AHHHH FIRST POST IN FOREVER!!!

Sorry it's been so long...our internet fried and I just haven't had time to write everything out...here I will try. But I warn you, it will be long...





1st Monday of break: Got up. Was supposed to meet Johannes at 10, so about 10:40 he showed up at Trindade, way to go punctuality. We hopped on the metro, and in the middle of a sentence he yanked me off the train proclaiming "this is the stop!", practically as the doors were closing. Yea, thanks for the warning! We were supposed to meet his sister and her boyfriend to help them switch hotels, but Johannes didn't know where the hotel was. 45 minutes later of wandering up and down the street we finally find the hotel (the first one we'd seen) and meet up with them in a café. I do have to admit their room was awful, purple walls with floral curtains. We spent the next hour searching hotels (and I had a very nice conversation with Freun, Jo's sister's boyfriend about a lot of stuff, thankfully they all speak basically fluent english) until we finally found one near Casa da Musica. We trekked over in the rain to find this very nice hotel. It's funny, Sosannah (the sis) is JUST like Johannes with the cravings, only instead of Chocolate Cake, it's Burberry. We had a lunch at a foodcourt place, then went shopping and basically just wandered Porto (it always ends like this...). I heard some very funny stories about Johannes being spoiled as a kid - and as a teenager too apparently =P - thank god for siblings! So then I had to leave, and met my host-cousin on the metro on the way back. This country is so full of those kinds of coincidences.



Tuesday: Morning was relaxed, then in the afternoon Elif came to visit me in Vila do Conde! She's actually my first friend (besides kip) to come here! We walked up to the mosteiro, then walked along the beach and took about 1000 photos of us trying to jump for the picture, but they all basically failed =P. We got pastries at a pastelaria and talked for a long time. She finally had to leave though, which was quite sad.

Wednesday: Met with Johannes his sister and her boyfriend. We had lunch at this really nice outdoor cafe on the river then went to the coves to see how they make wine. Very interesting day, filled with huge barrels of wine...

Thursday: This day was awesome!!! Well...for the most part. We were all supposed to meet at 12 (raven told johannes 11:45 so he wouldn't be too late). I was the only one actually on time...Raven and Elif showed up about 12:40 and we met with Johannes around 1:15. Another amazing display of punctuality! =P We went to have some mochachocs and then walked across the bridge to this garden in Maia where we just hung out in the grass...rolled down the hill...talked and sang. It was so fun...then Johannes figured out he lost his phone. We looked everywhere in the garden, retraced our steps to mochachoc and the cafe we met him in...but it was nowhere to be found, so we finally just had to get another sim card for him. We actually accidentally asked for free massages instead of free messages though, the guy looked at us like we were crazy...Then we had some mcdonalds and I had to go. =(

Friday: I did nothing basically all day. Didn't even get out of my pjs until 5, but I got an email from Kip saying he would be staying the weekend in Porto! Yay!

Saturday: Met with Kip in Porto, took FOREVER trying to find his hotel. We walked all up and down the city looking for it, finally turned up in the end but yeah, Kip's blog has a better account of this day if you'd like. We had lunch in Gaia with the crazy old woman who kept trying to feed us things and saying she could talk with anyone...then we went to the coves as well, not as good a tour as Wednesday but the same idea. (seriously, check kip's blog it's so much better!)

Sunday: Easter!!! I dressed up and Kip came for the day to our house. We had an amazingly huge lunch and afterwards I gave my family an easter basket and Kip and I watched LOST episodes to catch up at least part of the way. Kip, Inês, Frederico, and I went out for a dinner of francesinhas. When we got home Kip and I attempted to make apple pie, which severely failed. Kip had to go...and it's weird to think the next time I see him we'll both be back in the US...

Monday: The internet fried *NOOOOOOOO!*. It was terrible. I stayed at home most of the day, then went in search of an internet cafe, which I did ultimately find but didn't have enough time to post an entry. My host family and I went to this birthday party that night which was pretty fun, though I only knew like 2 people besides my host family.

Tuesday: Martina came to porto and we met with Johannes, then Brittany and Raven came later...a lot happened that day...but I don't think I'm going to talk about it here. When I come home in June ask me I can tell you then...just not ready to say anything yet.

Wednesday: Martina and I went to Porto...had mochachocs and got on the internet (we were with Johannes). We made cookies when we got home and watched Across the Universe...

Thursday: Martina left...(there is a reason there aren't a lot of details with...some having to do with just...stuff that happened I wish hadn't. Whatever...it's in the past now and one day I may say but just don't push me now, some sore memories. Let's just say things don't always go the way you want them too, with host family and friends and everything. Things are a lot better now but it's still very fresh)

Friday: Johannes came to vila do conde! We walked on the beach...had lunch...and yes, we are officially going out if anyone cares =). It was so sweet...he just said "so...do you want to be together now?" me: uhhh yea! him: ok now that that's settled...very cute. I saw two videos him and his friends in Faroes made of doing backstreet boys and baywatch. It was funny stuff. I have a very funny boyfriend XD (oh my god, I'm actually allowed to say that?!?! no way!) We tried to get on the internet but the "internet cafe" didn't have internet! What crap! Kind of ironic...

Saturday: Met with this volunteer Ana to talk about "things" that had happened over break, but she thought that they weren't as bad as I thought they were...I guess she's right. After I had lunch with Raven and his girlfriend who'd come to porto (Johannes was still in bed...grr! =P). I got home then Fernanda, Fernando, and I took a trip to the very north of Portugal, I even saw spain on the other side of the river!

Sunday: I spent the whole day with family. We had lunch, then Inês, Fernanda, and I took a walk in Vila do Conde, then we drove to Vila Chã for launche with the extended family.

Monday: Returned to school...blegh! But it was really good to see friends I hadn't seen over break. And they all said they thought my Portuguese had gotten a lot better over break (which is a bit strange because I spent a lot of it with English speakers...) Not really a lot to say. We had a sort of Physical Fitness testing day...I thought I'd escaped that last year!!!

Tuesday: Got on the internet for a bit...went to school...nothing interesting. Road the metro with manana which was fun.

Wednesday: Missed the expresso metro but somehow wasn't late to school...? Awesome anyways. Had German and Math in the morning. Johannes and I met for lunch in McDonalds...it sucks I only get to see him 2 or 3 times a week. Just talked with Theresa some after lunch...had history, PE (Theresa, Catarina, Mafalda, and Rita and I hung out outside for a lot of it, the weather here is absolutely gorgeous now!) and English. On the metro back I talked some with Inês and Manana, but we were all tired. I had a latin dance class at night, then watched some TV but I was so exhausted i basically fell asleep on the couch.

Today: FINALLY!!! I am ALMOST done with this update!!!! I had a portuguese lesson in the morning, I'm almost finished with the first level book, and the material is even pretty easy where I am. I had history and the teacher made me read out loud from the book which was very scary, but everyone said I'm doing really well so that was cool. I talked with Maria over the break, it's so cool I'm actually beginning to have real conversations in Portuguese, and I can understand most of what's said to me. I had MACs (math) last period...but the teacher was just dictating examples the students were supposed to write down, but it was a bit fast for me, so that was really boring...and now I'm sitting here in the computer lab...it's taken me over an hour to finish this! So if you actually read everything (if anyone even still reads this after 3 weeks of nothing...) don't give up! I'm going to try harder to post more...I even think we're going to have working internet soon! Anywho...até logo! Comment please so I know someone's still reading...or shoot an email. =) have a nice day...

I LOVE LIFE HERE!

Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. =) x 10000000

I have a boy. I have a CUTE boy. I have a cute, foreign, hilariously random boy who "really likes me".

Am I dreaming? I must be.

Life is so much better than 2 months ago, losing my passport, no friends and all that jazz.

So anywho, as I said. I met Johannes for lunch last wednesday at the McDonalds near Casa da Musica (sometimes there's just no escaping American food). We had a lovely lunch, then just sat on a bench in the rotunda, trading different types of American/Faroese music. We walked to the bus stop and low and behold I got on the wrong bus. Ended up being late to history, but the teacher loves me. And guess what! I got a 16 on a history test!!! They use the 20 point scale and that's actually a really good grade! Probably would correspond to a B or maybe even an A or something here. We had a foro in Gym and we just sat outside talking and singing, it was a really good bonding time with the girls from my class. We hadn't clicked before, but Wednesday we sort of did, it was cool. After school I met with Nuno to talk and he's just so awesome. It was a good day for me and he was like "Exchange is like that, today has been great, and tomorrow could be a waffle day!" Me: "umm you mean awful?" him: "ya!!". He also said something along the lines of "Give me the scoop Caroline! Everyone already knows about you and Johannes!". It was fairly cute.

Tuesday...oh Tuesday. Such a perfect day =). I met with Johannes in the morning for breakfast near his house, (he took my books in his backpack because they were heavy! sweet isn't it?) then we climbed the Torre dos Clerigos, the tallest tower in Portugal (look it up!).

Random divergent story to show how small a world it is: I was wearing my Carnegie Mellon Sweatshirt, and on the way up the steps of the church a man stopped me and said "do you go to Carnegie Mellon?". I said "no, but I'd like to go there, we're exchange students here". He said "oh! I'm a professor there, I just gave a talk in Lisbon and now we're seeing Portugal". I was a bit taken aback and said "oh, do you know Randy Pausch?". He said "Not in drama, but professionally yes, he's a colleauge of mine" I said "oh my god, he's my friend's uncle!". small world eh?

So anywho, back to climbing the tower. It was freaking tall. And when we got to the top we basically were beat. It was a beautiful view though and I took some pictures- don't forget to check the photobucket by the same name! We stayed up there for a bit then went back down...a lot easier! We had lunch at an outdoor cafe, Johannes has this thing about maionaise...don't ask me....But yea. We ended up getting on the wrong train (WTF WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN WHEN WE GET TOGETHER?!?!) Then we were saying goodbye and....
well...

I leave the rest up to you ;)

But I got to school, and we just watched a movie in history. I got my math test back (15.5, one of the highest grades in the class and it was scored the same as everyone else'!!!). German we watched a movie...greaaaat day =)

Friday there was this random strike because people really aren't happy with the government and their education reforms so there was no school. Vacation had begun! I met with three girls from school for lunch in Porto (I got a happy meal!) and some mochachocs, and random hanging out. We left for Lisboa Friday night, got there, had dinner with the avo, and then off to bed.

Saturday I woke up, had some breakfast, then went to this huge mall where I met Alyssa and Martina! Well, I met Alyssa, Martina was really late...but we just talked and quasi-shopped and had icecream. We finally met Martina but only had about half an hour all three together until I had to leave. But now, ALYSSA MIGHT COME NEXT WEEK TOO!!! We have to get it cleared through AFS but I don't see the problem...

After the mall we had lunch at avo's house, then drove past Baixa (didn't stop, so sad) to the rio where the pais registered for this marathon thing. We went to this monument thing and this really beautiful monastary, and tried to go to the Torre de Berem, but could for some reason. Then we drove to Cascais as the sun was setting on the ocean, beautiful drive! Sunday I slept basically forever and stayed in the house all day. Unfortunately I accidentally kissed an old man...damn you beijinhos. The old people here...We were watching a nature show and this one tiny little old lady was yelling at the cheetahs as if it were a futbol game. Then we had "lunch" for about 3 hours...the old people got a little tipsy off some whisky and showed me all this noncirculating money. So random. Then Ines and I went back to the mall so she could buy some shoes and after that we headed back to Porto where we had dinner and now I'm writing this! Actually a very uneventful weekend. I would've liked to see a lot more in Lisboa, but maybe next time!

Anywho I better go sleep, I'm spending tomorrow in Porto and I want to be well rested =)

Midweek...almost

Only 3 more days til break!!! It's been pretty non-eventful since Sunday...we're going to Lisbon this weekend. And i have no more tests this week! Yay! Tomorrow I'm meeting Johannes for lunch and I dunno...maybe meeting Nuno for an AFS meeting thing. Whatever, non-eventful week, and lots of rain, but yea, I'm feelin' good! =D

LALALALALA

Well, today was actually really awesome. Johannes and I met up around 10:45, later than we had planned (but that's typical). We caught a bus to the Pausada de Juventude where they were having an AFS orientation for Portuguese students going abroad next year (and hey, Martina's host sister was there!). Before going, Johannes dragged me into a Pingo Doce, a sort of supermarket, to buy some donuts. Two packs of donuts and a short walk later, we were stuffing our faces in front of the youth hostel when a bunch of the students came out on one of their breaks to smoke cigarrettes (it's Europe). Embarrassed, J and I shuffled inside to try and find Nuno, our counselor. We found him in a sort of lounge area doing an activity with some of the students. We went upstairs and a little while later, and after talking to this one guy who'd been in the US a few years ago and spoke english pretty fluently, all the students came into the room. Johannes and I introduced ourselves (yea, ok, REALLY scary that for the most part we're the only AFSers these students have met). We went outside for a "donut break" for a bit while they were doing this other activity...we were going to try and have lunch with them but it got to be a bit late. While we were waiting though I listened to some Faroese music, and I showed him some Nickelcreek/bluegrass type stuff.

So around 1:45 we went back to the Pingo Doce for some sodas and chocolate (this boy is making me fat) and got on a bus that was supposed to take us to meet Pia at Santa Catarina. I told Johannes to stop when we got to Santa Catarina, but he forgot, despite me reminding him constantly. So we went all the way back to Campanha. We were going to walk to Santa Catarina, but I needed a bathroom first. I stopped at a cafe and got the key for the bathroom, but it didn't work for the women's so I tried the men's which I got in. As soon as I closed and locked the door, the automatic lights shut off, and there was no lightswitch. After using the stall and washing my hands in the dark, I went to leave, to find that I could not get out. Wonderful right? A man finally opened the door and the worker lady proceeded to yell at me about using the men's.

Johannes and I FINALLY got to Santa Catarina, and out of nowhere appears Maud, one of the only 4 porto AFSers besides Johannes and I. We met with Pia too, and Ana Lucia and Theresa. We got lunch in a shopping mall type thing and afterwards met with Julia (the other American AFSer here). I guess we sort of just looked around a bunch of the outside stalls and a store or two in Rua Santa Catarina. We then went to the Camara Municipal and the Rua Aliadas, and after that tried to go to the Torre (the highest point in Porto or something, you can climb to the top), but it was closed, so sad! The three girls from school left and Johannes and I sat on a bench and talked for a while, then he got a Sundae from McDonalds (which he pronounced "Sundee"). We made our way down to the Ribeira where the sun was setting. We sat on the edge by the river and talked some more as it turned to night (and got FREAKING COLD). Very very cool place to be at night. We walked back to the metro station and had to leave =(. Funnily enough, Johannes was a bit distracted and got on the wrong train. 5 minutes later I saw him going the other direction...That's Jo for you.

Got home, had dinner, watched TV, and crashed after my extremely long (extremely wonderful) day. (check photobucket, I'm uploading pics of the day as you read this!)

An ordinary week

ok well this week has been good

Making some friends and what not...Monday I got a pastry with Manana, a girl from my school. Wednesday I had lunch with Johannes at this cafe near Casa da Musica....

Yesterday I had lunch at an outside cafe by the River with Johannes, it was so nice. We walked across the bridge, had some cake, then he went with me to meet with my friends, and stayed with me since they were late until they showed up...how sweet :) Then I went with two friends from school shopping for clothes and such, then we had crepes.

Today I wanted to go to Porto but my host mom said I needed to study...lajwefakmef;liafj. Because grades really don't count here, and I am trying. I don't see why I needed to be quarantined in the house. More updates later with more detail - but maybe that will hold you off ;)