Day #162

YAYAYAY TO HEIDELBERG!! Although I haven't moved into my accommodation yet, I am so excited to finally be where I'll be living for the next 5 months. I can't wait to not live out of a backpack and have to repack everything every week or less....

We left Frankfurt on the 12:06 train, and met a really sweet German girl who we talked to for the rest of the trip. Our hostel is really cute and there are a lot of other students staying here before moving into their accommodation also! 

I had a döner for lunch, which is this sandwich thing with lots of meat and lettuce and tomato and cabbage and yogurt-like sauce and was 100% delicious. We explored a local grocery store as well, which has everything. Except onions in bags of less than about 50.

BUT LOOK WHAT IT DOES HAVE

Mangos: no longer a mystery. (Even though I didn't purchase it)

Tomorrow, to the stores to buy sheets and such!

Day #161

A day in limericks:

There once was a girl from the states

Who had two out of three free plates

With drinks and relief

For her sensitive teeth,

She managed to get new roommates.

Her Spanish was not very good-

She knew fewer words than she should.

But with Harry and Ron

Tom Riddle was gone

And the pasta was yummy and good.

Breaking down the limericks:

The hostel provides free breakfast and ALSO free pesto pasta for dinner. Therefore, 2/3 of my meals today were free. This is what winning feels like, I think.

I finished my toothpaste and sincey gums are genetically receding prematurely (thanks mom and dad), I need special sensitive toothpaste, which hopefully I found since I can't speak German. But I'm hopeful based on the container!

Hostelworld messed up our booking (though I'm still very impressed that this was he it's mistake in about 25 bookings I've made over the last 5 months), so we had to change rooms and ended up with roommates from Albania who didn't speak any English? But did speak Spanish! I tried really, really hard to speak to them. Really hard. 

And I finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets today!

Not included in the limericks: Tom made probably the smallest paper crane ever today:

Heidelberg tomorrow!

Edit: ALSO GERMANY HAS PRIMARK AKA MY FAVORITE STORE IN EUROPE HECK TO THE YEAH

Day #160

...am I really already halfway through 320 days? That's straight up insanity right there.

Tom and I woke in the wee hours of the morning to finish packing and catch some airport transportation at 6:30. When we got to the airport and tried to check in, the airline told me I wasn't on the flight and that I was scheduled to fly on MARCH 26. Tired and hungry and frantic, I rushed to the help desk and asked them to PLEASE HELP and they told me I could change my ticket. For €500.

I basically had a heart attack and planned all the ways I could sneak onto the flight in the 30 seconds before he smiled and said he was joking and they would change it for free. Apparently the computer messed up when booking my ticket (I had booked the correct day online) because since February has exactly 4 weeks, the days of the week are the same as March. Thankfully they changed my ticket, and the rest of the adventure to the plane went smoothly.

We got into Barcelona around 11:30 local time, and I've never been so happy to hear Spanish. I even ordered all my food in Spanish! I also proceeded to read almost the entirety of Harry Potter and the Chambef of Secrets (not in Spanish).

We caught our flight from Barcelona to Frankfurt at 5pm, and landed in Frankfurt a little after 7. We were at our hostel by 8:30, and left our bags in our room to go get dinner at a delicious (and inexpensive!) Vietnamese place right across the street. 

I am e tremt happy to finally be in Germany. Yay more countries!!!

Have a picture of my dog being adorable (courtesy of my mom) since I didn't take any pictures today. Note the short legs. He's so cute and vertically challenged :)

Day #159

Sorry folks, I've been pretty busy and out of wifi so here is Wednesday's installment of my life!

We woke up earlier than usual (aka like 8:30) to get up and dressed in time to visit a market down near the river before noon. And we made it! Our zucchini, red pepper, onion and mushrooms came to a grand total of under €3, so I'd say it was worth it.

After a break back at the hostel (the road back is just a really steep incline the entire trip, so we took a breather), we headed out again to find Lisbon's El Corte Ingles store. In case I haven't described them before, they're a giant mall. I'm talking 13 floors that stretch for about 3 blocks. It's overwhelming to say th least. We needed a few things to fly (travel sized containers for liquids, etc) and after about an hour in there I was more than done. We both got sweets to compensate for our lost sanity. I didn't mind the trade so much after that.

Back at the hostel, we made lunch with our newly bought veggies mixed with some pasta. Tom tried to create his own Alfredo sauce...... He tried really hard.... But I stuck with tomato.

I got to skype with Pallavi for a bit, then went to pack. Liquids back in travel-sized containers, I showered and ate dinner in my pajamas, followed by a game of FIFA before bed. Ready to face another long travel day!

Also, it was my friend Kayla's birthday! She was my roommate last year at UMass, and is in Japan for the year. Look how cute we are:

Happy 21, dearest! 

Day #158

Another day trip, yay! And by day trip, I mean only 4 stops away from Lisbon via train to the lovely town of Belém. We went with two lovely people we met at our hostel, both studying in Finland. 

Belém is known for a few things. The first is the Tower of Belém, which was supposed to be this giant fortress thing but then they were like nah I'm not about that, let's actually just make it a lookout tower. Consequently, it's pretty small but had amazing views over the river and bridge.

You can't tell super well, but that's water way down there and I'm leaning out a window. Kudos to me for not dropping my phone, yeah!

After a delicious lunch of Portuguese meatloaf and green wine (which I didn't think was a thing, but after trying it I've come to the conclusion that it's basically just moscato. Which was a-okay with me!), we tried the second (and most important) thing Belém is known for:

PASTÉIS DE BELÉM 

The brown packet is cinnamon and the white is confectionary sugar. Inside this magical puff pastry is cream custard filling. A lifetime of happiness in one small package.

After recouping at the hostel after all that awesome food, we met up with two more friends we'd met at our hostel in Madrid! They were from Virginia and New York, but both go to University of Delaware and are studying abroad in Portugal for the semester. They showed us around a bit and then (as a surprise to no one) we got MORE FOOD! One of the lovely ladies found a restaurant where they give you this really hot cooking block with your slab of meat on it, complete with salt and two sauces so that you can marinate and cook your meat to your own liking! 

This was definitely one of the best ideas anyone's ever had. I was super impressed and enjoyed every single bite. That slab of rock stayed hot for a wicked long time!

Tummies happy, we explored some more before turning in. One more day in Portugal, then off to Germany!

Day #157

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BESTEST PERSON WHO BIRTHED ME THANKS FOR DOING THAT AND ALSO BEING THE BEST EVER I LOVE YOU AND HOPE YOU ENJOYED YOUR ANGELFOOD CAKE AND GOT TO BINGE WATCH AS MUCH JANE AUSTEN AS YOU WANTED

Today started with me asking Tom if he thought it would rain. We looked at the forecast. 0% chance of rain. 

(I bet some of you know where this is headed already because you're all smart cookies)

We decided to head to Sintra, a town about 14 miles west of Lisbon. The train ride was about 45 minutes, and a round trip was under €5- what a bargain!

We stepped off the train and, you guessed it, folks! (Or maybe you didn't) it was raining! Mostly mist and fog and light sprinkle. We took a picture with all the fog because fog.

Everything was still incredibly green and gorgeous, though. We wanted through a park with strange paper mâché animals for a bit before finding the actual tourist information center and little shops on the side of the hill with delicious food and adorable nick nacks. Speaking of that delicious food...

I died and went to heaven goodbye friends this is what I want to eat for the rest of my life.

By that time the fog had started to clear, and we walked back the same way we'd come... But found an extremely different view:

PSYCH APPARENTLY THERE WAS A CASTLE BACK THERE.

We got some traditional Sintra pastries from a shop in which a HUGE Red Sox fan worked, and he was very excited that we were not only from the states, but code to Boston!

After the train ride home we stopped by the oldest book shop still in use today (1732) called Bertrand Bookshop. I read a book about Star Wars posters.

For dinner, we made a small alteration to our meal from yesterday- we added an egg to our cheeseburgers with lettuce and caramelized onion. Not. Too. Shabby.

Not a great picture, but just look at those layers. 

We met up again with our friends with whom we visited Toledo since they happened to be in Lisbon as well. Safe travels, everybody!

Day #156

Castle time!!! We hiked up the undulating paths to the Castelo de Sao Jorge. With our student discount, admission was only €5! What a steal. We were immediately met with some pretty stellar views

Not a big deal, but this is straight out of my camera.

We walked along the walls, Roman ruins, towers, courtyards, and up and down roughly a billion stairs. As a side note, I have the joints of an 80 year old woman. 

Also, the castle had peacocks. Lots of them.

We rewarded ourself for a castle well explored with Nata, a traditional Portuguese dessert, which is basically puff pastry filled with custard and caramelized on the top. "I'm Nata fan" is never a phrase you hear. Though it is a mighty good pun.

We had heard about a market down by the water from someone in our hostel and BOY DID WE FIND A MARKET. Everything looked (and smelled) like it was cooked inside the pearly gates of heaven by angels in golden aprons made of fairy dust and magic. I partook in a nice fish-mango-avocado dish. By nice I mean a tap dance on my tongue.

Tom and I decided to get two desserts and split both of them. The first was a chocolate mousse with cookie crumble bits and the second was caramelized banana with peanut ice cream and whipped cream. I mean... It just doesn't get any better than that. Ever.

We booked our hostels for Frankfurt and Heidelberg, filled out and emailed some forms to Heidelberg University, and did some other housekeeping back at the hostel. For dinner (yes, more excellent food) we made homemade hamburgers with ciabatta bread buns, caramelized onions, and salad. 

So. Pretty. And yummy.