Portugal

We are back in Valencia after a wonderful weekend in Portugal. Haley and I traveled with her parents to Porto, Portugal. Mrs. Hunsaker has a friend in Porto, and we stayed with him and his family. He was nice enough to pick us up from the airport and then took us straight to the Duoro River. Along the river there are many cellars as Porto is the birthplace of Port wine. I'm sure you know what Port wine is, but it was all new to me. So let the history lesson begin. Port wine came about when Portugal was trading with Great Britain. Portugal offered wine in exchange for English textiles. However, by the time the wine reached G.B., it was spoiled. The English refused the trade, but Portugal asked for one more chance. The next time they arrived in Great Britain, they were prepared. They had poured Brandy into the wine to keep in good condition. The British loved it, and Port wine was born.  Nowadays, it is made by pouring Brandy into the wine halfway through the fermentation process. 

Anyway, we visited one of these cellars. It was very cool to see the barrels and the manners in which they upkeep everything. After the tour we got to taste the three different types of Port wine - white, ruby, and tawny.  Tawny, the deep red wine, was my favorite wine. 

After some ironic conversation with some guys from England, we headed to the former Stock Exchange building. It was filled with Arabian influence, despite the fact that the Queen that supervised its building was Catholic. We took a guided tour with a Spanish, so our tour was in Spanish and English, which was good. I never seem to realize how much Spanish I know until I find myself in situations like those. 

When our tour was finished, we went back to Alex's (the family friend) house. The family was very nice. They welcomed us into their home, let Haley and I sleep in the master bedroom, and fed us like there was no tomorrow. And it is always nice to spend time with locals.   They went out of their way to make us feel comfortable and told us that we now have a home in Portugal. Que simpaticos son. 

On to Saturday! We took a train from Porto to a small town where the family's daughter goes to college. It was funny because the landscape and the trees reminded me of Manhattan a little bit. On the campus, we toured an old library, the Academic Prison, the site of all major ceremonies, and the courtyard. We took some tours and learned a lot of interesting facts about the school. 

On a more interesting note, we had goat for lunch! I didn't care for it, and yes, I gave it a good try. After that, we jumped back on the train and headed for their apartment. Alex was so funny, he told us we needed an "American night" in Portugal, so he ordered Pizza Hut. He made a spread of pizza, cookies, and beer. We ate ourselves to death and watched MTV. However, the best part of the "American party" was that we got to hear all of Alex's travel stories. This semester has definitely given me the want to travel more, so it was interesting to hear about all the places he had been.

Overall, Portugal was a good time; I liked it a lot! We had some friends that went to Porto, too, and they didn't care for it. So I think it really helped us to have a local tour guide. 

Other than that, everything is going well. Classes are still interesting. We are learning about WWII from Spain's perspective in my Culture and Civ class, Don Quijote in my literature class, and writing papers in la clase de gramatica. So, classes are good!

Weather is getting warmer and warmer. All I can say is that I'm not sad that I missed out on winter in Kansas. Snow in April? No thank you. It is so hard to believe that we only have less than a month left. I don't think I am ready to leave yet, but excited to go to Germany!  Okay, everyone have a great rest of the week!