Portugal

I'm not going to post too much on this journal about my trip. My fb photo albums will be like a photo blog so that'll take care of that part.
Just a few thoughts/things about my trip that won't be mentioned in photos (cause there's not enough room :P).

- Portuguese people are SO INCREDIBLY NICE. It made me want to live in Europe and I definitely would love to go back and visit other areas (We mainly toured the Lisbon area and yes, Lisbon is the capital :)).
- We also walked A TON. I would say averaging about 10 miles a day (mostly because we took the metro and buses. Therefore, I did not gain back the weight I had lost this semester so far even though we ate quite a bit.
- Although I am not familiar with portuguese, almost everyone spoke english. And even if they didn't, if you knew a romance language (french, spanish), they could generally understand bits of that because tourism is such a big part of their income. I actually had to use my French once to speak to our taxi driver (one of the few times we took a taxi). AND I'd like to say that if you know a romance language, it's quite easy to pick up another one (that's why the Portuguese knew how to speak bits of spanish and french just from the tourists). I picked up some Portuguese while I was there for just a week! :D. It's a different language from Spanish really (but I won't go into the nuances of pronunciation that I noticed. I am a linguist at heart too :P).
- During the whole trip, God really watched over us. For instance, we once were able to get into one of the palaces for free (totally a blessing by God). We were also never robbed (there were plenty of pickpockets and my dad even saw one in action).
- Portugal is really known for 3 major things: linen (napkins, tablecloths, cloth, etc.), tiles (porcelain, fired and glazed), and for port (an after-dinner aperitif). Some other minor things they are famous for are their pastries (esp egg tarts) and seafood (they actually eat a big variety of things and parts of animals that many people would definitely not touch).
- Portugal is also a country that is Roman Catholic. Their religious history is mostly Roman Catholicism so you will see a lot of churches and palaces with Jesus and Mary in my pictures. And lots of churches, chapels, etc.
- We did get to see all part of Portugal. The rich, the suburban, poor, the homeless. And my dad and I had many good conversations about socialism, universal healthcare, the system in Portugal, homosexual marriage, and the work ethic of Americans versus the Portuguese.
- While we were in Portugal, the average work hours of the stores, restaurants, and businesses and Portugal were like 10am-4pm. Then they took an afternoon break from 4pm-7:30/8pm (for business, their work day ended at 4pm). Then 8pm to 11/12pm (for restaurants). For businesses, that's a 6hr work day compared to the 8hr work day Americans have (not counting overtime). And I observed that the Portuguese people were so much nicer and more cordial whether they were janitors, working at a pastry shop, working at the train ticket office, or a traffic enforcer. They definitely enjoyed life and enjoyed their work. It was a stark contrast to my experience (and other people's experience) in America.
- A semi-random comment, the portuguese are not at all shy about PDA :P. Even my parents noticed it lol.
- I knew very little about Portuguese history (we didn't learn very much in world history besides the discoverers, e.g. Henry the Navigator, Vasco da Gama, etc) so it was nice to learn more about it.

Alrighty, well I think that's it. And if it's not, too bad :P.