Lisbon and my first (and best!) experience couchsurfing

Buenas noches! This will be a quick post because I'm tired from lots of traveling, looking forward to lots more traveling, and have class early tomorrow morning. This afternoon I got back from the most amazing whirlwind trip to Lisbon, Portugal. It was my first time couchsurfing (although I have hosted surfers here in Córdoba) and I honestly cannot imagine a better introductory surf. We stayed with three Portuguese guys: Rodrigo, Arlindo, and Joao who are all still within their first 3 months working as doctors in Lisbon. Despite this, they had an incredible amount of free time to show us around the city (including nightlife), give recommendations, and sit down for long talks about Portuguese/Spanish/American culture and vocabulary (learned some key words in Portuguese, especially ordering a drink which translated to "a kick in the vagina"). Besides the general awesomeness of our hosts and lisbon in general, highlights of the trip included getting burned at the beach, finding my name on a poster (first living proof I've found that it actually DOES mean butterfly!), drinking ginjinha; a sort of cherry liqour (and even buying a bottle to bring back), and the most extensive junk market I have ever seen which sold everything from dirty old bottles to phone chargers.

Once again, pictures speak better to experiences like these so take a gander:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2087292&id=1451700384&l=e525867861

besitos,
ness

Blueberries and Birthday

A lot of time has passed fast. This past weekend the team and I attended our second Middlebury sponsored event of the semester: a trip to Huelva and the coast which included some priceless environmental info for the end-of-year project that none of us really want to do. ah well. Highlights of the trip included visiting the exact point where Columbus' voyage left to discover the Indias (or whatever he left to discover...I've recently heard a bit of controversy surrounding his voyage including a claim that he left in search of the Americas which he already knew existed. hmmmmm...will have to ponder this further at another date. Anyway, we got to see some exact replicas of his three ships, including life size models of Columbus and crew as well as horrendously political incorrect images of the "natives." At this point in the trip there are some excellent photos on facebook which I will include at the end. Second highlight of the trip was a visit to a blueberry farm which was oddly half organic and half conventional. Second odd thing was that the owners of the farm were familiar with a blueberry farm in Eugene. Unfortunately their Andalusian accent made it impossible for me to understand the name of the farm, but small world anyway. Next day we headed to the Parque Nacinal Doñana which was absolutely amazing (it's supposed to be one of the most-visited or most famous...not sure which, nacional parks i Europe). I think the pictures speak better to that adventure and there are plenty on facebook, but I will say that our tour consisted of riding in a giant green monster truck and I got to sit UP FRONT. Fourth best part of the trip was finally hitting the spanish beach!!! I noted at the beginning of the Huelva visit that we had so far made 2 trips to coastal towns (Cádiz for Carnaval and Málaga for our first Midd adventure) without once nearing the ocean. I got a pretty nasty sunburn, but it was great anyway and I came home with some truly wonderful seashells. Unfortunately, my birthday had to land on the day after our return from Huelva, so, after waking up to a 6am hotel wake up call that morning (which I strongly protested...we didn't have to be downstairs until 6:45), we got back to Córdoba around 10pm an started my birthday celebrations. I would have rather gone to bed, but hey you only turn 21 once (although I plan to celebrate again where it counts upon returning to the states). That night ended with me passing out on the couch, but not before playing a few rounds of good old american beer pong. haha. The 8:30am start to my birthday on a friend's couch could have been better...

Photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2086530&id=1451700384&l=c05e58f893
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2084173&id=1451700384&l=882483c368
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2084075&id=1451700384&l=d4276228e8