7 Febrero: Lisboa y El Lingüísta

Hola! I know it's been awhile, but I'm back and I have lots to share!

So first things first: Lisbon. I wish I had been taking notes the whole time so that I had it all documented (for my future self, and ya'll as well).

The 15 of us who were going met at the train station around 11:30 Thursday night to hang out before the trip all together.

It was great fun. At 5 minutes to 2 am, we boarded the train to Lisbon and were off! I slept on and off until we arrived in Lisbon just after 7am local time. Upon arrival, we paid 50centimos to use the bathroom  (it wasn't even nice) and then walked around until we found a cafe to have coffee and the breakfasts that our host family had packed for us. Then, we walked through the city to find the hostel. The city was beautiful and the hostel was amazing. Below is the room I shared with 5 other girls.

A little about the hostel: I would HIGHLY recommend Yes! Hostel in Lisbon to anyone! It was 15€/night, which included walking tours all days, free use of the kitchen at all times, a continental breakfast, very friendly and helpful staff, a community atmosphere, wifi and computers, a nice community room, and free storage of our stuff even after we had to check out. The only downside was the ice-cold showers. Following show a little bit of the community room.

Enough about that. Lisbon was gorgeous. It's a coastal city that has lots of history and unique architecture. Lots of the city was destroyed in an earthquake quite some time ago, so there is a distinct mix of architecture muy antigua and more recent buildings, but all of which are beautiful. One of the most distinguishing details was the tiled outsides of buildings. It takes forever to load pics on here and I really need to get to bed, but I'll give you a couple, because it was magical. See facebook for more :)

 A tribute to the man who rebuilt the city after the earthquake

 The sidewalks, I kid you not

 A church that lost its roof in the earthquake

Gorgeous right? Portugal is known for its poets, explorers, small cups of strong espresso, and natas. We went to the famous cafe where the small espresso had its origins AND to the cafe where the original nata was made!

 The origins of Portuguese espresso at the Brasileira

 A Poet

 Natas are like a cross between warm flan/rice pudding inside the most delicious flaky pastry you'll ever eat, served with cinnamon and powdered sugar. Absolutely divine.

We even attended a Portuguese mass!

Además, there's the beach! Funny but very long story extremely short about the beach: It started out as everyone wanting to go to a different town to rent bikes along the coast, but after much confusion and many adventures, about 7 of us arbitrarily ended up at the most beautiful beach in San Amoro.

After which we had went to an incredible McDonalds where I had the most delicious blizzard ever created with some Portuguese candy. For real. That evening, we adventured around town and ran into some random guy who brought us to an authentic Portuguese restaurant with live Fado music (typical Portuguese music). It was something for the memory books.

Before we headed home, we went to Belém, where we saw monuments, went to a modern art museum, had a picnic, and ate our natas. Another adventure and much frustration later, we went to the beach one last time, where Tasia fell in! But it was absolutely gorgeous and completely vale la pena.

We even found some graffiti that we found applicable :)

Overall, it was a beautiful, memorable trip, and I feel so blessed to have been able to spend a weekend there! We got home at 5 am and Teresa was literally waiting for us at the door. We left for class just 3 hours later, but we made it! Hence the lack of recent blog posts.

Before I end, because I need to sleep, I want to share with you the poem we read in my Literature class today. If you speak Spanish, enjoy, if not, translate it or just read it for the beauty of the words. It's titled "El Lingüísta"- "The Linguist"- and talks entirely about the beauty and importance of the work of linguists. It spoke to me, it made me feel so excited about my future!

El Lingüista 

Es ambición hermosa someter las palabras. 
Reclamaba el lingüista 
la precisión del tiempo para nombrar las cosas. 

Conocer los arroyos, las escondidas sendas de los sabios, y las noches 
abrasadas de flores; dónde el lenguaje abre sus palabras más justas. 

Juan de Valdés sabía 
que las palabras pueden penetrar la materia 
y, con su luz más diáfana, establecer un orden en su universo helado. 

Trabajó con las sombras, vivió oculto en la niebla 
de su taller obscuro; en fríos alambiques de vidrio, acontecieron 
los más bellos vocablos. Destilaba la razón en matraces, calentaba sus pétalos 
en busca del aroma que las palabras dejan en el aire al nombrarlas. 

Atravesó la noche donde el silencio habita 
los perfumes más cálidos. Ese resol perdido 
incendiando la tarde por las hoces de Cuenca 
iluminó su frente. Y acaso viera al cielo, con su escritura pálida en las aguas, 
transcribir la belleza, la exactitud de toda su penumbra infinita. 

Que la palabra nombre con su sabiduría, llene de sonidos exactos y de luces precisas 
nuestro conocimiento. Si es en los ríos donde se detiene 
sea fría su música, transparentes y frescas sus dormidas imágenes; 
transcurran las palabras reflejando el silencio 
o queden derrotadas recorriendo sus bóvedas, entre polvo, a la sombra 
de sus casas en ruinas, si acuden a las plazas vacías de la Historia. 

Someter la palabra, Juan de Valdés, es ambición hermosa, 
pues que así se da nombre y destino a la vida, la materia ilumina 
su corazón cerrado. 

Praises to God for:

-safe travels

-good friends

-good food

-a nice hostel

-His beautiful creations

-the power of the ocean

-a sweet family to live with

-finally sleeping through the night

-classes that interest me

-good health

-and the ability to be able to "come home" to the amazing city of Cáceres!

Hablamos pronto!