Hello all,

As you know, things are coming to a close here on our end. Tomorrow, Liz flies out to go meet Parker in Italy, and on Thursday, I’m headed for home. Alison will still be here for a little while after us, traveling around Europe. As we were getting things packed up here, I remembered that I had random footage of people dancing (and other things) from a night out at the bar a few weeks back, so I thought I’d put together this little video to entertain everyone (and embarass those of us who are in it). I hope you enjoy it, and I promise that I’ll be back on soon to fill you in on the last few days of Liz and I’s trip, and to wrap up my time here in Lisbon.

Big kisses to all,

Jess

dancing

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Hello all!

Liz here!  I am ashamed at how terrible I have been about the blogging lately.   Since my last post, I have had a lot going on- My family came to visit and we went to Oporto for two nights and then spent the rest of the time in Lisbon.  I think that Kitty and Sean loved Carnivale   We had an amazing time and I was so lucky to get to see them all.  Then, Rina came to visit for Spring Break which was so much fun.  We went to Cascais for two nights and spent some time catching some sun and R and R on the beach.  Otherwise, I have been super busy with school.  I had classes six days a week for the last month, but guess what- last week was my final week of school ever!!!  I cant believe it!  Last Friday (after I finished up my last day of classes) I went straight to the airport to fly off to Nice! 

Here is a summary of our trip so far:

NICE

Jess and I met in Nice last Friday night and went out for some fantastic Italian food.  The next morning we headed to the train station so that we could book our overnight train for Barcelona…but once we got there we were told that there was no overnight train (contrary to what it said online).  So, we had to decide if we wanted one extra day in Nice or Barcelona.  The weather was a bit dreary in Nice so we decided to pack the city into the rest of that day.  We went to the Matisse and Chagall musuems which were incredible.  Jess and I both knew that we loved Matisse, but we were pleasantly surprised at our new love affair with Chagall (goats and donkeys and all).  We walked along the water front and drooled at the most ridiculous yachts ever.  We spent the rest of the day and night in Vieux Nice, wandering the street and peering into shops.  The next morning, we headed to the Nice train station to embark on our journey to Barcelona…or so we thought…

BARCELONA

We got to the train station only to learn that the trains were “retard indeterminante” (the French way of saying delayed) due to a train hitting someone in Nice that morning.  Our train got off to a late start and our connecting train in Montpellier was unwilling to wait for 20 minutes.  So…we got re-routed through Port Bou from Montpellier and ended up taking a Barney Rubbles train that would be better served transporting coal.  It was terrible.  We didnt end up getting into Barcelona until past 10 p.m.  We had some interesting adventures along the way, including some French bums jumping onto the train with their dog, they offered us smokes, were busy drinking “ocean spray,” and one of them was bleeding from his hands and kept spitting on his wounds (it was really hot).  So, anyway, we arrived in one piece in Barcelona.

Barcelona was beyond incredible.  We both fell in love with its charm.  There is an artsy display around every corner and the architecture is unbelievable.  First we went to Parc Guell, which is a crazy park designed by Gaudi. There are beautiful stone structures and mosaics everywhere. Its very mad-hatterish.  Then we went to Las Ramblas, which is a long boulevard full of street vendors and street performers.  Along the way, we found the Museu de Erotica, which we went to, obviously.  After taking in some interesting exhibits (which we can post some pictures from later),  we were back to the streets to take in the sites.  We walked down to the water front and made our way to the beach.  We also wandered around dozens of incredible squares and gazed at many monuments- both historic and modern.  We had fantastic food and did a little shopping…overall the highlight of the trip!   This morning we headed to the train station to shuffle to Madrid…

MADRID

We planned on getting on the 9:30 a.m train this morning so that we would have a full day in Madrid.  We got to the train station at about 9:30 and ended up having to get the 11:00 train.  We decided to pass the time by reserving our train to Morocco and grabbing some breakfast…but after we got our tickets I looked up and realized that it was already 11:00…Jess and I started sprinting in a panic towards the train platforms.  A uniformed man held us back (it was very dramatic).  It took us a few minutes to realize that our watches were an hour off and that we had actually arrived at the train station at 10:30.  We were pissed to find out that we had to repurchase our tickets, but we definitely deserved it- all the signs pointed to the time change (the clock being “off” in our hotel room, the shops closing/opening at the “wrong” times, the 11:00 train in blinking lights, etc.).  So, we finally got onto the 12:00 train to Madrid- our train had technical difficulties and stopped in the middle of the Spanish Mountains so we didnt get in until 3:30.

We tried to do Madrid in 5 hours and did a pretty decent job.  We hit the Prado musuem and then wandered through five or six squares.  Our favorite area was Oriente Plaza across from the incredible Palacio Real.  We were so exhausted that all we wanted to do was get some McDonalds and a bottle of Champagne and head back to our hotel room early.  We have spent the evening watching CNN – oh how I miss television in English.  Tomorrow morning we head back to the Madrid train station to ride to Algeciras, Spain where we hop on a ferry to Tangier, Morocco. We will give you an update from there!!!

We love and miss you all, and we are both really excited about coming home soon!

Love,

Liz and Jess

P.S. Pictures will be posted soon (I dont have my connecting cords here)

Ok, so this post (and a post by me at all) is way overdue.  As most of you probably know, I skipped off to Italy for a week during our “spring break.”  The Portuguese actually get a week off for Carnevale, if you can believe that.  Our friends Pam, Sally, and Drew are studying in Trento for the semester, so I took the opportunity to visit them. 

I left Lisbon on Friday morning (bright and early, around 5:30am!) and arrived at the Venice airport – via Rome – in the early afternoon, meeting Pam, Sally, and Drew in town near our hotel.  Carnevale festivities were just getting started, but the streets were already getting crowded.  I got some pizza (yum!) and while Drew napped, the girls and I went for coffee and some people watching.  Venice is a beautiful city, but easy to get lost in.  We wandered around for hours, checking out the bridges, buildings, gondolas and people.  We discovered this delicious warm wine (it was sooo cold there) and bought the obligatory Carnevale masks.

Me & Sal at the San Marco Basilica - look at all the people!

  After finally making our way back to the hotel, we went to a yummy dinner and then explored some of the nightlife, ending up in the Piazza San Marco, where we enjoyed a lively drag show before turning in fairly early.  We weren’t sure what to expect, but the next day when we got up, the celebration was in full swing.  Venice was so crowded we could barely move!  Pam had to head back to Trento early, so after grabbing some breakfast, Sally, Drew and I headed back over to Piazza San Marco to check out the San Marco Basilica.  While I’m not usually too impressed by churches, I have to admit this place was pretty impressive – especially since we could climb up on the balcony and see out over the entire Piazza, which was crammed full of tourists and residents in outrageous costumes.  After the Piazza, we spent some time wandering around, getting lunch, and taking a gondola ride!  Our gondola driver told us that he came from generations of gondoliers, which explains why the ride was so great – peaceful and beautiful and completely touristy! 

Gondolier at sunset

 That night, the parties in the Piazzas throughout Venice were crazy – everyone was buying drinks from stands on the streets and dancing in the squares.  We met some Italian guys who showed us the best places to go, and had a fantastic time partying with them until late.  The next day, Sally and Drew managed to drag me out of bed at a reasonable time so we could check out the Doge’s Palace (Palazzo Ducale di Venezia) before heading up to Trento.  After our adventurous train ride, we were wiped out, and headed to bed pretty early.

The next day, Sally and I took the bus to Riva del Garda, a town on the northern side of Lake Garda,  While most things were closed, since we were visiting off-season, it was one of the more beautiful places I’ve been to.  We were able to each lunch right on the edge of the water,

Riva del Garda

where we could look out at the Lake Garda, bordered on each side by huge, snow-capped mountains.  The bus ride itself was pretty stunning – northern Italy is all clear skies and beautiful mountains – so the two hours of beautiful scenery alone would have been worth it!  That night, we went to a German/Austrian/Italian restaurant, and I had, of course, more delicious pizza and some German beer. 

 

For my second day in Trento, Sally, Pam and I really wanted to take a skiing lesson, but the classes were closed.  Not willing to risk injury by skiing without a lesson, we decided to take the ski bus up into the Dolomite Mountains and check out the view anyway.  The scenery was truly stunning – it felt like we could see for miles.  Even though it was cold, it was sunny, and we found a bench to sit on while we ate lunch and drank hot chocolate.  On the way back down, Pam accidentally left her bag on the ski bus, so she and I headed back to a small town on the way to have some drinks and wait a few hours for the bus to come back.  When we got back, it was time to meet up with one of their American professors and his wife for dinner and drinks.

Pam, Me, and Sally up in the Dolomites

By the third (and last) day in Italy, I figured I should check out what Trento itself had to offer.  Trento is a really quaint, beautiful city.  Called the “painted city,” what makes Trento really special are all the frescos that can be found on most of the buildings in the city.  Sally went with me for most of the day, and we started with Trento’s main square, Piazza Duomo, centered around the fountain of the Neptune.  

Frescoes in Trento's main square

We checked out the Duomo, a Romanesque-Gothic cathedral, and the attached Diocesan Museum before having lunch sitting on the steps of the fountain.  Next we went to the Castello del Buonconsiglio, an incredible building/museum.  The old part of the castle, Castlevecchio, is old Gothic style, while the more modern Renaissance building has beautiful courtyard and huge frescoes.  

Frescoes on the ceiling of the Castello del Buonconsiglio

Sally had to run to class, so I spend some extra time taking a tour of the towers and staring out the windows at the incredible view of the mountains.  After that, I decided to walk back towards the center of the city, and only got a little lost before finding Tridentum, a Roman city, buried under medieval and modern Trento that was only recently discovered.  Though smaller than I expected, it was really neat to walk around and see old wells, and rooms that the archaeologists have been able to identify as kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms.  It’s amazing to think that there has been an entire city buried right under the center of Trento for all that time.  The girls and I spent my last evening in Italy at the ballet, seeing a tour of Les Sylphides.  The theatre was beautiful, and we felt very sophisticated sitting in our private box, patronizing the arts in Europe! 

The next morning, I was up early to grab the train back to Venice, where I got some lunch and watched gondoliers move up and down the Grand Canal before hopping on a bus to the airport.  I got back to Lisbon in time to meet Liz’s family and take a few days off before jumping into our “intense” part of the semester – class 6 days a week!  Sally and Pam are (hopefully) planning a trip to Lisbon soon so I can repay their hospitality.  Italy was amazing, and beautiful, and cold, but I’m happy to be back in my (sometimes) sunny, dirty, crowded city.  More travels to come in the near future! 

Hey everyone!

 

Liz, Al and I decided to host an American party for all of our European friends, so that we could teach them our favorite drinking games: beer pong, flip cup and quarters. Overall, the party was quite a success, although we’re not sure our friends left with actual knowledge of the games’ rules or any skill at playing them J Our guests were mainly friends from school and others who we’ve met on nights out with them. We had friends here from Italy, Belgium, Portugal, France, Brazil and the Netherlands. English is our only common language (because of those of us from the States never really learned another language), but we get quite a mixture going when everyone is all together.

 

The games had been played by a few of our friends, but for the most part, we were introducing them to everyone. Beer pong was quite a hit, although towards the end of the night our friends decided that it would be more fun to move the cups around on the table as the other team tried to make their shots. They called it beer pong, European style. Quarters seemed to be difficult for everyone, although that was partly because our kitchen table has a lot of dead spots, and so isn’t the best for quarter bouncing. Flip cup was a rousing success, although by the time we were playing it most everyone was engrossed in beer pong, so I think only a few of our friends got to try it out.

 

Sometime after midnight we all decided to go out to Bairro Alto, where we had a great time laughing, talking, and dancing to the music in the bar. The best part of the night (for me, at least) was that the flip camera healed itself and seems to be working all the time now. So enjoy the video below!

 

Much Love,

The Trio

american-party

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Hello all!

Well… it’s Monday and I must report that we had an amazing weekend in Santiago de Compostela.  As described by Jess, we rented the car and arrived in Spain on Thursday evening.  Our hotel was beautiful.  It was situated just outside the city, but the accommodations were really nice (especially for 64 euro a night) and the hotel had a shuttle which took us into the heart of the city.  On night #1, we went out for dinner in search of some traditional tapas.  We dined on some of the most delicious food ever (Bobby- I thought of you when I ordered the croquettes) and washed it down with some authentic sangria.  After that, we decided to grab a drink at a local bar.  To our delight, we found a place that offered 40 cent glasses of wine…served in cat bowls.  It was so weird, but so fun.  After that, we headed to a dance bar where we attempted to shake out some salsa moves (and by that I mean moved our hips and feet only).  It was a long day driving and so we headed home 3:30 ish (which is late for me, but apparently very early in Europe) to get some rest.

drinking wine from cat saucer...

 

 

Importing American Moves...

 

 

 

We spent the next day roaming the beautiful city.  Our first stop was the Cathedral, which is the most famous place to visit in the city.  The Spanish started construction on the Cathedral in 1055.  I must say, it was an amazingly beautiful and spiritual structure.  The tomb of Saint Jacob was among the incredible features inside.  We lit a candle for all of you loved ones back home.  After visiting the Cathedral, Jess and I bought necklaces that had pieces of the door of the cathedral inside of them so that we can always feel connected to the beautiful city. 

Cathedral

 

 

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the city streets, peering into little shops full of religious iconography and local crafts.  The streets are incredibly clean and safe feeling.  We found our way to a tiny bar where we sipped on some sangria and munched on some chips.  Afterwards, we grabbed some paella (traditional Spanish rice dish) and then decided to get some wine and head home for a relaxing night in. 

 

Little Spanish Church in Park

The next afternoon, we visited the “new” part of town which was equally as charming, but in a totally different way.  We went to this beautiful park where Jess proclaimed that she wanted to have her second wedding there (the third wedding is at Quinta in Sintra).  We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the city.  That night Jess, Ana Patricia, and I had a romantic Valentines Day dinner at the restaurant in the hotel.  We then headed out for some more Spanish nightlife, which was very different from Portugal.  In Portugal all the bars and clubs play American music, but Spain only plays its own music.  We ended up at this alternative bar in a dungeon amongst a crowd that read like a who’s who of Rastafarian hairdos gone wrong (and I’m not sure they can ever be right).  Unfortunately, Ana Patricia met some Portuguese girls and asked one of them to hold her purse while she went to the bathroom…she never saw her camera again

L

 

 

Lovely Ladies

 

 

Bar transportation!

After hanging out in the clubs for a while longer, we headed home so that we could get some rest.  The next morning we packed up and headed back to Lisbon.  It was sad to say good-bye to the city, but I made a promise to it that I would return one day in the future. 

 

 

 

Now we are back in Lisbon, and we started our third class this morning.  We are taking a three day long class on Comparative Regulation…but we are yet to have a book or any reading (are you jealous Wash U kiddoes?).  We are throwing “The American Party” on Wednesday night at our apartment so that we can teach our new friends the good old fashion American games (beer pong, flip cup, and quarters).  Talk soon!

 

Much Love,

Liz

Hey everyone!

AP, rockin it behind the wheel of our Fiat

Liz, Ana Patricia and I got back yesterday from our excursion to Espanha. We had a blast. We went to a town called Santiago de Compostela, which is basically 5 hours directly north of Lisbon. I’ve wanted to visit the town for a long time because my Spanish teacher, Señor Joy, used to tell me stories about how beautiful it was when I was younger (I know that’s really nerdy, but for some reason the stories stuck with me and I’ve always wanted to see it). So I dragged Liz along, and luckily it was worth the trip, because I would have felt bad if it was really boring. We were also really lucky because our friend from school, Ana Patricia, decided to come along at the last minute. We would have had a much rougher go of it if she hadn’t been there (and much less fun, because she’s a blast).

The trio at our cafe in Porto

We decided to rent a car and drive there because its so cheap, which turned out not to be such a terrible decision because we had AP there to get us around Lisbon, but would have been insane without her. I don’t understand any of the road system here, and it seems like people just switch lanes and cut people off willy-nilly, but AP claims there is some method to the madness. Even after driving through Santiago and a few other towns, I still 

Liz with her Little French Girl

had no idea how to maneuver in the roundabouts or what any of the road signs meant, but since I didn’t run into anything, I guess I did alright.

On the way up to Santiago we stopped in Porto, the second largest city in Portugal (and is where port wine comes from). It’s a beautiful town, with a much more gothic style than Lisbon. We had some lunch at a little outdoor café, where Liz and I tried the Francesinha (which means little French girl), the traditional meal in Porto. It’s a sandwich, with ham, sausage, “hamburger”, and some

The Stairs in the Fancy Bookstore

other kind of meat in it. They cover the bread with a fried egg and some strange cheese and then pour some weird sauce made with port over the top of it. It was odd and tangy, and I didn’t eat very much of it. Liz was a trooper and ate most of it, which I think she regretted for most of the rest of our drive to Santiago.

AP then took us around the rest of Porto. We saw the main church in town, which is dark and beautiful. Then AP wanted to take us to her favorite bookstore, which sounded silly to me at first, but was quite an amazing sight. It’s a beautiful, ornate store with both very new and very old books, and was well worth the detour. After a quick walk through the rest of the town we were back on the road. 

A lovely square in Porto

The rest of the drive, both there and back, was pretty uneventful. We had a few accidental detours off the highway that resulted in getting completely lost in a few towns along the way, but other than that, it was smooth sailing. Once we got into Santiago, our hotel was nearly impossible to find. Even with the “help” of road signs directing us to our hotel, we had a rough go of it. Luckily it had a shuttle to town so we didn’t have to do it more than once.

That’s all from me for now. Liz is going to write about our time in Santiago, so check back soon. Big hugs from all of us! XOXO

Enjoy folks… It was a labor of love

XOXO

J and L

Jardim Zoologico

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Hey folks, Liz and Jess here.  We had a wonderful sunny Wednesday which was full of adventure.  Class normally ends at 1:15, but today we got finished around 10:00 so Jess and I decided to head out to grab some lunch and visit the zoo.  I grabbed twenty euro and we headed to the metro.  Once we got to the zoo, we saw that the entry price was a shocking 16 euro per person.  We were starving, but between the two of us we gathered up a whopping 5.50 euro. 

Our Pathetic $5.00 Lunch for Two

 

Our only option was to hit up the 1 euro menu at McDonalds where we split two cheeseburgers, two 4 piece nuggets, and a fry.  We could have had something to drink, but I gave a euro to the beat-boxing half blind man who entertained us on the metro ride over.

Despite our devastation regarding the outrageous price, the zoo ended up being worth every penny.  Literally, the most amazing zoo either of us has ever been to.  The most shocking aspect was how unsecure the animal facilities were.  The tigers were merely behind a chain link fence, and the monkeys had no fence but only a few foot wide moat between them and the visitors.  I was very proud of Jess being able to get relatively close to the large cat pins.  The only reason we made it out alive was because the animals spared us. 

Jessica's Nemesis

 

Mommy and Baby Monkey...

 

 

One of the highlights was the seal show we attended.  Speaking of unsecure facilities, the zookeeper took the seal on a little walk out to greet the people in the park.  A video of Jess and the seal smooching is attached below. 

Pet Cemetery

The pet cemetery was another fascinating feature of the zoo.  Jess and I were literally crying as we read the tombstones of people’s lost dogs and cats.  Some of the graves dated back to the 1940’s while others were quite recent.  The plots were littered with flowers, pictures, and sentimental messages.All in all it was a wonderful excursion.  We headed back home to get packed and ready for our adventure this weekend.  We have rented a car and tomorrow Jess, Ana Patricia (one of our friends from school), and I are driving to Spain for three nights.

We will keep you “posted” hehe.

Love,

The Ladies

 

Ola everybody!  First I must apologize for how long it has taken me to write a blog entry …I know you have been anxiously waiting by your computer.  Things have been pretty regular here!  As I’m sure you have learned by now, my Parkie came to visit for about ten days which was wonderful.   We had an amazing time travelling to Cascais, exploring Lisbon, and memorizing and filming the “Single Ladies” Beyonce dance with Jess and Alison (Parker was Beyonce and looks fabulous as a blonde…we are

Looking towards a bright future

 

 

Mocking people in love

trying to post it on the blog but are having technical difficulties).  We also found time to take some loving engagement pictures (Jess and Alison got jealous and decided to join in the fun).

 Otherwise, classes have been going well…I’m really enjoying the intellectual property class that we are enrolled in right now. The Professor is American (from William and Mary) and he is both entertaining and engaging and the American girls love him J  

 

Martim Moniz

After classes, we have done some more exploring of the city and I think that by now we pretty much know our way around.  The city seems large on a map but you can definitely walk to nearly everywhere. The picture is of Martim Moniz which is a square containing a fountain memorial.  The square is about a five minute walk from our casa.    

 

 

 

 

We are continuing to get to know our new friends here who are nothing short of fabulous.  Ana Patricia has been our savior- taking us to dinner, driving to Belem, showing us the nightlife, etc.  She even brought us DVDs in English today (which is awesome bc our tv sucks) and is having us over for lunch tomorrow. 

 

In other news, we got verbally assaulted this morning on our way to class.  A random man ran up to us and yelled “F*%$ you” then mumbled something in Portuguese.  I was so startled I dropped by umbrella and started shaking…the girls made fun of me all day.  I think people are starting to know about us here already.  We went to a landmark the other day and someone working there asked us if we were from Missouri [creepy!!!]. 

 

Our favorite bartender

Otherwise, things are great!  I miss everybody from home!  

 

Lauren- I want to give you a shout out about having your baby girl tomorrow (not that you are spending the night before you go into labor reading my blog)

 

Daddy- Happy Birthday, I love and miss you cant wait for you to visit soon!!! 

Love and miss you all!

Liz

P.S. Jess and I are going to Spain this weekend so you should look forward to some interesting posts J

Hi Folks!

So, I’ve been out of the loop for the last week or so because I’ve been sick for awhile.  I had a throat infection, which I lovingly called my flesh-eating bacteria (for reasons none of you want to know about).  After a little adventure at the hospital, I got some crazy antibiotics (all in one dose) that I was a bit skeptical about, but it ended up doing the trick.  One of the good things it brought about was that I had so much time at home (because I wasn’t allowed to go to class for two days) that I finished the scarf I was making.  I was out of commission for most of Parker’s visit, unfortunately, but I did manage to do a few fun things at the beginning and end of his trip. Anyway, this is an overview of some of the random things that we’ve done and have been happening over the last couple weeks:  

Garden?

One day, a week or so ago, Liz and I decided to go to the Botanical Garden here in Lisbon because we thought it might be interesting.  After being impressed that we found our way through a part of town we’ve never been to before, we spent quite some time walking back and forth on the street, in front of the garden, unable to find an entrance. When we finally figured out that we were supposed to go in the entrance that said “no entrance” on it,

The cactus area, I guess

we were excited to find that it was only a euro fifty to get in, not yet realizing that even that small amount was a total rip off.  First of all, the botanical garden was tiny.  We could see the entire thing from the entrance.  Second, there were almost no plants there.  There were a few trees, and some scraggly little bushes, but for the most part, the landscape was barren.  The pictures, amazingly, make this look much prettier than it actually was in real life.

 

Also, because I don’t think my mother even believes I am taking classes at this point, I’ll just mention quickly that we’re in our second class now, and that this weekend the three of us spent time writing the 10 page paper that was our final exam for the last class.  I think we’re all pretty excited about never having to think about transnational dispute resolution ever again.  

Us, back home at our bar...

While Parker was here, I did manage to make it out of the house two times for nights on the town, one pre-illness, and one sort of post-illness.  The first time we went out for Fado music, which Parks talked about in his post, and then we ended up going to a couple bars and hanging out at our regular Brazilian bar until much too late in the evening (and by evening, I mean morning).  Parker’s last night here, we went out to dinner with our friend

The tip jar and I really hit it off

Marco at this crazy old mansion that now has a restaurant on the top floor even though the building hasn’t been renovated and is kind of falling apart. Then we went out to a few bars with some other friends from school, and than actually went home early (which, here, means around 2 am).  Here are some random photos from our nights out on the town.

 

Other than that, there isn’t much to talk about.  We’ve settled into normal life here, so things are less exciting and new, and more just day to day living.  Liz is going to write up a blog about a few more of our adventures, but for now, I think that’s all. Big hugs to everyone back home.  We miss and love you all, and wish you could be here to experience all this with us!

XOXO,

the trio