Category: Travel
Protected: Easter Break Itinerary
Protected: FRANCE: Strasbourg and Paris!
Protected: ENGLAND: Liverpool!
Protected: ITALY: Rome! (Day 5, 6, 7)
Protected: ITALY: Naples! (Day 3, 4, 5)
Protected: ITALY: Milan! (Day 1 & 2)
Protected: ITALY: the overall experience!
A night in Torres Vedras
Hello! I’ve got an hour to kill before school starts and just realised that there’s so much I haven’t written about in this space.
Living alone so far has been both good and bad, like most things in life I guess. Not sure how things will be like when my roommate (Shu Hui) arrives so perhaps I should indulge in the good while I can!
Good stuff:
- I get to organize my things whatever way I want – and NOT organizing is an option I have exploited
- I don’t have to worry about other people’s schedule
- I can do stupid things because NO ONE IS HERE TO JUDGE ME
- In summary, FREEDOM and PRIVACY
Not so good stuff:
- COOKING, i detest it!!! And of course, from my previous post you could deduce that I’m a total master chef LOL…
- LAUNDRY – i am constantly procrastinating on this BUT MAYBE the solution is to buy more clothes…
- Cleaning up after myself – yes, I am a slob
x
School hasn’t exactly been a breeze either. I am reminded of how much I hate studying and it’s even worse here cuz I’m taking all the modules I have practically no interest in. Hoping for the best and that my future group mates won’t hate me for (1) not being a smart asian and (2) skipping class to travel. Apologies in advance to you poor souls!
x
Also, here to blog about a carnival I went to last Monday, Carnaval de Torres Vedras! 🙂
It was really a day of getting lost with Christianne and Ah Seng, my 2 new hk friends – we probably burnt 10000000 calories from all the walking – just to get our tickets…
But… I wouldn’t say it was “worth it”, still, it was really fun! Definitely an experience I would remember! Not everyone who comes to Portugal would’ve a chance to visit such a festival too since it only happens once a year 😉
So some background of the carnival: According to a Portuguese girl I met, this carnival happens every year in Torres Vedras which is an hour’s drive away from where I am, in the Lisbon district. What happens is that the whole town closes its streets for A WHOLE WEEK just to party!!! They have floats that blast music and go around the town, with performances going all day and all night. People are dressed up in costumes and it’s just a time to let loose and have fun! It was so mind-blowing to me that a town would actually declare this almost as a law, to have it every single year…CAN YOU IMAGINE THIS HAPPENING IN SINGAPORE????!!!!
It was also so refreshing when I got there to see not only youths having fun but older folks and families with young children as well! There was even a Grandma dancing from her balcony and everyone on the streets were cheering for her! At every corner it was literally thronged with people throughout the night. We kept trying to go into the crowds to keep warm because the wind was SO COLD!!!
I guess I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, though I took more videos than pictures that night!
My costume – a feeble attempt at Cruella Deville! I had to buy red lipstick and the white flower hairpins, but I didn’t mind since they’re things I’d use again! We actually went to a costume shop but all the nice costumes were so expensive!!! But I guess it’s fun to put my resourcefulness to good use 😉 Sadly, I only brought 1 hairband, which was clearly not enough to keep the hair up the whole time!! Look at my other pictures and you’ll see what I mean LOL.
***No dogs were harmed in the making of this costume.***
Took pictures with lots of strangers! Mostly those who were friendly enough to talk to us 🙂 There was a lady who asked us where we were from and when we replied she was so astonished!
“YOU’RE FROM SINGAPORE??!!?! AND YOU COME ALL THE WAY HERE???!!!!”
“YA!”
“YOU CRAZY BITCHES!!!”
The floats were parading around the main road so we decided to break away and explore some of the nooks and crannies of the town! This was probably the best decision of the night – we found a stage with a full-on concert with a huge crowd of people!!! I should add that we couldn’t understand the lyrics for all the songs that were playing through the night HAHA. But it didn’t matter much – I kept looking out for songs with many repetitions to join in!
Nearing the end of the night and my hair and makeup look like a total mess! The jacket is covering my “costume” but Christianne’s scarf surprisingly fits my crazy look HAHA. And of course, I’d to take a Disney-themed photo to round everything off 🙂
Honestly, being in a crowd full of people having fun made me miss all the people back home! Things would’ve been 100x better if I’d my friends and A WARMER WEATHER to accompany me but no complaints here!!!
x
I’ve 20 more minutes till I gotta walk to school again! But I’m looking forward to dinner tonight at Maria’s place because it means SINGAPOREAN FOOD + NO COOKING, the 2 most important things in my life right now HAHAHA.
Wishing everyone a blessed CNY! Goat Xi Fa Cai! 🙂
Almost Alone
Have been a little too busy to post so I shall force myself now that I have the time.
So much has happened the past few days that my thoughts are a little haphazard at the moment. I’ll just jump straight to it and hope for the best, LOL.
10/02: Cascais
A tranquil little town near the coastline, this place is supposedly where royalty back in the day came for holidays to enjoy the cooler weather and water sports.
So it only made sense that we started the day by…..shopping at one of the only malls there???? LOL. Bought a really nice Bershka denim jacket for only 10euros heheheh ^^ Can’t wait to wear it in Spring!
ANW, the experience overall was so different from lisbon – there was hardly anyone else walking along the streets, the sea breeze was constantly in the background and you could just feel so much closer to nature with all the sights and sounds around.
Wearing my new 10€ rain boots!!! WHY ARE SALES HERE SO RIDICULOUSLY GOOD…
Colourful buildings!
The pretty garden where all the animals started following me (no kidding) for the whole walk round???!!!! I guess I can’t deny, if I were a chicken I’d make one helluva sexy one.
Near the sea!!! Wind in ma hair and all~~~
The famous Boca Do Inferno or “Hell’s Mouth”! It’s such a pity I rly have much better pics in the other cam HAHA. Perhaps an edit when I get them!!
Sunset!
The view right before we left!
Goodbye Cascais!
We headed back by train, and had dinner at an irish pub called Hennessy’s to catch the Liverpool vs Spurs game and witness BALOTELLI’S FIRST PREMIER LEAGUE GOAL LOL. Didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, honestly. But a great win and a great meal too!!! Will definitely head back here when I get the chance – cute irish waiter was a definite bonus! 😉
11/02: Sintra
This was definitely my favourite place so far here. Though I was a little mood-swingy that day, the place was just too gorgeous to let my emotions ruin it!!!
Though this has probably been the most commercialised place I’ve been too here (and pricey in terms of the tickets!!!) it was definitely SO SO WORTH IT!!!! Basically, Sintra is the area of magic and fairytales. I’m talking palaces, castles and all my childhood Disney dreams coming to life IN ONE WHOLE AREA. Why Disney has yet to come here for castle inspiration I have no idea???!!! Step aside Germany and France, check out what a real castle should look like!!!!
x
Moorish Castle
The view of the National Palace of Sintra (white building)!
Looked at my kingdom I was finally there……
Just so you know I didnt take these off the internet LOL, or maybe I’m just great at photoshop 😉
I could almost hear Mufasa’s voice….. “A king’s time as ruler rises and falls like the sun. One day, Simba, the sun will set on my time here, and will rise with you as the new king.”
Love the clouds in this shot!!!
x
Pena Palace
It looks so cartoony and chunky I LOVE IT SO MUCH. And I realise that the buildings are in ACS colours LOL. But really, what a place to live in!!!?!??!?!!!! It’s practically a gigantic children’s playground, but like, ALSO A FRKG PALACE!!!!!!
The hike up was honestly fun too, for both places! I had to take my camera out so many times because every view from every angle looked so so good, it’s practically a photographer’s paradise.
12/02: Rest day
After all that travelling I really needed a break. This was barely enough. Why? BECAUSE OF THE DREADED LAUNDRY. Which by the way is still not dry yet????!!!! Thanks to the rain today 😦
We also met up with a Portuguese woman called Joana. She’s been nothing but helpful, sweet and nice; it makes me feel so blessed to be around these kind of people here. The selfless love they pour out to those who are practically strangers was shocking as it was heartwarming. Also gave my parents the peace of mind that I’d have a local to turn to (and mother-like figure) if ever there’s a need to.
13/02: First day at NOVA SBE
So today I had to attend a welcome talk for exchange students at NOVA (my school for the next 5 months) and settle certain admin work. It was a pretty chill and fun experience which led me to make friends with 2 hongkong-ers, 1 beijing-er and 1 russian-portuguese!!! Also signed up for a carnival on the 16th which I’m so looking forward to!!!! 😀
Had lunch with some of them and we later walked around the town area and I finally bought the plastic tray I’ve been looking for to put in my bathroom LOL.
Had dinner with the parents at an accidental atas (we had no idea the place was gonna be so up-market) restaurant called Gambrinus! The service was really good and we finally got to try Arroz De Gambas, which is kind of like a wet risotto with shrimps 🙂
Got home late and there was a house party in my apartment building, and while everyone was already having fun, loser me had to bring in the laundry outside that got caught in the rain *cries*!!! Felt like a party pooper as I lugged the wet clothes while people were drunkenly asking me to join them, this is life of awkward me (????!!!!?!?!!! lol, embarrassing much). But after getting everything settled (and almost taking someone else’s top, oops!!!) I finally joined in. The people here are really nice and I’m looking forward to getting to know them more as the days go by, but for now I’m sorry to say that really need my alone time and rest.
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Tomorrow morning (actually just some hours from now) the parents will be flying back to Singapore and the final (huge) part of home will slip through my fingers. I’ve anticipated this, but after spending so much time together and just having felt as if I could call this place home, I’m afraid the separation may reveal all the cracks and bruises that are my inequities.
Nevertheless, I’m extremely thankful for having had their company, or else I may have just been totally at lost upon my arrival here. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to actually see so many things before school even started had they not been here to travel with me. I wouldn’t have been able to have a safety net for things I’d forgotten to bring or someone to nag at me to take care of my belongings if they weren’t here. The time spent here bonding just makes it so much more difficult to part but I’m ready to now take on the challenge of what lies ahead and make them proud – just being open to experiences and maturing in the world’s point of view and also in God.
This valentine’s day, I’m truly thankful for parents who helped me learn what this verse truly means – “We love because He first loved us.” – John 4:19
thoutsoutloud 