Surfing time & sunburns

Good morning fellow bloggers!

It is Monday morning and getting up was like hell… Last week was one of the busiest weekends I’ve ever had in Lisbon.  So let’s start explaining you why I had so much to do.

Wednesday a Belgian friend of us arrived in Lisbon for a 6 day holiday. Of course we had to celebrate his arrival that day, we went for dinner in the Living Lounge Hostel and after went out to Bairro Alto, which resulted in a very hard and sleepy workday. 

Then on Friday, we went out for a birthday lunch with the colleagues from work. It was very nice and a great opportunity to get to know my colleagues better. That day an American friend also returned from his trip to Mozambique, which also gave us an extra reason to celebrate the start of the weekend! We went out with some friends and guests from the hostel. 

Saturday was a very important day for me, because I had my first surf lesson that day. I must say, this is one of the most amazing sports I ever did. I finally understand why everybody here is constantly talking about surfing. The instructors at the surf school are really nice and relaxed people. After an hour of practice I was able to stand up on a board for the first time. I never got so happy in my life about an accomplishment in a sport.

Sunday morning I had my 2^nd surf lesson. Two friends of mine joined me this time. The waves were much stronger and chaotic than the first time, so unfortunately I wasn’t able to stand up on my board as many times as the day before. But it was still loads of fun and it made me even more addicted to it. After surfing we relaxed with a coffee and enjoyed the sun. After some hours we decided to rent a board and wetsuit and go try again on our own. The guy who rented us the material was really friendly, because he kept his surf shop open for 1 hour extra, so we still could surf for 2 hours, and he even gave us a special price. I must say, surfers are one of the friendliest people I have ever met in my life. The current was even stronger than this morning and the waves were a total mess. But that didn’t bring us down and we enjoyed surfing until the 2 hours were over.

In the evening we went for dinner in the hostel and thought back on the day with a smile and a lot of sunburns… 

I’m loving Lisbon more and more every day and I’m regretting that time flies by so fast here. I can’t believe that my first month here is already over. 

Sun, sea and beach

It has been a while since I last updated my blog, so let me tell you what I have been doing the past few days and weeks.

My 4th week in Lisbon has started and the weather this weekend was fantastic! Spend my entire weekend on the beach, enjoying the sun. Definitely an improvement when you compare it to the weather of the last few weeks. Unfortunately I saw on the weather forecast that the weather will get bad again by the end of the week. But I don’t let myself get down by this, because this is still a lot better than the Belgian weather!

This Saturday we visited Cascais, it is a village west of Lisbon which is located by the Atlantic Ocean. Very beautiful place and it really gives you a holiday feeling. There my roommate and I found an unpopulated place on the cliffs where we could enjoy the sun and away from the tourists. It wasn’t easy to reach it, especially with slippers on. 

 

There I noticed that the ocean is pretty dangerous near the cliffs, because the current is very strong. Still that didn’t stop me to do a swim. Beside the cold temperature of the water and the dangerous current, it was very nice to be able to go swimming for the first time in Portugal.

Sunday we went to Carcavelos, a place with a larger beach and a lot of surfers. After seeing the people surf, I  decided that I really want to learn this. I’m planning to go and make an appointment with a surf school somewhere this week. It was a really lazy day, because we didn’t anything else besides enjoying the sun and swimming in the sea.

In the evening we mostly go to Bairro Alto, this is a name given to a number of streets that is in the center of Lisbon. In the day, most of these streets are empty, but at night is really comes alive and transforms into an open air festival. This is a great way to spend your evening in Lisbon and really shows you that the people are used to living outside (when the weather is warm and dry).

OK, enough about what I do in my past time, it is not only partying and relaxing. You may not believe it, but we also work here in Portugal. My project had a very difficult start, because it is made by other people and difficult to understand by someone who is inexperienced like me. But I’m starting to understand my project better now, so the amount of work I can get done is improving. Unfortunately this doesn’t make the problems go away faster, because new problems keep on popping up every day. I hope we can find a good solution this week, so I can achieve some good results by the end of this week. (Sorry for being so vague, but I can’t say what I’m doing exactly because my project has to stay a secret until it is published).

End of the first week

Good afternoon everyone,

My first week in Lisbon is coming to an end and I'm starting to get used to the Portuguese lifestyle. On Wednesday I finally got my own computer and all the other stuff I needed to start my work. I have mostly done tutorials to get to known the software tool I will need for my assignment.

Yesterday I started exploring Lisbon city center for the first time with my camera and I'm starting to get to know the streets of Lisbon.

My apartment (we live in the bottom apartment)

I noticed that Lisbon is really beautiful and has a lot of monuments, original buildings and I found a few places that have really beautiful views. I was really tired after a few hours, because Lisbon is built on a hill, so it is constantly going up or down. Also the streets are not made for rain, because it gets really slippery when the stones are wet (my hand felt the consequence of that).

View or Lisbon

Really wanted to go to the beach today, but the weather was bad, so I will have do this the next weekend. Next weekend will try to learn how to surf :).

Week 2, bring it on!

First days at work

Monday morning, little excited because today is the first day I will go to work at Biodroid Entertainment. It is a company which creates games for smartphones, etc.

Was really glad that I could follow my Belgian colleagues, else I would never have found this place. 

The location is very nice, it are old storage buildings near the water that have been restored and are now all art galleries, fashion stores and of course my workplace.

First problem of the day: the boss isn't present and nobody has any idea what I have to do, where my desk is, ... After a few phone calls I get a desk and a computer. I have to set up the computer myself, but next problem I don't have internet or a user account. So I have to work on my own laptop. Problem 3: my laptop can't run the software that I need to build games, so I have almost nothing to do.

In the afternoon the boss arrives tells me what my project will me, but he also isn't able to help me with the user account or my software error. We have to wait for another person who should arrive on Tuesday. By the end of Tuesday afternoon, the boss still can't contact the person responsible to fix my problems. Another useless day at work.

Day 3, situation is still the same as in the afternoon of day 1, oh happy days...

Bem-vindo a Lisboa

Hi!

Arrived safe and well in Lisbon. Took a taxi at the airport and noticed it is a lot cheaper than in Helsinki!
Only had time to put my luggage away and immediately explored the Portuguese nightlife with my flat mates and there friends. They were all very nice and cool people! A great start I would say.

Next day woke up and enjoyed the Portuguese climate on my balcony, 20 degrees and sunny, much better than the Belgian weather. The funny thing is, the locals are dressed like it is really cold. 

Went shopping for all the necessary supplies and found out that it really sucks here to be a vegetarian, because they put meat or fish in everything. Also not knowing one word of Portuguese has it disadvantages and unfortunately not many people can speak English. But after a couple of hours found everything I needed and was ready to go back home.

In the afternoon went to the Centre again to relax with a drink and enjoy the view of the city with my new friends. This is what life is all about!

Tomorow first day at work at Biodroid Entertainment! Looking forward to it!

Boa noite e vê-lo amanhã