Submitted by Kiera McNeil on the 2018 fall semester study abroad program in Granada, Spain…
This week, I visited Portugal with my GRIIS group. This was SUCH an amazing trip. We got to visit three different cities in Portugal as well as many museums and monuments along the way.
We first went to Évora, which was a very small city that we stopped at on our way to Lisbon. We toured around the city after we settled into our hotel. It happened to be during the time of “La Novatada” where students get together at night and perform certain rituals and traditions. They all were dressed in black and it was very interesting to observe events that kids my age take part in in such a different country.
The next night in Portugal, we stayed in Lisbon. This was such a nice city, everything was very spread out, but the weather was beautiful so I didn’t mind the long walk it took to get anywhere. This city is right on a body of water and there is always something fun going on here. On my first night, I went for a walk by the water and I ran into the “2018 Socca World Cup”. This is where teams come from all over the world and play on a mini soccer field. It was just luck that I walked passed it, but that is a perfect example of what you might find in Lisbon.
My last day in Portugal, we took a day trip to Cascai. This was by far my favorite place! After touring around the city, we had free time to explore on our own. I decided to go to the beach with some friends and it was like nothing I had ever seen before! The water was crystal clear and there were beautiful cliffs all around the beach. All in all, I had such a fun time with my study abroad group and I can’t wait for the next one!