By Chizuru Uko
Loving Lisbon has been very easy for me. In the past couple of weeks, I have had so much more free time than usual during the week. While joggling travel, learning Portuguese, building relationships I have made a mental note to spend a good chunk of time at various beaches in Portugal.
Every beach has its individual character ranging from the crowd, to the color of the water, the texture of the sand and the animals you see while snorkeling. Beach hopping has made me fall deeply in love with the ocean, I suddenly have so much respect for the waves around me and the vastness of the ocean. I didn’t realize how intense this had become till I was in a thermal bath in Budapest and got disappointed by the dullness of restricted water.
Similar to most study abroad stories, some of my top beach experiences were at islands I visited in the spur of the moment like Burlengas. Hiking to the beach and the castle here truly made me feel alive and like I was on top of the world.
I am easily a free spirit, I love meeting new people and thrive on getting to know someone with a different background. I have really struggled with this through my program because the people selected are very similar to my friends in America.
I was initially very frustrated that we only took classes together and had so many group activities to encourage group bonding. But with time I found a way to create balance, I was able to identify local communities and groups where I got to interact with other locals like my kizomba dance class and my Hillsong connect group. Taking these bold steps have been very daunting but have made it possible for me to recreate little pockets of things I like to do with people who challenge the way I think.
