Lisbon, Portugal Trip

Two weekends ago I went to Lisbon, Portugal with 8 other of my friends (which was good practice for Euro-trip cause there will be 9 of us then too). We had a lot of fun but the trip had a bit of a rough start because our flight was at 7am, so we left the apartment at 5am... However I didn't realize until we got in the check-in line that I had forgotten my passport... So I quick jumped in a cab to go back and get it, but because of construction he couldn't figure out how to get there so I just jumped out a few blocks away and ran the rest of the way with my giant backpack. After I got my passport I stepped out onto the street just as an empty cab was passing it so screeched to a stop and raced be back to the airport after I explained why I was out of breath. I got there with plenty of time to wander around the terminal and get a breakfast snack, however.
We got to our hostel at around 9:45am but check-in wasn't until 2 so we grabbed our swim suits, hoping it would warm up, locked up our bags, grabbed a better breakfast, and headed off to the beach. I was nearly dead at this point because I was so tired but I shuffled along and was more than happy when we stopped at a McDonalds for a light lunch before finding the beach.
After lying out away from the water for a while, the boys that were with us decided it was unacceptable for me to not partake in the sandy/ freezing water festivities so proceeded to attack me covered in sand baring ice water filled Frisbees. While nearly painful, it was fun, but won't admit that to them. Haha
Now to preface this next bit, I have to say at 99% of the time I have a sunscreen fanatic, but for whatever reason, whether it back lack of sleep or the deceiving cold wind, I didn't think it was necessary to apply any anywhere except for my face, chest and stomach... Coincidentally enough ever other square inch of my skin got the worst burn that I've ever experienced in my life. Lesson Learned.
After escaping the beach Lisa, Liza and I found an amazing Indian restaurant that makes me miss eating Indian food with the Sood family back home. Afterwards we met up with the rest of the group and walked around the area a bit, checking out the other beaches and such before heading back to our hostel to officially check in. The hostel had the perfect set up for us, the top floor was just one big room with 9 beds and our own bathroom. That night Lisa and I attempted to make 'arroz cubana' (Cuban rice), a favorite dish of ours that Ana makes regularly for us. It didn't turn out the same but was pretty good. That night was really painful for my sunburns so I went out and bought a lotion for it that helped a lot. Not sure what I would have done without it, everything hurt.
The next day we walked around area around our hostel for a few hours, took a lot of pictures at this castle/ fortress/ tower thingy that was pretty cool until a crazy cat scratched me. just outside there was the most beautiful peacock trying to impress 2 lady peacocks, what a site. When we got back Lisa and I made some friends at the hostel and hung out with this girl who had been studying abroad in the UK and we made dinner together, simple yet delicious spaghetti
On our last day, before heading back to Madrid, we ventured on out to a town called Sintra where they have this mansion with the most amazing and beautiful grounds. There are caves and tunnels, paths and towers. We had a lot of fun climbing on everything and tossing the Frisbee around (including over a few ledges and into a gross green pond, and yes we managed to retrieve it every time somehow). Before getting back on the train to Lisbon we stopped for lunch, at Pizza Hut, haha. It was delicious though. Then we worked our way back to Madrid, sad that this was going to be our last trip as us all together. :(

Amit

I have decided that Amit should get is own blog since it seems that nearly everyone else has and since he is such a big part of my life, though I wonder if he'll even know that this post exists, not sure if he is an avid reader of my blog since I tell him everything that goes on anyways, we'll have to see....
I've really been missing him a lot these last four months, it's been hard but we have stayed strong. I figure if we can get through these 5 months we can get through just about anything that'll get thrown at us. This time away has made us stronger but I am excited to come home and be with him. Being apart has made us be creative with finding new ways to be romantic and Amit did the most amazing thing the other day, he organized it so we could have a nearly proper date! We got on video chat at the same time and I had dinner the same time that he had lunch. I wore a pretty dress and he a button up and tie. I made Liptons Chicken Noodle Soup that Steven brought over for me from the US during his visit (Amit and I tend to have that soup together a lot at my apartment) and he had something from a place called Crazy Bowls and Wraps which is where we went most often for lunch last semester. In view of the camera he set up a fake paper candle and e-mailed me a picture of a rose as if he had brought me a rose for our date. After we ate we both muted our audio and watched the season finale of Heroes that we had saved to watch together and then talked about how amazing it was after. (Back home we would always watch Heroes together). And in the end we had a cute coupled Q&A that we filled out... questions like 'what is your dream vacation?' 'What are five attributes of the other person that you admire most?' And 'describe something that you think is romantic' and for that last one both of our answers were "this date!". It was really cute. Also this date was on the 30th which is the date we started dating so technically it was out 2yr, 1 month anniversary! I love and miss you, Brown Bear! Just 1 more month!!