To be back again!

Surprised first off of how much of Athens I remembered. It was really easy to fin my hostel even at 6am with 2 hours of sleep under my belt. Unfortunately I couldn't check into my hostel until 2pm. I walked around Plakas and the base of the Acropolis then had some fantastic Greek coffee and lunch. Headed back for a much needed shower and nap before wandering the streets more. Shockingly had a Gyro and Mythos for dinner. Yum! Then headed back to watch Barca play Milan with my roomates. One from Tasmania, Germany, India, Pakistan and myself. Most ethnically diverse room I've ever stayed in! It was so fun to talk and laugh from people all over the world. Stuff like that restores my faith in humanity :D Also Barcelona won so all's right with the world :P the next day I headed out to catch the bus to Volos. It was eerie to retrace my steps from a year and half ago but it was so transcending and cool as well! God is so wonderful!

Let's go!!!

Back to Lisbon after a solo day in Porto which basically involved surfing and shopping. Ahhh so wonderful!!! I booked into a more central hostel in Lisbon this time around. Only a few minutes from the metro. Dropped my things off and went out for some dinner! Met two lovely folk at my hostel that night, sat around talking for hours about anything to everything. It was sweet! Anton is from Australia and Janna is from Holland (I know what are the chances!) but she'd lived in Lisbon for two years previously. I tell you making friends with people who speak the language is the best! Anton was supposed to flu out that morning but he got the day wrong so as Janna and I were about to head out for the day he called at us to wait! Hahaha. It was really funny he made it all the way to he airport before he realized his flight was te next day! We bused to Belem and had traditional Portuguese Pasteis de Belem. We spent the day in Belem, explored a bit. Had kebabs for lunch and climbed the Belem tower! I even tried Sagway-ing!!! Umm ridiculously fun by the by :D
Headed in early to make dinner and then walk down to catch the bus to the airport. Greece here I come!

Port-O!

Bused from Lisbon to Porto to meet Janna and Marijke(her friend). We all met at our hostel around 2ish. It was so amazing to see Janna again! And so good to meet Marijke :) we explored Porto for awhile and chatted and caught up on everything that's happened in the last year and a half. It was also really great to be traveling with people again! We found a quaint restaurant for dinner tucked away in a little side street. The owners were awesome and adorable!
That night we did a Port wine tasting. To say it's strong wine is the understatement of the year. But it was fun trying to taste all the top notes and learning to sip wine like a true expert. We lasted until 3am but then we had to go to bed. Woke up early ate some yummy breakfast and headed to the beach for a day of sun bathing and surfing. After some more morning coffee we rented boards and hit the waves. Much better conditions this time around! It was so amazing to be surfing next to Janna after eveything that's happened. On wave we even caught together and sailed into the shore side by side. Magical.
After a couple hours we breaker for lunch and because we were crazy exhausted! We stopped into a really cute bakery got some food and then some ice-cream and took the old city tram back into town. What. Lovely way to finish the beach day!!!
That night we spent the night in and ate a lot a junk food and relaxed. It was so amazing to see Janna and I still dint believe it actually happened! She's so wonderful! I can't wait for my next trip to Europe so we can visit again!!!

Surf's Up Dude!

You guessed it! Surfing today in Carcavelos! It was awesome even though the conditions were a little past my expertise. I had one really wicked drop, which makes it all worth it. On my surf adventure I met a girl from Vancouver. What are the chances right? We hung out for the day got lunch at the beach then headed back into Lisbon. She totally helped me get my barrings in Lisbon better, which is helpful. We sat in a square and ate traditional pastry and drank Super Bock, cheap semi-good beer. It was grand but man was I tired. I literally got back to my hostel showered and passed out and waking up the next day all my muscles ached. Also have a narley bruise on my thigh from a run-in with the nose of a surf board :) but never the less I headed out again. Made my way to a little town outside Lisbon called Sintra. So basically Sintra is Narnia; best way to describe it. A little town set in forest and hills with a huge castle/fortress looking over it. Walked to the top and along the old Moarish ruins and got some amazing shots of the city! You scale across the outer walls of the 'castelo' and just imagine yourself fighting in some awesome LOTR battle! But really it was spectacular!!! Wandered the streets of Lisbon, now that I actually know some references and headed back to get ready for Porto tomorrow!!!

Till next time.

On the road again....

So first day out of school I had to fly to Barcelona for a 19 hour layover. Gotta love cheap flights. But it was good I was able to meet up with some of my classmates who had flown in earlier and spend the night and morning with them before I flew to Lisbon.
We went to Parc Guell in the morning which showcases a lot of Goudi's work. It was awesome to sit and eat breakfast and do devotions in the park. We galivanted around town a bit and next I knew I was waving goodbye and hoping into another plane.
I was so tired from the last couple days I fell sleep instantly on the flight :) after getting a little lost and having a little old lady show me the way to my hostel I arrived safe and sound!
Today I spent the whole day wandering the streets and taking photos and getting SO lost. But all's good that ends well! I'm planning a jont to the beach tomorrow to do a bit of surfing. No big deal! Gotta love the high life!!! Praise God!

Till next time.

Skim the Ocean Blue

This week our speaker was a local guy! It was awesome how in depth he went, spurring you to learn more and more. This week I also discovered a battered skim board in the bushes next to Rio Vida! So much fun but never quite like Whitty's!
This weekend was one of our last in Alicante so we decided to spend it at the beach :) Apparently a red-headed Irish girl and the sun for hours doesn't mix well and I ended up going to the hospital with a bad case of dehydration. Well there's another foreign hospital off the list! I'm fine and as school is coming to a close it's so nice to just spend time soaking it all in ;)

Till next time.

Busy but quality.

This week our speaker is from England. He also happens to be a genius! It's amazing and encouraging to be surrounded by people of such caliber! We covered a lot of material and even though at times it was taxing it was SO informative!
This Saturday we filmed the shots for the famous Rio Vida Anthem:
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_embedded%26v%3Dbpt5UeIhnis&feature=player_embedded&v=bpt5UeIhnis&gl=US
So much fun to work hard on a project all together! Busy but quality! It's been such a blast spending the last 9 weeks with this group and growing deeper everyday together! I feel so blessed for some many things, this list would be humongous! I love be goofy with them and then sitting and having a great theological disscussion. Just wonderful!

Till next time.