Finding our Love for the Portuguese Culture!
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Bom dia (Good morning)!!
Adjusting to a new Culture
Our goal for the first few days, of the students' study abroad trip, is to give them all the resources they need to have a successful and life-changing adventure abroad. Part of how we prepare them for success is by teaching them “survival Portuguese”. They learn the basics so that no matter where they are they can order food, find a bathroom, make purchases, say hello to a local, and get directions. Yesterday, we had our first “survival Portuguese” class. Everyone was giggling at one another at the beginning because of how foreign and different we sounded, but by the end everyone was able to introduce themselves and ask questions in Portuguese!!
We've come to realize that Portugal's culture is a lot quieter than ours. When walking down a street full of people you barely hear any chatter, while if it was a street in the U.S, we'd have to be shouting over each other! There also aren't any condiments when you are out to eat. The students are barely surviving without their ketchup. Ha-ha, Just kidding, they are adjusting and eating a lot of new foods! With every meal we begin with a pureed vegetable soup. Each soup includes a base vegetable like pumpkin or squash blended with onions or carrots and a leafy green like spinach. The Portuguese also eat a lot of fish with bones in it (some of the students are having to adjust to this, because who would have thought fish have bones?!).
Pastel de Belem, is a a Portuguese, egg tart pastry that all the kids were able to eat and they loved it!
Touring the City!
After our “Survival Portuguese” we headed to the streets to test it out and have a tour of Lisbon. We visited the Jeronimos Monastery and Belem Tower, both famous landmarks in Lisbon. They had beautiful architecture and looked like something out of a story book! Portugal is known for their structures having intricate tile work and being painted in an array of color. We also visited the famous statue Marquis of Pombal Square seen in Eduardo VII park.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE!!!
Today Michelle's 17th birthday and we are so happy to have her in our CIEE family!
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