Going even crazier than I thought I was a few weeks ago with how much work I have and all the activities I'm trying to do. In comparison to everyone else on my program, I'm not travelling at all but it still feels like I'm constantly running around. Mom was here a few weeks ago and it was so great to show her around. My host family still talks about how nice it was to have her visit and even with all the translating I had to do, she and Eva got along as well as I expected them to. Since she came and went, I've been attempting to get as much work done as possible. It's crazy I only have like 5 weeks left here both because of how much I want to do still in Spain and also because of how much work I have left to get done. As soon as I finish the 20 page paper I'm working on, I gotta get to work on all the rest of my finals and what feels like a million presentations that I have to do. Everyone else abroad keeps asking me why I'm so busy all the timee, but unlike most people here, it's not like a semester off for me. It's probably a good thing, though, because at least my UAM classes will get me back in the swing of things for the hard semester I have coming up in the Fall.

Regardless, of course, it's not as if I'm having no fun... This past weekend Lea and I went to Lisbon together. It was super great to see her and I'm excited to have her in Madrid for the rest of my time here. Lisbon is also a really cool city and a place that never would have been on my list if I wasn't so close this semester.

We stayed at this great little hostel that's run by a couple and their son. The rooms were super nice and we even got 2 free home-cooked dinners (fish rice and soup, typical of Lisbon).

Lea eating our first dinner and 1 euro unlimited Sangria at the hostel.

When we first got in, we had some time in the evening to go check out part of the city. We went to Belém, which is this area on the water. Unfortunately we didn't get there early enough to go into all the monuments but the famous pastry place was open! So guess where we ended up...

 The monastery in Belém

 Monument to the Portuguese explorers (not so great considering its glorification of colonization but still pretty). You can also see in the background a bridge that is almost identical to the Golden Gate. I'm still not sure which one came first but ours is better... obviously.

Me hanging out on a footbridge by the coast. 

 Custard tarts from Pasteis de Belém

That night we decided to check out the nightlife in Bairro Alto, the main going out district in the city where people spill out of bars onto the streets and the little alleys are so packed you have to squeeze to get through. It felt a little bit like Tufts during Spring Flight with everyone running around. It's legal to drink in public in Lisbon and people certainly take advantage.

 A street in Bairro Alto.

The next day we woke up and went to the Feira de Ladra, which is a huge fleamarket that is similar to the Rastro in Madrid but has more stuff that's like a garage sale. There, we met this brilliant young artist. We each bought a print from him and he gave us each an extra one free. He's a super sweet and talented guy and you can check out his art here: http://mesineto.tumblr.com/. I haven't been buying myself many things this semester, but this was definitely a worthwhile souvenir purchase. 

 A street in Alfama, the historial moorish district where the fleamarket was.

Part of what makes Lisbon such a beautiful and unique city is that the houses are incredible colors. Sometimes it's because they are painted, but more often it's because of the cool tile work everywhere (a legacy from the Moors).

 I loved this tile peacock we saw on a random street.

Then we went to the part of the city that's a little more touristy. The view from the hills there is stunning and these trams are symbollic of the city.

We also went to the castle there which is way up on a hill. 

 View of Lisbon from the castle.

 We saw a real peacock there!

Then we made our way walking to the downtown, commercial center of Lisbon. There is a super cool elevator there that was designed by a student of Eiffel. It's in the gothic style but built with steel making it really unique. 

 The elevator is between modern commercial buildings and leads to an old convent. 

 The elevator shaft. 

 The convent on the other side. 

There we also saw their version of a Plaza Mayor, except unlike Madrid's Plaza Mayor, it was nearly empty.

On Sunday, we took the train to Sintra, a beautiful town 45 minutes from Lisbon that everyone told us we couldn't miss. 

The train station in Lisbon.

 The Castelo de Pena there is one of my favorite things I've seen in Europe so far. The use of candy-colored tiles amidst Sintra's mountains of greenery is really breathtaking.

 Because of how expensive things were there and how late we woke up to go (oops), unfortunately we didn't get to see a ton of it. But it was still absolutely worth the trip. One of the other cool things we did see there is this park that is full of paper maché fantastical animals.

In general it was a great weekend and I'm so glad I took the opportunity to go. Lea and I travel well together so it was really fun.

This weekend is a 6 day weekend in Spain. I'll be here until Sunday doing as much work as I can and then Monday-Wednesday I'm going to Granada with some friends. I was there 4 years ago but I was the sickest I've ever been so I didn't get to see any of the city. I'm excited to finally see the Alhambra and hopefully I won't be so stressed if I'm able to get some work done before that. Back to writing...

Love,
Anj

Dakar!

It's been a really crazy few weeks only about to get crazier for the rest of April... hence why it's been a month since I've posted and might take a while for me to post again. My dad visited a few weeks ago which was great to see him and show him around Madrid. Then spent a week getting everything ready for Semana Santa and headed to Dakar for this past week. I got into the airport early this morning at 4:30, waited for the first train to my neighborhood at 6 and then finally got in bed by 7:45. Been trying to rest today and do a little work because my mom's arriving here in a little bit. I'm totally exhausted and a bit overwhelmed with all I have going on, but I can't complain because almost all of it (with just the exception of the hideous amount of school work I'm putting off) is really great.

Dakar was super awesome and I'm really glad I went both to visit Hal and to see the city. Nearly all of my friends on my program went to Italy for spring break and I'm so happy I had the opportunity to see something totally different instead. I got in last Saturday night and spent the night hanging out with Hal's friends since that was the only time I'd see them before they left for their rural visits during the week. The rest of the week, we didn't rush around a lot to see all there was to see and it was nice to not feel that need. Dakar is a cool city, but it doesn't cater to tourists at all really. We got to spend a lot of time with his host family instead, which was great especially because they're a huge part of his life that I got to see and because he won't get to see them much now that his parents are visiting this week. His host mom, Maman Coumba is the best. She has the warmest smile, makes really good food (and spicy!) and teases Hal for just about everthing he does. We had a great connection and at the end of my stay she gave me a some Senegalese bracelets and kept saying how much she loves me even though we only spent a week together. Hal got very lucky with his host family too, although of course, his attitude has a lot to do with it. She seemed to really appreciate that we spent so much time with her, even though we weren't staying at her house.

Maman Coumba making delicious spicy fried fish balls

In general, Hal is super thoughtful about the way he spends time with his host family, even if it's just sitting around while they watch TV in Wolof and it makes all the difference in the world. We also spent some time with Hal's host brother, Papice, who came downtown with us and Hal's 12-year old host nephew, Ahmed.

Me and Papice

Ahmed is hilarious and it was too funny to see him sing the same clubby songs that Carlota sings nonstop. I liked eating around the bowl with all of them a lot (the Senegalese way of eating where everyone eats with spoons or hands out of a communal bowl)- always a ton of rice with some sort of fish and/or stew or curry. Because eating is how you show politeness and appreciation, I ate A LOT. It was such a unique opportunity to go there and spend time with a Senegalese family and I'm really glad I did it. This past Saturday we even saw part of the neighbor's wedding celebration because Hal's whole street was packed with ladies all dressed up and dancing.

Maman made Hal a silly headwrap for the wedding

Wedding dancing!

Kids hang out and watch the activities from in front of Hal's house

The rest of the week we also saw a few different markets, went downtown, saw Ile de Goree (an Island off the city that was a slave trading post) and spent some time on the beach. Yesterday morning Hal's parents arrived and it was nice to overlap with them for most of the day, even though they were a bit jetlagged and I was getting ready to leave.

 Hal in front of the African Renaissance Monument

 Les Almadies beach

 The westernmost point in Africa! So cool!

 Me and Hal in front of his house

 Car Rapides are one of my favorite parts of Dakar- they are the brightly colored buses that function as transportation. The cost of a ride depends on where you're going, but it's usually around 75 franc or 15 American cents

  Marché HLM where we bought fabric for Hal to make himself some African pants

Okay off to pick up mom from the train station! These pictures were taken on Hal's camera but I'm hoping she brought me a charger for mine so I can keep updating with some quick photos at least.

Besos,

Anj