update from BEST course

When you last heard from me I was in Madrid not really enjoying myself. The last night I was there was much better. I talked to an Irish guy and went out with a group of people he knew. It was fun. I think I got back to the hotel at 7am...

A good experience, but didn't get the full effect of Madrid unfortunately.

Now I'm in Lisbon as a co-organizer of a BEST summer course (www.best.eu.org) for 2 weeks. It's been amazing. Put 30 students from all over Europe together (plus one Canadian) and it's an enlightening experience.

The first weekend we went camping & visited the beaches, which were stunning. Swimming in saltwater with huge waves (by my definition, they were small according to the Portugese participants) coming at me was so much fun; makes me want to try surfing. Classes are just starting now. Lots of partying going on. Alcohol units consumed in the past 3 days: really I've lost count.

long overdue entry...

First, sorry for the delay! It's been quite the couple weeks since I left.
Traveling has been amazing, but stressful at times too - all in all it's been a
great learning experience so far.

So! First some notes-to-self:

Travelling Tips So Far

1. Money: bring bigger traveller cheques. exchange currency in Canada (rather
   than abroad)
2. Accomodations: book ahead if possible. Go to hostelworld.com ^ get the ones
   with good ratings. If booking last minute, call places rather than relying of
   internet (found it unreliable at times).
3. Packing: bring a diversity of clothes (inc. dressy clothes) rather than
   large quantity of the same type of clothes (i.e. 5 t-shirts).
4. Packing food: I packed too much food! It was good to have some food I could
   eat easily when nothing else was readily available, but I only needed like 2
   meals worth max.
5. Don't think about money too much.
6. In each city: upon arrival, book train tickets for the next leg of the trip
   asap (saves time later on). If you're like me and have a horrible sense of
   direction, buy a map and/or dictionary.

Somewhat-Important Things I've Learnt About
Myself:

1. I previously thought I had a charming, Hugh Grant-like befuddlement to me... but now I realize that my forgetfulness can be really annoying (something that I've probably been told before but skeptically ignored). I left a lot of tasks to the last minute, inc. packing (luckily my mom can pack quickly and efficiently). When I got into Amsterdam I didn't write down the address of the hostel I was staying at... luckily I remembered the name and the information desk guy was nice enough to look it up. I've gotten lost a bunch (esp. in Amsterdam, their streets are circular and really hard to pronouce). I was supposed to meet this one Quebecois girl in the Louvre but I got totally lost. Honestly...
2. Oh, I also missed my train to Grenoble! It turned out that it was the last one that day. I literally stood at the station and said 'fuck' for like ten minutes. Then I just thought it was really funny. But it was good, I got to stay for the night of Bastille Day at Sacre Coeur and had a blast. Paris is quite an amazing place, I don't think I'd ever get used to living in the same city as places like the Louvre...
3. Traveling alone was tough at first, especially because I didn't really seem to blend in with the people in the hostel I stayed at in Amsterdam - except this one girl who came in from Rwanda and wanted to be a journalist and her friend from Germany, but they left the first night. Once I was in Paris though, it was much better - I quite liked the city and the people I met.
4. I'd say the pros of going solo are mostly that you have a lot more freedom and can meet a lot of people (it can be easier to talk to others/for others to talk to you). But it's nice to see a friend who you know and trust; I was quite happy to visit Darrin in Grenoble.

Anyways, I'll post more about the actual places I visited =) And pictures too if I can figure out how in these internet cafes.

Adios for now!

I hope this works! I have to finish packing and run to the airport now (i should stop being so last minute).