Schooooooools out for summer!

Wohoo! Well as you noticed it's been some time since my last post. Why? Because school has been keeping me rather busy - like - stupid busy, and not so much because I'm doing a lot but there seems to be a lot of time wasting that happens which is quite annoying for those of us who actually show up on time with intentions of leaving on time and showing up with work done already. Anyhow, it's over! wohoo! Now I have just 12 days until I present my thesis :S I'm quite terrified but I stumbled upon a somewhat interesting idea a few weeks ago that I can't write here for fear that it is just TOO great and someone out there in the world will want to steal it ;) But I also have a meeting w/ my advisor on Monday so I need to have some stuff prepared for that. It's seriously crunch time now.

So yesterday as soon as school was done Maricela and I went to the beach, oh how nice it was! The weather has been SO hot, incredibly hot - I think around 33 degrees every day and when there  isn't any wind and all that humidity it just kills you unless you can just sit still and not move, OR go to the beach and jump in the water (which is finally warm enough to swim in). So that was my little treat.

Tomorrow is Canada day and I really wish I was going camping somewhere or doing something but it doesn't look like much is going to happen after all. I wanted to plan a beach day somewhere outside the city, up the Costa Brava and maybe do a picnic type thing but now I see they are calling for thunder and lightning tomorrow. A sign I'm supposed to get some work done maybe?

And also starting tomorrow the July sales begin in all the stores! It's so tempting when you can actually afford the clothes that you walk past all the time window shopping on the way here and there. But I'm going to be a good girl because I don't really NEED anything. I have clothes and I'll survive without more. Besides - if I move again, it's just more stuff to haul around. There was an amazing booksale happening as well, all architecture books for ONE EURO, but I didn't buy any because none of them were directly related to my thesis and so I thought well - what will I do with it when I go?

So that's it for today folks. More tomorrow perhaps :) If not - Happy Canada day and have a great long weekend!

Back

But not on track :( I have so much to do after my little mini work vacation so I'm not going to talk too much about it but I chose just a few of my favorite photos.  I didn't really take many in Lisbon, but here are the ones from Sintra - so beautiful!!!

 A little collection of bird houses in the forest park, very cute!

 The lighting is so perfect for these parks, it seems really unreal! 

 I climbed all the way up there - yes I did! And that's the view from Pena Palace (next pic) to Castle Morous. I also went over there and walked along the old castle walls where they are currently restoring so it wasn't so beautiful but it had a great view of the village below!

 Pena Palace- home of the Portuguese Royalty for many genereations, and even some Spanish guys. P

Pena Palace up close - very colorful! Almost feels like an amusement park! But so great!

Well, more to come later!

I should either be sleeping or out having fun...

but I'm not sadly. Why? Well I will tell you. I WAS asleep and then my lovely 5 chinese roomates in the hostel decided that they should start packing their suitcases and coming in and out of the room every 30seconds at midnight. So I was awake. That was it. Even after taking a Benadryl with codeine. soooo I felt like I was awfully hungry still after today (more about that later), and I went downstairs to the starbucks in the station and got a muffin and a chai to help me feel calm about the whole situation.

Today was absolutely fantastic. I went on a little day trip to Sintra, which is 40 mins train ride outside of Lisbon. It was slightly overcast which made it a perfect day for a good hike waaaaaay up to 2 different castles! (I'll post the photos and details later). So I spent about 5 hours going up and then back down where I had a quick salad lunch. I then also had salad for dinner after walking around downtown Lisbon some more. So that was my day. I really can't wait to show you the pictures, the forest there is absolutely incredible, I'm so glad that I chose to walk instead of taking the bus.

Another thing about Lisbon is that all the streets and sidewalks are cobblestone, little tiny pieces of block which have been walked over so much that they are so smooth. They are a slippery death trap when it's dry because there are so many hills and it's just up and down all over the place, that I can only imagine what it must be like after it rains! I had one good slide in my flip flops and today an older lady walking her dog slipped and fell down on her knee in front of me, so I helped her up and saw her ankles were all bruised, so it must happen to her quite a bit.

Tomorrow is my last day to myself before I start work on Sunday, so I think I will stay more in the city and see some of the neighbourhoods. There is one called Belem, which Nuno recommended I go see. So I will wake up and do that. The plan was to try and go early so that I could do a lot tomorrow but now that it is 2am Spanish time, I don't know if that will be happening. They serve a nice breakfast (minus the coffee) here at the hostel though, so I'll try to make it up to take advantage of that, it's free food afterall.

Alright, well that's all that I can really tell you today. Sleep well everyone!

Sleeping in a Train Station in Lisbon

I am! Really! But it's not how it sounds! There is a hostel located in the upper floors of the Rossio train station in Lisbon and it had amazing ratings on Hostelworld, so that's where I'm staying. It's actually quite beautiful and quiet. Also I am completely in love with Lisbon. Wow! I honestly can say that I think it is even better than Barcelona in a lot of ways. Today I got here and I just went walking for a good 3 hours, getting lost, seeing the views and then found my way to a lovely little bakery where they sell Pasteis de Nata (I ordered 2, they are like little delicous creamy tarts!) And made my way back to the hostel where they are cooking dinner and it smells DELICOUS! I'm wondering if it's too late to ask to join! So, I have 3 days on my own more or less and then I'm going to be working the following 3. There is a small break in classes now because of a music festival so it worked out to be the perfect weekend and I'm really glad I did it - now if only I could speak portuguese :S

So Jackie obviously left a few days ago, that was the fastest 2 weeks ever! But we had a really nice time together and I'll throw some pictures up for you to see some of the stuff we were up to. And tomorrow is Pauline's big day! For everyone going to the wedding, I hope it's a great time and please take lots of photos for me to see every second :)

More to come as the Portugal experience continues!

TGIF

Seriously. The presentation is over. Thank god - it went a bit like it always does, where someone wants me to talk about something other than what I do, but whatever. I'm not really all that concerned. Anyways, I'm tired from staying up and working on it til quite late and now I have another class and then later tonight I'm going to have to go home and finish yet another assignment which is due today. And then I'm definitely ready for the weekend.

Next week is Sonar, the electronic music festival here, so that means we don't have class for 3 days and I will be gone for some of them to Portugal. I still haven't planned what I will do there but the hostel and flight are  booked so I can figure it out as I go!

Jackie is down to her last few days here and so I think this weekend, maybe on Sunday we will try to go outside the city a little bit if her leg is up for it.

Well that's it. I survived. Now time to start preparing for the next presentation.

TTYL

Cramming

That's exactly what I'm doing. I think I might actually be okay though. I've found some really awesome tools on the web for making infographics! Wohoo! So that's making my life really happy.  Like this one that I'm not quite done.

Also - I was notified some time yesterday athat it was not ACTUALLY fathers day in Canada yet, so you can just go ahead and ignore that last title and we'll try again in about a week! Hahah, the same thing happened on Mothers Day - why some things aren't universal I will just never know! Including the plugs for electricity - I think that should be universalized ASAP.

Today I'm getting my hair trimmed, taking jackie for italian lunch and finishing/testing out my presentation for tomorrow morning. I'm nervous. I only have 15 mins to present and I have a lot of information and want to make it really clear what it is I am doing. Good think Jackie is hear to watch. Maybe I'll try to find something else for her to do today while I'm busy working. No sleep til it's done!

Happy Fathers Day!

Well I have to tell you that this is one crazy week. First of all, Happy Fathers day to all the dads, including mine... who doesn't read this but I'm sure will get the message ;) Happy Birthday to Nanny who is 39 years young if you just pretend to be a bit dyslexic, and also little miss Rayna!

And on top of that? Well I have my midway thesis presentation this Friday morning (AHHHHH!), I have a small presentation today, I have a small written project to submit also on Friday and who really knows if the newest workshop we just started will have an assignment. Oh yeah. And Jackie is here too. Let's just say I don't have a lot of time for much. I've given up going to the gym this week and instead am using the time to work etc. because I'm in full out panic mode as most of you would have guessed.

Alright, that's it for today. Just checking in.
<3

We're off to a good start!

Just a very quick note because Maricela is here and we are studying today, but I went to pick up my student visa renewal this morning and I have been approved for another year!!!! Hooray! Maybe I can come home and work a couple months to save some money in between during the winter. We shall see what happens.

XOX

A Guest

Hello everyone. So Becky has decided that she would like to take the day off from blogging and has enlisted me (Jackie) to do it in her place. 
The weather here has been exceptional since I arrived, around 25 degrees everyday and so far no rain! The city is so different from home, I find everything interesting especially since every building is not a carbon copy of the one beside it. In the last few days in between her classes Becky and I have gone to Las Rambles, Barceloneta Beach, took the metro to a shopping mall, and she's taken me out to some really fantastic places for lunch.
Yesterday while Becky was in class I went to Parc Monjuic, which is really near to where she lives, I took the bus up the hill to where it is and then looked around the outside of the art museum up there and then slowly made my way home. The building overlooks Placa D'Espanya and it is really beautiful. Next week I am going to get even more adventurous and go see a number of museums and hopefully Sagrada Familia on my own. 
So originally me and Beck had planned to get up early and go to Parc Guell today, however we both did not sleep well and some annoying person was ringing our buzzer at 7 am this morning, so we may end up going to the beach instead. ( I am terribly upset about this  
Becky's roomates are wonderful, and have been so nice and welcoming to me, it is nice to finally put the names of the people in her life to faces. Tonight I get to meet Nima and we are going to have supper and then go out for drinks, I am very excited to enjoy some more spanish night life. 
Anyways that is all for now, we are sending you all of our love!