Pan Am and An Enchanted Forest

Thanks to my good friend, Jenn Doran, I recently got into the show Pan Am. While I admit, I don’t really have the time to watch anything; I have squeezed in an hour here and there to watch the first few episodes. I’m hooked! I’m completely fascinated by the lives of these stuartists as they jet-set around the world and live completely carefree. Before leaving for my trip, I dreamed of what it would be like to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The farthest I’d flown before now was NYC.  My flight to New York was crowded, cramped, and cold, but that’s to be expected on any airline. I knew it wasn’t going to be quite like Pan Am, but I thought surely…surely…the trans-Atlantic flight would be roomier and a little more luxurious. I was wrong. Dead wrong. Yes, I was in coach, so not much is to be expected, but I’ve been on better planes just flying to Fresno! It was old, crowded, the flight attendants were so rude, and….I missed my connecting flight to Portugal because the plane was delayed. Yep. Now what? All I can say is THANK GOODNESS I was in an English speaking country. Ya, I know, everyone in Europe speaks English, but I did feel a little better trying to rearrange flights, transport to a different terminal, check-in again, etc knowing that at if I needed anything at all, I could as for help and there wouldn’t be a language barrier.  So….I finally made it to my new connection to Portugal and as I’m boarding the plane, what do I realize? That super cute, soooo European, black button-up raincoat I purchased specifically for this trip was gone. Yep…gone. While running through the airport to catch my plane, it must have slipped out of my bag.  Someone in the Heathrow just scored a really nice jacket. Now I’m left to make my first purchase in Europe. I really hope they have jackets as cute as that one was. I’m sure they have better!

Travels to Europe may have been a little rocky, but a missed flight and a lost jacket aside, I’m so beyond excited to start this adventure! And, some good things did happen along the way.  Thanks to the technology of Drop Box and a helpful roommate, Jeremy was able to send me all the files I forgot to load onto my laptop to get homework done. Marketing Plan – done! Econ mid-term – almost done! Econ Term Paper – DONE! Marketing make-up work for missing 3 weeks of school – done! Unfortunately, I was so caught up in getting work done that I forgot to sleep.  It’s now 10am here (2am in California) and I’ve been up since 5am…and there’s no sign of sleep until about 8:30pm our time tonight (that’s another 10.5 hours I need to stay awake). Hey, at least I’ll sleep really really well tonight.  (Did I mention I’m currently writing this portion on the flight to Portugal?)

Side note – all the anxiety of rushing to make my new Portugal flight connection was completely alleviated once I stood in line to board the plane and surrounding me was glorious sounds of British accents. I was in heaven! I felt like I was living at Hogwarts or in the Royal Palace. It was beautiful. I even picked up a free paper on my way into the plan so I could see what the locals are talking about.  From what I’ve read, the UK is in just as much of an economic debacle as the U.S. and Brits obsess just as much about celebrities (the Royals) as we do. Comforting.  

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It is now 6:15pm in Portugal (10:15am in California) and we’re back from a day of sightseeing.  Our professors wanted us to stay awake so we’d sleep well and help fight off jet lag, so they loaded us with European coffee and took us to Sintra, Portugal. WOW….just WOW! I didn’t know what to expect from this country, but it is absolutely beautiful. We were saying that Sintra looks just like an enchanted forest from a fairy tale, complete with mossy gates, buildings 500 years old, over grown trees, and a real, live castle. We spent the time looking through shops, eating roasted chestnuts from a street vendor, and trying Port wine. Then we drove up to take a closer look at the castle. It was a wonderful day! I’m absolutely exhausted, but so so so happy and excited for this great adventure.

Day 1 (well, more like 32 hours) is officially complete...I'm finally posting this blog at the end of my day: 9:15pm Lisbon time, 1:15pm California time. Sigh. I'm exhausted. 

Here are a few photos from our adventure in Sintra!

 Shopping in Sintra

 Isn't this place so cute!?

 The PLNU Crew: Staff, Faculty, and Students

 Getting artsy!

Exhausted, but happy!