The trip started on Thursday night at midnight when I had to take a train with Tom and Mandy to Cologne where we were taking at 2:15 AM bus to Frankfurt Hahn Airport. The train was no problem but the hour between the train getting there and the bus leaving was killer because I was already dead tired. The first hour of the bus ride was also pretty peaceful and I was stretched out across the aisle sleeping comfortably (all things considered). Then the bus stopped to pick up some more people in Koblenz and a group of rowdy, drunk teenagers got on. They reeked of alcohol and decided to claim the seats directly behind me. I turned up my music, tried not to breathe through my nose, and tried to fall back asleep sitting up with my head bumping against the window. After about twenty minutes, the boy in the seat behind me starts breathing really heavily. I tried to shoot him some looks to keep quiet, I was in no mood to try and argue in German. He didn't stop. Instead, he started making dry heaving noises... so I got up and moved. Just in time. He started to throw up all over the floor. It was disgusting and his drunk friends were laughing and egging him on. I moved as far forward on the bus as I could and prayed I wouldn't get sick myself. What an awful bus ride. The driver must not have realized what was going on or couldn't stop because people needed to catch their flights, because he didn't do anything while we were on the bus.We arrived at Frankfurt Hahn at about 5 AM and our flight wasn't until 6:50... we had some time to kill. We got breakfast and met up with the others coming on the trip: Lee, Jeremy, and John. Mandy is the girl from Louisiana who lives in my building and she knows Lee from their home University of LSU. Jeremy and Tom met Lee here and John is a friend of Lee's from home who is visiting for an extended time (2 ish months I think).
We flew to Faro with no problems and found the driver of our hired van with minimal problems and drove an hour or so to Carvoeiro, a small resort town west on the coast of Faro. The skies were overcast at 10 AM when arrived and we had time to kill until 11:30 when we were to meet and get the key for the apartment we rented. We got some breakfast, wandered around the picturesque town and saw the beach for the first time. There was some confusion about the apartment and once we finally found it, we had to wait about an hour and a half until we got the key because the woman meeting us didn't realize she was meeting us at a certain time, we were apparently supposed to call when we got there. Good job, boys ha ha but we made it inside and I felt like I was on the Real World, exploring an awesome apartment and claiming a bed :) There were two bedrooms (one with a king bed, one with two twins), two bathrooms with showers, a living and dining room, a kitchen, and an awesome balcony where we spent most of our time when at the apartment. The view of the street was amazing. There were palm trees across from us, some orange trees, a hillside covered with spanish style architecture... and white walls with yellow trim. I loved it. Here's the view down the street:
The weather finally cleared up and became sunny after noon. We found a grocery store, got some num nums and then headed to the beach. It was beautiful!
There are lots of little beaches in coves of the rock faces so the beaches never get too crowded (because there's so many of them). The water was a blue I've never seen in water and so clear... the sand was so white and looked like little rocks up close. It was really soft (and super exfoliating ha ha) but started to hurt after a while because my feet weren't used to it.We spent a while at the beach and then hung out at the apartment on the balcony. While at the beach, one of Lee and John's friends who was traveling in Europe alone made his way to Portugal to hang out with us. He was a pretty cool guy, Thomas Wren. Added an interesting dynamic to the group. We were pretty beat from being out in the sun all day and I headed to bed at a decent hour, all things considered.The next day, Saturday, I woke up to Tom cooking breakfast of eggs and bacon for everyone. It was fantastic :) so nice of him. I didn't know him too well before this trip but we had some chances to talk and get to know each other better and he's a genuinely great guy. His girlfriend is pretty lucky :) We all decided to wander a half hour away to a different beach near a resort instead of the small beach by us again. I didn't think it was possible but this beach was even more beautiful than the first.
We stayed here for a while and headed home to shower before the USA soccer match against Ghana. We found an Irish pub where we were alone to watch the game and ordered some "Deep Fried Plate of Snacks" and other foods to munch on. Sadly, the US lost but we went out to celebrate Jeremy's 21st Birthday anyway. After the boys dominated some English men at Billiards at the first bar, we wandered to the second. At midnight, in transit, we stopped quickly for a birthday midnight shot :)
At the second bar, we got caught up in "the shot game" where you pay 7 euro ($10) for 12 shots of various assortments and spin a homemade spinner to see if you take a shot, take two, miss a turn, make someone else take one, etc. It was fun :) Some were tasty, some not so much... I didn't stay out too long (tired again from the sun all day, look how tan I am on only day two!) and got some sleep. Day three, the boys were pretty burned and sunned out so Mandy and I relaxed on the beach together (Jeremy did join us for a bit and tried to beat my tan... he's part mexican and it still didn't happen, I'm awesome :-p).
We took a break from the sun for the Germany v. England game which was SO amazing. This town is some sort of huge resort for British people so they were everywhere and it was awesome to have Germany beat them in their presence ha ha O:) We cheered fairly obnoxiously... it was amazing.
After dinner and showering, Mandy and I decided to walk up the cliffs (I had earlier with Jeremy and Tom but Mandy didn't) to see the end of the sunset.
It was really beautiful :) Then we walked around the beach after it got dark. It was really peaceful and a nice moment to share with Mandy. It's amazing how close we've become after only know each other for four months... I'm going to miss having her in the same building and calling her to chat about everything and nothing at the same time. It was a great memory to walk around the rocks in the low ride and compare our little foot prints ha ha :)
I was really sad to leave the next morning at 6 AM because I feel like this trip was the spring breaks I never had and I really took a step back, told myself to chill out, and I didn't freak out or get moody or testy or OCD about the apartment and I feel like I added to the group :) I had a great time for so many reasons... great people, scenic landscape, awesome adventures... definitely what the study abroad experience is all about. The only regret I have is that everyone else was too hung over after Jeremy's 21st bday to go on the boat tour of the caves, I guess I'll just have to come back later in life :)
That's all for now... I still owe you posts on Paris and Berlin...
