Obrigado very much

Sorry readers, for I have sinned.  It's been four months since my last entry.  I could try to make up excuses, like that I grew a fatal allergy to blogging, or that I took the recent natural disasters as divine warnings not to use the internet, but that would be an insult to your intelligence.  The most truthful answer is that I've been too absorbed in my life here to sit back and reflect on it..to my audience of 14.  So there you have it--I'm selfish.  Am I absolved?


Instead of writing a mammoth entry to catch you up on everything, I'll launch into my latest adventures and make an effort to write more consistently from here on out.  Here goes..


Portugal: Parents are always right
When my mom was planning her trip to visit me, she asked me if I wanted to visit Portugal.  Besides the fact that it's next to Spain, I didn't really know too much about the place.  Turns out our trip followed the old adage: parents are always right.  Portugal was spectacular.  Spe-castle-lar in fact.  


One of the coolest parts of the trip was our lodging in Lisbon.  We stayed in a small hotel within the walls of a 10th century Moorish castle (which, like all things Moorish, was recycled for use by the Christians after the Moors were kicked out).  When we walked in the hotel everything seemed pretty normal, until we noticed the half dozen peacocks strutting around the inner courtyard.  Dios mio, que pajaros increibles!  I probably took more pictures of the peacocks at my hotel than of anything else on the trip.  Oops.

Outside of the hotel the country was just as beautiful.  We spent the weekend visiting castles and monasteries, eating fantastic seafood, and listening to fado, the traditional Portuguese song.  I was especially intrigued by the manueline style of architecture, which mixes Gothic elements and styles that Portuguese explorers picked up on their travels to Brazil and Africa.  

Below is an example of a monastery designed in the manueline style.  Not too shabby a residence for a bunch of ascetics!

Nowadays I'm back in Barcelona, going on European adventures, visiting Rotary clubs, finishing up my masters, and studying for the LSAT.  I know this entry was like a 30 second preview to a 3 hour long movie, but I had to start somewhere.  And now that I think I'm over my blog-o-phobia I'll be back to tell you more soon.


Obrigado!