Upbeat Update

First I'd like to say that Spring has really hit here and some days it's 75 and really sunny. Most of the trees have leaves now and it's generally more pleasant in the city. A lot more people are on the street  and the kite&windsurfers are out on the weekend.

Anyway tomorrow I'm going to Hungary with my school. It was all really last minute and stressful but I'm really glad I get to go, and I'm so thankful I got the opportunity and help from my parents and host family. I'm going to stay with a host family there and go to a Hungarian school for two days, and then we're going to Vienna, Austria for a day, and Slovakia for a day somewhere in the rest of the trip. I'll be there for 7 days and when I come back I'm already on my two week Easter break. So it's really like I have three weeks of vacation. Almost as soon as I get back I'm going to Lisbon. So I have a nice couple of weeks ahead of me. After my three week easter break is over I only have six and a half weeks of school left, then summer break. It's scary how fast everything is going.

But first let me recap the past week: 

Last weekend I spent Saturday with exchange students from the year program in Viana. It was raining all day so we went bowling and sat in cafes. I'm very proud to say I bowled a 121. Usually I bowl in the 40-60 range, haha. 

 On Monday I did an oral presentation in P.E., my whole class had to do it. Two minutes, in Portuguese, without stuttering, all about "Dopping." I don't know the English translation but it's basically like any drug you use to enhance sports performance like steroids. I got a 20. No, that's not a 20% F, that's the highest grade you can get in Portugal since we use a scale of 0-20. I got a perfect score. I was really pleasantly surprised with myself. I had the best grade in my WHOLE class. I was the only one who talked for more than two minutes, and I'm the only one who really memorized it. My p.e. teacher gave a lecture to them after asking how it's possible that an American who's only been in Portugal for two and a half months did a better job than all of my classmates.

On Wednesday we finally presented our big dance that we've been working on for over two months in P.E.(Let me mention that I hate doing this and the whole class dreads practicing this and most days we managed to goof off and not do anything). There were four different dance groups, my group was obviously the worst, but we were the only ones that didn't mess up during the presentation and we got a 14/20, which is actually a pretty good grade in Portugal, like getting a B. I also got a 16.5/20 for badminton, which is really really high since if you get a 15 or higher in Portugal it's a big deal, plus in P.E. you're graded on your performance and not your attendance/effort. 

Yesterday I went out to lunch with some friends from my class, and when I got home I realized I had lost my phone, went back to the mall and they had it there, thankfully. Then I found out I could go to Hungary, after being told it was too late, so me and my host mom had to rush to the travel agency and buy the tickets. Anyway, I've been in a really good mood the past week besides all the chaos yesterday.

 After we got all of that settled my host mom had invited Emilia, Simão, Guilherme, and Guilherme's girlfriend Rita(We went to Serra da Estrela with them) over for a dinner. Today I didn't do much, just got some other things ready for my trip tomorrow, packed, and watch the movie "The Town" with my host family, it was pretty good. I'm all set for my trip tomorrow and I'm really excited to go. I'll make a post about the trip when I get back.

Here are some pictures from the past week or so:

Viana do Castelo

Viana do Castelo

 Main Avenue in Viana

Train Station in Viana