Até logo, Lisboa

Well I’ve officially been back for about a week now, but Lisbon is still on my mind everyday. The friends I made, the adventures we went on, the insane amount of gelato and bacalhau we ate, Lisboa was ours to explore and it was the best playground we could have asked for. If you saw my last post then you know that I had my last week in Lisboa filled with goodbye parties and time to have one last hurrah with friends. That last week was one of the best weeks I had, having everyone come out and celebrating the city and time that we had. I already know that I WILL be back for this beautiful city and its beautiful people, if you don’t believe me look at any one of these articles: (Please look at them, you must be swayed)
CNN: 7 Reasons Lisbon Could be Europe’s Coolest City
Global Post: Why You Should Move to Lisbon
Lisbonlux: 25 Reasons to Love Lisbon

My last night was super bittersweet.. we all went out to dinner, then Bairro Alto for one last time, where Iris, Fiorella, Magda, the girls in my flat gave me a framed photo of us from Semana Academica (music festival) and then I got double whammied with another photo from Meriem with a heartfelt letter on the back! Tears started early. Some photos from the goodbye week:

Janelas Family ❤ 

Last gelato with some flatmates

Afterwards we went to Urban Beach until the sunrise, where Meriem, Sarah, Olivier and Juana all stayed with me, then we went home so I could shower before my flight and they took me to the airport for a final goodbye.. couldn’t stop with the tears but I wouldn’t have ended it any other way.

Seriously, this semester was the best time of my life, could not have asked for a better group of people to be around nor could I have been in a better city. Study abroad was amazing because of the  wonderful people I was lucky to meet. I know we will meet again! In the meantime, Lisboa has my heart.

Not chau.. até logo, Lisboa!

 

It’s happening.. if I have to go I’m gonna go out making the most of my time left.

Sintra & Cascais & Cabo la Roca

Last week I had a visitor!

 Carolyn, my roommate from last year, came over from her study abroad in London to see me and Lisbon and it was great. We visited Sintra, a town where the royal family stayed over summer (gorgeous), Cascais, a beach town that reminded me of home, and Cabo La Roca, the westernmost tip of Europe. For everyone that visits Lisbon, I highly recommend going to Sintra and visiting Palacio da Pena, the most beautiful castle in Europe.

Town of Sintra:

Afterwards we went to Cascais, truly a great beach town that reminded me of a mix of PV and Newport Beach.

Lastly, we visited Cabo La Roca, which is about 40 minutes out of the way from both Cascais and Sintra! The next bus after the one we were on wouldn’t have been there for 47 minutes so we hopped off, raced to the edge, took some quick pics, then ran back  to that same bus as people were still loading. A cool place to say you’ve been to, but honestly looks just like the cliffs on PV South. It was cool to be where European explorers back in the day thought the world came to an end.

For dinner we went to the best seafood in Lisbon at Cervejaria Ramiro. So. Fresh.

And even though she left my with keys and had to ship them back to me from London (!), I still had a blast and fully enjoyed her visit. Love ya Carolyn ❤

Chau!

Don’t Want to Leave..

“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quiestest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” — Pat Conroy

Outjazz in Belem

Every summer, Lisbon hosts a free outdoor jazz festival Fridays-Sundays and its amazing. The past few Sundays we have gone to Belem to enjoy the sun, view and music. Outjazz is just another reason why Lisbon is the best city to live in. It feels like all of Lisbon comes and for a few hours the city is joined in dancing and music.

 

Definitely one of my favorite events of Lisbon.

Chau!

 

Janelas Family

Greek dinner last week with Kostos as our guide. Going to miss all my Janelas Verdes flatmates when I leave! These aren’t even all of them. Can’t believe I have less than one month left.. 

Revolução dos Cravos

Thursday night at Praça do Comercio:

This weekend was the 40th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, also known as Freedom Day or 25 April in Lisboa. All over the city we were able to celebrate the day that Portugal moved from an authoritarian dictatorship to a democracy. An interesting take on the history of the revolution and how it has led to the country’s status today here. I could definitely feel the patriotism in the air at these events.

Saturday night at Parliament:

Because it was a weekend of celebration, Parliament was open to the public and we were able to visit the beautiful building.

Senate Chamber

Being political

Outside of parliament

Ciao!

Easter Brunch

Happy Easter! It felt weird not being at home with family and friends and going to church yesterday, but thankfully my Italian friend Martina hosted an Easter brunch and we got to cook, eat and eat more. Everything was homemade and I was especially excited to taste Italian food cooked by an Italian! The whole event lasted from 11-5PM, which, as Martina says, is normal for an Italian sunday meal, especially for special events. The meal:

Appetizer: Mixed tuna and cream cheese bruschetta
First Course: Homemade tomato sauce with penne pasta and fried eggplant topped with fresh parmesan cheese
Second Course: Beef meatballs and arugula salad
Dessert: Chocolate cake with coconut shavings

Chau!

 

A Little Piece of L.A.

Hey guys, I know its been a while since I last updated — with trips to Rome, Budapest and most recently Morocco, I haven’t found time to sit down and blog. So today, Izzy in Lizzy will get 2 posts AND a new page. And maybe some picture posts. Yep, you read that right. I’m not a horrible blog abandoner. Here we go..

A couple months into study abroad I started hearing about this “LX Factory.” LX Factory, they said, was “super cool,” and that I “had to go” but left no concrete details of what this place was.
Its web page gave me a bit of a better idea, that it was a collaboration of funky and random stops and cafes.
Well I finally went a few Sundays ago for brunch before the beach and discovered that it was actually a 5 minute bus ride from my house. Just under the 25 de Abril Bridge, LX Factory is an outdoor…area lined with a brunch house, 2 story book shop, random trinket shop and more. 
On Sunday mornings they have a flea market with items starting at 2. Think Melrose Flea Market meets Abbott Kinney Bvld. This place definitely reminds me of home, especially with its “hipster” vibe and patrons (I don’t like using that word but this place is literally it, if there was a photo example next to the word in the dictionary, LX Factory would be it). Anyways, later that day there was a jazz festival and my flatmates and I went back. We ended up not finding it so we got coffee and cake and enjoyed the Lisbon sun.
 

Chocolate on chocolate cake: Oreo crust, oreo cookies, Ferrero Rocher, Malt Balls, unidentified chocolate and cream filling with cocoa powder dusted on top

Two story book store with cafe, couches and hidden nooks for reading

Chau!

 

 

Life is Good

The sun has arrived in Lisbon! I’ve worn shorts for the past 3 days in a row and  what a glorious 3 days its been. Today my friend Ida from Finland and I took in the sun by exploring a new neighborhood, Principe Real and ate at one of their tiny gelato stores, Gelateria Nannarella (I’ll be real, we went primarily for the gelato).  I’ll get back to the neighborhood later, but what a GREAT gelateria! It’s a tiny tiny store, maybe room for three people, but there never ceased to be people ordering. There were patrons when we got there, when we left and even when I passed it again to walk home.

Why so great, you ask? The Freshness, with a capital F. You can taste the ingredients they use to churn the gelato. (Do they churn gelato?) And they have sorbet and “specialti” too! I of course gravitated towards the specialti and got three flavors: Maracuya, Cassata Siciliana and Cianduia. Maracuya is basically a passion fruit thats native to South America. I first discovered it when I went to Chile three years ago and have fallen in love with all things flavored maracuya. Cassata Siciliana is ricotta cheese with caramelized citrus fruits and chocolate shavings, delicious. And Cianduia is a hazelnut and chocolate blend that I heard about 3 customers order so I had to try too. I also sampled a pine nut flavor and basil flavor. I thought it wouldn’t be “desserty” enough for me, but they were very refreshing! I love the heavy flavors, but will definitely come back to order these next time.

Gelato and sun, all we need

Ida and her gelat

Afterwards we went to a small plaza we had passed by earlier and say on a bench while we enjoyed our gelato. Sitting there, under the sun, eating my gelato, I realized just how blessed I was to be able to doing what I was doing. While we were chatting Ida and I talked about how we needed to relax more, to take in the day and live, because in each of our respective cultures we have a very high focus on working. Relaxing for me is taking a hot yoga class, but here people spend time just being together. I know back home in LA that if you’re not doing something you’re wasting time. People are rushing from one place to another, eating lunch on the go, in class, on the way to work, etc.  I know because I’m guilty of doing this too and having the mentality that I have to keep up with my work. Ida said it’s the same in Finland, that people are heavily focused on work and not on taking time to enjoy the day or sit under the sun like we did today. I only hope that when I go back home ( 😦 ) I can keep a small portion of this mentality and truly enjoy my life by taking time to do the things I want to do, not the things I think I have to do. It will be hard doing this with my classes and organizations compared to the pass/no pass classes I have now, but I am determined to change my mindset! It’s a new way to apply to life one of my favorite mottos, “never live the same day twice.”

The tiny park in Principe Real. Lots of old people reading newspapers, kids playing in the streets, pigeons taking a bath in the fountain. Reminds me of what I think “old Europe” would be like.