} still missing portugal

came to school today even though i didnt want to at all. hmp. everybody seems to think that you can just walk into l'estadio de luz and start watching the final euro match. i had to explain to quite a lot of people today that you need TICKETS to get into a stadium.

the ironic thing about going to portugal during the euro season is that you don't even get to catch the matches, except of course if you went to portugal for the sole purpose of watching the euro. but the matches went on in the daytime, and daytime was generally our work/competition time, so we didn't get to watch anything...

the only match i watched was the denmark vs. czech, which, like 973871263 other people around the world, was watched on TV in a room. not in a stadium with 176325132 dangerously crazy fans.

anyway, i still miss portugal so damn much. i slept with the comforter on yesterday, the way we did in portugal cos its always so bloody cold there in the night... but the weather here is so hot i was sweating like mad. damn i miss that place so much.

anyway i will stop whining now and continue with writing about the trip.

Day 8 - Free & Easy

despite the name the day wasnt free or easy at all. first of all our lousy tour cost us 32 euro, and later on we did a lot of shopping which cost us more than 100 euro. and it wasnt easy cos most of us were lugging shopping bags all the way to the hotel, climbing up the hill etc etc at the end of the day.

during the tour we basically went around lisbon in a bus with a bunch of other people... i tried taking photos in a bus which isnt very easy at all, especially if you havent got the window seat and there are very tall people sitting at the front blocking your view. i got tired of it afterwards.

we visited some interesting places, although the tour guide was boring.. on the bus was a time to take a short nap and when we got down at some landmark it was basically a case of snapping shots all over the place. we went to see some statues, a castle, a carriage museum, an old part of lisbon called alfama or smthg... and a church. i think. the church was very nice. :)) took lots of photos.

after the tour we had lunch at some restaurant along the streets of lisbon.. where some greece fans were already marching and showing off their colours. me, novita, gloria and erin sat at one table and each of us ordered a plate of pasta cos the person there convinced us that the serving was small. we ended up with a big pot of pasta to ourselves, so we dumped quite a lot of pasta on mr alex's plate to help us finish it.

afterwards we went to an old castle... my fear of heights was tested once again, cos the castle was all stairs and high places without walls or railings.. quite scary. took some photos in quite stupid places. tourists were laughing at us cos some people screamed while going down the steps down.

then we did our shopping. went to a huge shopping centre just next to the luz stadium. it was damn cool... we could actually see part of the stadium from the windows in the mall. did a lot of shopping, but then we sort of forgot about seeing the stadium... oh no!

then we took a train all the way to oriente, to the oceanarium, to go to the euro superstore. which turned out to be just a huge old building with a huge euro poster over it. we just saw it one day and everyone assumed that it's the superstore.. nobody bothered to check the address or ask the locals or anything. oh well. we are really bad tourists.

so after having our feelings cheated, we went to sport zone instead in a shopping mall in oriente.. where i got some shirts and scarves... then we stopped by a petrol kiosk where we RAIDED the euro souvenirs stock there. i swear, the people were so delighted to see us cos we must have finished the leftover stock from throughout the season. oh well. everybody happy.

we took a train back to alameda, and walked up the treacherous hill to our hotel for the last time. it was quite relieving yet sad at the same time. then we did our team reflection in the hotel room, and packed our things. our bags and luggage were stuffed, i bet half of the content consisted of souvenirs.

when i went to sleep i tried hard not to cry cos it was the last night in the hotel and all... there was just a deep pit inside my stomach that lasted for the next 2 days... cos from the day we touched down on portugal i sort of knew i would miss that place a lot.

Day 9-day 10 - goodbye lisbon

left for the airport at approx. 10.45am. we took 5 taxis in total, i think. we seemed like a bigger group than before cos we had the primary school group with us. i was feeling quite bad inside.. i really really didnt want to leave.

the plane for paris took off at around 1. i did some physics along the way, which helped me forget about portugal, for a while at least. i bought some souvenirs for my mum and sister at the charles de gaulle airport, then read delle's book for the rest of the transit time to take my mind off things.

throughout the plane ride from paris i was counting down hours... out of dread, not excitement. i watched 2 movies in total: big fish and some chinese movie about a girl who smells very badly. very funny. kept me from thinking about portugal for about 2 hours, maybe. i couldnt do any work though, cos the lights in the plane were switched off most of the time, emily had my pencilcase, gloria had my a maths tys, and they were both asleep. so i tried sleeping a bit. time passed ridiculoudly fast in the plane... i had a childish temptation to refuse to get off when the plane had landed.

at the airport i met my parents who drove me home. they kept talking about the competition although i didnt want to talk about the trip at all... my heart quite pain when i think about it...

when i reached home i basically reached my sentimental point and all i could do was think, think, and think about the trip... blahh. unpacking was a real pain .

today i woke up thinking how much i miss portugal. had to drag myself off to school... the lessons were purely torture, i was only half-awake throughout the day. didnt understand much, barely anything went in.. dunno if i shld get extra classes or smthg. feeling quite upset now cos im still in a state of nostalgia, but i got to move on, its kinda annoying.

got to ask suhui for tmr's timetable now, hope she's still awake.

damn i swear i'll go back to portugal someday.



2004-07-06, 9:17 p.m..
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