Pick a language!

I just got back from a small Lisbon city tour via the hostel and figured while it rains a bit (and it's only in the 50s, false advertising Lisbon!) I'd attempt to navigate through this European keyboard and update my journey thus far. The day I left got off to a hectic start, I wasn't sure if they were tiny signs to delay my trip or just an example of the trials and tribulations ahead. Starting from the beginning where I got out of my mom's car and left my cell phone to being told my flight to New Jersey was supposed to be delayed until 5 p.m the nerves were kicking. I was switched to the flight before mine, slated to take off at 1:02 (it was already 1:20) and felt a little uneasy about that whole thing. They assured me the flight wouldn't be taking off anytime soon. I took a little gander at the departure screen and did not see my flight, I did a mildly-fast paced walk to the C gate at McNamara, find the gate and I hear "final call for all rows." So instead of taking my time, eating something, I rush on to the plane only to sit for over an hour after leaving the gate. We took off at 3:15 (my regularly scheduled flight time) and got to Lisbon with tons of time to kill and for me to finally eat. Got on the plane around 8:15 for Lisbon, passed out immediately and woke up 20 minutes later yet to take off. There was no real delay besides the fact that it was New Jersey and they are always delayed there. The 20 minute nap meant only one thing, that would probably be the only 20 minutes I'd sleep for the whole day.

The plane ride was fine, a few bumps, but nothing insane. I first watched Yes Man and Bedtime Stories, two movies that I thought were real good, especially Yes Man. I kind of used it as mini inspiration to take as many chances and say yes to pretty much everything. I feel there may be some foreshadowing with that movie in the future in my own story. After those movies I watched Harry Potter for about an hour, felt I could get to sleep and bam I was out cold. Only problem was 10 minutes later the lights came back on and we were an hour away.

We landed in Lisbon at 8 a.m, customs took over an hour to get through the line, then the line for the informational desk and aerobus to the hostel took another hour, and finally around 11 I arrived. I wasn't able to check in til 2 (probably a good thing), so it forced me to walk through the city and stay awake. I was extremely dehydrated and had to pee, so I found a Mcdonalds to pee in (I have a non-American food and especially no fast food rule while here) and grabbed a water. I walked to the river, started taking some pictures and immediately got offered hash by 3 different men selling glasses. Being that I felt the need to say yes to everything, I quickly nixed that plan and got away from them. The architecture, statues, and general art around the city are real awesome. It is not hard to navigate either at least for me. The only bad part about coming now is with Easter it's high travel season leading to the city being a lot more crowded (public transportation during the day near impossible without waiting 20 minutes), places to visit having strange hours or being closed like most places will be on Sunday. I got myself some lunch around 1 knowing it'd go slowly and I had one more hour to kill. I went to a restaurant nearby and went with a seafood salad full of shrimp, clams, snails, octopus, crab some kind of cooked potato, lettuce and a million carrots. I was a fan, though I did get a weird look from the waitress. The problem is portugees is too much like Spanish, but they try so hard not to be that only half the words are actually Spanish. So the minimal Spanish I try speakin with people just get me a confused and dirty look. What's the point of stealing half a language??? Just use Spanish, you don't need a language! I did finally get down "Obrigado" for thanks, but I'm positive in 2 days that will just mess me up more.

The hostel itself is extremely nice, I'm expecting this to be the nicest of them all, it's nicer than some hotels, the beds are surprisingly comfortable and the bathrooms are clean. The location itself is right around the Rossio downtown area, one of the more popular places for restaurants etc. When I finally was able to check in around 2 p.m I came back so I could get more of a tour, use the bathroom, and get situated. I got to the room, tried to use the locker I was given, but it was impossible to lock. I wasn't going anywhere so I took a break from trying and decided to plug in my phone to charge. I take out my trust international plugs, do it up and eeek crazy spark. It wouldn't work and the light seemed to not turn on anymore. I assume the fuse blew in the room, my bad, I told the guy the lights weren't working and he fixed it about 5 minutes later so nobody has to know. From there I did more walking, I read the train station I needed to get to was 100m off the map I had. Apparently that map is for overweight people who need deception to force them to exercise. Forty minutes later and now knowing I will not be walking to this train station when I leave, I made a reservation to head to Madrid overnight on Sunday since it's real busy everywhere (and people get Monday off after Easter still). I started my walk back but after another 40 minutes started getting extremely hungry. I looked out for the best possible foods and right there in front of me with a bakery featuring these pastries with baked custard on top. They were called natas, worth trying. I knew that would hold me over until dinner. It was 6 p.m at that point, but dinner is a late night affair round these parts.

Got back to the hostel went to my room and finally had people in it to talk too. Spoke briefly with the 2 girls in the room, both on Spring Break while they study abroad. One goes to PSU, the other Southwestern, nice people, was good having a legit conversation with someone after 24 hours almost. They left after, I began to read for a bit. The hostel offers a cheap dinner each night and I figured it'd be a good way to meet people and may not be that bad of a meal. I read for about 20 minutes until I literally almost fell asleep on the seat I was reading. I knew there was only one resort to attempt to stay awake, espresso. I figured the shaking from the coffee would keep me going throughout the night, I just may scare everyone off. I ran to the nearest coffee house, too a shot of espresso and headed back. I was definitely shaky. Dinner came, I met a bunch of people, but mainly spoke with this woman from Switzerland with a British accent (she's never been there before, but even the people from London here thought she was, so I'm not just bad with accent guessing). We spoke a lot, she thought I was 18, I thought she was like 26. Turns out I'm 25 and she's 37. I then thought if my cousin Jordan can go for an older woman, I can too! Just kiddin. She challenged me to trivial pursuit, I thought I'd have a chance, but she's a law clerk in Zurich and apparently smarter, even in the American version. It was good to have real socialization though, stayed up with her and her friend she came with (who is 38, but also looks in her 20s, maybe they're lying). I went up talked with the two people actually in the room who weren't out, attempted to write in my personal journal and passed out while writing.

I won't bore you with too much more, I swear. Today I went on the tour with the Hostel of Lisbon. City was too busy to do things they intended, but was a good one nonetheless. I hung out with the people I met last night and spoke with this girl and her brother from the UK for most of it, very nice, and closer to my age. I had a full octopus for lunch (it was great, best I've had). The head semi-freaked me out, but I got over it and Octopi brains ain't bad. Went to a port tasting after and then the weather went downhill. Lisbon got cold and rainy, so we rushed back. Got some great photos from amazing highpoints in the city and saw the outside of one of their big castles. After the tour, came back here and then went out with the Swiss and her English friend from the night before. We went to a recommended Austrian coffee/cake place, then walked to a mini bar that specializes in a cherry drink called Ginja (a portuguese cherry brandy type deal) and had some seni-hard goat cheese from Portugal (I tried to find out the name, but the old women just kept saying it's goat cheese). After 2 drinks of the Ginja (took it as a shot the first time, apparently you sip it. Tasted like robitussin, semi disappointed I didn't start hallucinating to confirm it actually was). Went to dinner, had sting ray, it was good, but very boney. Then just headed back to the hostel where I'm bout to watch a movie with a couple of people. I'm still exhausted, jet laggin a bit. Longest update ever, going to Sintra tomorrow for the day (small city outside of Lisbon) and then Madrid Sunday night. Maybe I'll see you on Sunday when the city is shutdown before Madrid.

Thanks for stopping by and if you made it to the end, I know you really are a fan!

'BK