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.