I loved eating seafood in Portugal. One of my favorite meals was called caldeirada, a seafood stew. It consists of clams, mussels, squid and even octopus!
While abroad, I listened to both music from the U.S.A. as well as music in Portuguese. Lisbon has a large community of musicians. Many African immigrants live in Lisbon, and are creating music that incorporates the sounds of their continent's music with other genres from Europe and the U.S.A..
One of my favorite activities was going dolphin watching off of Setúbal, a city near Lisbon. There is a colony of dolphins that live in the bay, and I got so close to them! The boat ride was fun, and we also got to see other sights along the coast.
I read a lot for my classes in Lisbon. When you study abroad, studying is still the most important part! I read about the different styles of architecture in Lisbon, and I also read a research paper about Portuguese colonialism in South America.
My host family likes to play games after dinner. I played a board game called Risk with them one night. I won, but my host brother was a sore loser!
While I was in Portugal, they were holding elections for the government, and I saw some news coverage of the elections on TV. It was interesting to see the political campaigns in Portugal, and what issues matter to Portuguese voters.
