left of my undergrad. This summer I will be staying in France (not in Paris, but the north at a beach on the English channel) interning in a tourist office. After that I WILL be going home to California, stay about a week and then off to Madison to move into our sweet apart which we have yet to see (photos or in person ;)) and start my last year. I remember my 8th grade graduation, my high school graduation, and I cannot even believe that soon - this time next year - my college graduation will transform into a memory. How did this happen?

A little view into my thoughts on my experience overall rather than a trip somewhere. Sorry for the change in style ;). Up next: Last month in Portugal; Barcelona, Spain; and beginning of a new adventure in France!

Quinta das Lágrimas

Bamboo in Quinta das Lágrimas

Near my apartment

Stairs I take every day to get to the university

Check out Facebook to see more of my pictures of Quinta das Lágrimas

I decided that instead of writing in the usual format I do, I'd make a list of the top moments from Easter 2011. Just to introduce, I spent this year's Easter in France with our good friends Jean-Claude and Claudie and their family. I did not really know what to anticipate, but I can assur you that I did in fact have a traditional French Easter. Instead of spending it with them in their house in Moreuil close to Amiens, we celebrated at their beach house in Fort-Mahon, France (where I will be living this summer while interning at the local tourist office).

1. Food and Drink
Let's just say it was like Christmas in April. Seafood: crab, shrimp and homemade mayonnaise; Appetizers of all sorts; Amazing chicken with moroccan spices; Steak (need I describe more?); CHEESE (including camembert, roquefort, chèvre, maroille, brebis, and comté); Desserts: four different types of cake and all the Easter chocolate you could dream of. Champagne. And champagne. And oh, champagne.

2. Location
Beach in Northern France. I have been here before during the summer, and let me tell you, it can be cold, so I was wondering what it would be like in April. However, I can honestly say that it was perfect weather. Sun, not too windy (except for the last day), and I even got a tan...in my opinion anyway. This beach town, Fort-Mahon, is located on the English Channel. Jean-Claude and Claudie's beach house is literally a two-minute walk to the beach.

3. People
Everyone from Christmas minus my good friend Katie and plus my good boyfriend Laurent. This included JC and Claudie, their daughter and her family and their family friends from Rouen and Amiens. I had actually seen one of them in Rouen when I went in March, but couldn't put a name to her face. Small world. We laughed, conversed and had fun spending time together. JC and Claudie's four grandsons were there and have friends in Fort-Mahon so afternoons were spent with young people ;).

4. Activities
Beach. Promenade around town and in the Channel. Bike pedaling (those four-wheeled bike type vehicles you can rent) around town with Laurent and Paul, the youngest of the grandsons. Eating - yes, it is an activity. Uno. Visiting my future employer. I was not able to attend an Easter service - kind of a bummer and made me miss my family traditions and family, but at least I was with people who cared about me. This made missing out on activities back home a bit easier.

Last activity: documenting the trip with pictures, even though Laurent enjoyed my camera more than I did :) (The photos below were taken by him)