Departure/ My Unlucky Shirt

So today is the last morning I will be waking up in Portugal. I have been having mixed emotions about going home. I am really excited to see my family, but on the other hand I am sad to leave Portugal and all my new friends. Right now I am on the airplane bored out of my mind! We still have five hours left before we get to Philly. It’s only 1:16pm (Lisbon time) and it’s already been a long day. We all got an unexpected wakeup call this morning, although I was already awake. James and was saying our last good-byes to our ketchup bottle that has traveled all over Portugal with us. That ketchup bottle has probability seen more places in Portugal than the people that live there. This morning I had my outfit already picked out. I decided to wear the shirt and jeans that I purchased while in Porto. I was really unsure about wearing the shirt though. I have worn this shirt a few times in the past, and it’s proven itself to be unlucky. Although I was hesitant I chose to wear it anyways and boy was that a mistake! So far a few unlucky things have happened to me. When I checked in my luggage it was about 54 pounds! I came to Portugal with 43 pounds and I have no idea where the rest came from. Second once we all boarded the plane James realized that he lost his ipod. He thinks he left it with security when they had to check our carry-on luggage. The flight attendant let him go look but no luck (Obviously because of my shirt). The last unlucky thing that has happened was there was a lot of turbulence throughout our flight (I thought that was normal, but Jen blamed it on my shirt). This is not the first day it has been unlucky though. Yesterday I was determined to go out since it was our last day, but once I got dressed and everyone was ready (and I was wearing my unlucky shirt), I felt really sick so I stayed in. Also, the night before, we all got ready to go out in Porto to a club called Vogue, but that didn’t end up happening. We ended up walking around for a bit until 2am and then finally James, Jordan, Jen, and I found our way back to the hotel. I blame all that on this shirt.
After all that had happened I thought my bad luck was over but once again I was wrong. We finally got to the airport in Philly and everything was looking good. We got our luggage, passed security, got our passports checked. Everything had gone smoothly and we were minutes away from take off. The plane starts moving and we are getting ready to take off. All of the sudden the plane stops and the pilot announced that our plane is going to be taking off at 4:50pm because of severe weather conditions in Boston. We have been in Philly since 12pm and now we have to wait another hour and 40 minutes. Obviously this is all happening because of my unlucky shirt. I thought that was the last of it but I’m always mistaken. On the way home from the airport James and I got lost in Boston so I wasn’t home for another hour. I think that day was the longest, most unluckiest day of my life. Hopefully this shirt is only unlucky in Portugal. I look forward to wearing it a lot at home in the states.

Our Lady of Fatima Church

So today it is our last full day in Portugal. We didn’t do much, but what we did do was enjoyable. We were up for 8 all ready and packed to go back to Lisbon. On our way to the hotel we made a stop at the Our Lady of Fatima Church. While there I saw a lot of interesting things. When we first walked in, it was remarkable to find out that recently the Pope had visited there. When the Pope was there, thousands of people filled the church, inside and out. We all broke up into our own groups and walked around. James and I went into the church first. The church was gorgeous. To the back of the church there was a large statue. I think it was supposed to be a statue of Jesus, but it didn’t look like any statue I have ever seen of him. After going into the church James and I kept walking. We saw a mass going on to the opposite side of the church. During the mass I saw a few people circling the church on their knees wearing knee pads. It was interesting, and I am still unsure what they were doing. James and I also passed a section where you could purchase candles and then light them outside in memory of all who have passed away. A lot of people were just standing around watching the candles burn with tears coming from their eyes. After watching the candles for a bit James and I walked around the gift shops and headed back to the bus. During breakfast that morning, James and I took a couple rolls of bread so we ended up snacking on that while we waited for all the others to come back to the bus. Visiting the church was the only thing we had to do today so I’m just relaxing until later. Tonight we are supposed to be going out, but I’m not too sure where. Tomorrow morning we have to be up and ready at 7:30am! I’m sad to be leaving Portugal but excited to be going home!

The University of Porto

Walking into the University I was shocked to see the number of cars parked outside. I thought Bridgewater State College was bad, this was so much worse! At the college students can basically park anywhere. Finally after a short walk to the college we were in. The first thing we did was grab lunch at their cafeteria. While there school was in session so we were eating around students that attended the college. James and I had eaten earlier so we decided to share a steak plate, also known as a prego no prato. The plate came with fries, rice, an egg, and soup and salad. We decided against the soup and salad, although it looked delish! When it came time to pay the cashier assured us that the really nice gentleman who was giving the tour was paying for all of our food, which was really generous of him. We ate the food and it was delicious! Of course I brought my ketchup bottle knowing there was a chance they would not offer it but to my surprise they supplied bottles. I think I might have used up a whole bottle but I figured that it was alright since no one else in Portugal really uses it. Once we were done eating, we went a conference room where one of the college professors gave us a presentation on Portugal and some information on the college. We were then brought to the room where they keep all of the wiring for the school network. Before we entered the room, the gentleman giving the tour told us some interesting statistics about the school. The statistics were on the printers, email, computers, and voicemail. Something I found interesting was that students can print from any computer on campus or at home and the print job gets sent to the queue at the school and you can print from any printer near you. So if you wanted to type out a paper at home, you can send it to the campus printer and print it before class. I think Bridgewater State College should take a look into this because that is really convenient. After that building we visited the library. Personally, I didn’t think that the library was that great. I think Bridgewater has a better library. Overall, visiting the college was a great experience. Hopefully some day in the future Bridgewater State College will be as advanced and will offer the same options.

Carfi

Our visit to Carfi was very fun. The company is a family owned business and the daughter of the family was the one who gave us the tour. To start off the tour she brought us into a conference room and gave us a presentation of the business. There are a few interesting things that the company does. It is basically a company that produces products from scratch for a consumer. The company creates the plastic parts for any molds of products. A few examples she gave us were: the plastic parts for a fire hydrant, mugs, spray bottles, medical containers, and gardening spray bottles. The company can create molds from scratch and then send them out to produce products in bulk. There is also a branch in Poland and China. The branch in Poland is where they make the products in bulk. Carfi in Portugal produces the mold and then sends it to Poland with the quantity the consumer wants. Unlike Portugal and Poland, in China they have one person working that’s job purpose is to look around the area for the raw material at its cheapest price. All three branches work together for the same reason of satisfying the customer’s needs. Once she was done giving the presentation she showed us the factory where everything is made. The building was filled with large machines used to produce different products. We saw one machine making the medical containers. The machine made the plastic, stuck the sticker on the container, placed the lid on top, and then the gentleman working near the machine was boxing the product. It was shocking to see how fast the machine was producing the product. Continuing to see the factory, we saw large boxes filled with raw material and trucks loading more in. We also got to see the rooms where the employees work to develop the blue prints of some of the products. At the end of the trip I found it humorous how she could explain all the details about our Bridgewater State College coffee cups. She was a very intelligent woman with a great future ahead of her. I wish her family company the best of luck.

Cascais

Cascais was really fun. Once we got there we had free time to do whatever we’d like. Darleen, James, Jordan and I decided we’d rather walk around instead of going to the beach with the others. We walked around for a bit went inside a few souvenir shops. After walking up and down streets we saw a shopping center from afar. Trying to look for an entrance, we came across a Ferrari which is really cool because I’ve never seen one before. If James and Jordan didn’t point that out I would have known either. We were finally in the mall and decided to grab a bite to eat. Darleen was looking for shoes for a bit and then we headed up to the food court. What I’ve noticed since I’ve been here is that all the food courts in the mall are located on the top floor of the mall, and the whole top floor contains various types of food. Jordan and I are the only ones who ended up eating. We got subs from a sub shop with fries. I found it odd that ketchup was not offered with the fries. It seems that Portuguese tend not to use ketchup as often as Americans do. Because of this, when I went to Campo Pequeno yesterday, I decided to buy a bottle of ketchup so I could bring it around everywhere when they don’t offer it!

Bairro Alto/ Vasco De Gama Mall/ EMEF

Last night was crazy and what’s even crazier is that I woke up in time for today! Last night the group and I went out to Bairro Alto. It was really fun. Getting there was a bit of a pain. We had to climb mountains of stairs but none the less, we got there. We ended up finding a really fun bar filled with people. The Lady Gaga song just drew us in. Once we got in Julie told the DJ that if he played good music we would stay. Time passed quickly and the next thing we knew it was 2am! Minutes after walking in the streets we found three taxis on the side of the road. We all hopped in, four in each car, and were back on our way to the hotel. On the way home it was James, Allison, and I in the taxi. James was not feeling well so we ended up pulling over three times. We finally got back and I was exhausted. James still wasn’t feeling well so I ended up staying up until 4am with him and Joey. Today we went to the Vasco De Gama mall and EMEF. The Vasco De Gama mall was really nice. It was three stories and there was water falling from the top of the roof. James and I walked around and did a little bit of shopping. James still wasn’t feeling well so we didn’t do much like everyone else. Later on that day we went to EMEF. EMEF is a company that develops railway technology and monitors the transportation system. They warmly welcomed us with a table filled with food. We ate pizza, ham and cheese sandwiches, chicken, fish, and a variety of pastries. After we ate a listened to the presentation they gave us a tour of the company. After visiting the company James and I went to Campo Pequeno and went grocery shopping. It was a fun day!

Taguspark

Waking up to go to Taguspark was difficult. Waking up any day is difficult for me but the time zone difference in addition to jetlag made it even more difficult. I woke up earlier so I could start my day off with the complimentary breakfast but soon would be very disappointed. I got downstairs and was expecting a familiar breakfast, but instead found semi-cooked bacon, under-cooked eggs, warm juice, watery yogurt, warm fruit, and strange bread. That would be the last time I woke up early to eat there. After breakfast we got onto the bus and went straight to Taguspark. We were warmly welcomed and then brought up a few flights of stairs to a large conference room. Once in the room we all sat down and watched a video on Taguspark. When that was finished three men talked to us about their successful operations, and goals of their business. After that we went to the mall because we had a break before we visited Microsoft. The mall was really nice. James and I went to McDonalds for lunch. It was really good but it had unique taste to it. It was different than McDonalds in the United States, yet, still enjoyable. After lunch we walked around the mall for a bit, browsing in and out of stores just because we had some time left. There ended up being a grocery store inside of the mall, which is not normal back home, but very convenient because I did need to pick up a few things. Time flew and we were back at Taguspark. We then visited Microsoft. For me, that was the most interesting part of the day. They gave us a tour of their offices and explained what they did and what their goals were. We got to see a room called the “language lab” they explained how they were inventing things today that will be coming out ten years from now! Overall it was a productive day; it was interesting to see how all the companies work together in a centrally located science and technology park.