Weeks 6 and 7 :)

Week 6

Another not so eventful week! Had a really good night with the Breiners and then they all went home and I was caught by my Portuguese crew and had an amazing night dancing to Mambo #5 and other such classics. The highlight of the week was a day trip to Aveiro with Ania and Charlotte. We agreed to leave at 12pm and so when Charlotte didn't surface by around half past we decided to leave without her and ended up meeting her at the station. When we arrived in Aveiro we walked and walked trying to find out why it was called the Venice of Portugal... then we found a canal so we settled for this. A brilliant bus tour and a boat trip along the canals took up a good few hours before we decided to come back and go out for a meal.

Week 7

Day 43 - Waking up at half 7 in the morning is hard enough without turning up for the lecture only to be told the teacher is ill. Which would have been lovely had I not had another 2 hour lecture afterwards and so ended up sitting in the university like a lemon for 2 hours. The second lecture was pretty decent although I was asked to comment on a poem and gave a rather vacant look before the teacher moved on. I would have done the same in England though. In the evening I had been given a mission to round the troops for a weekend of outdoor activities.

Eventually we all managed to get on the bus down to Campidouro where we would be staying for the weekend. That evening we were treated to Bolognaise, snacks and alcohol in front of a fire with a few renditions on the guitar. Francesca got drunk and ended up crying on me... and we all slept in bunk beds in a small building by the river.

Day 44 - Getting up relatively early, we had a walk down to the little beach by the river. The camp is in the middle of a forest kind of place with the river running through it. We sat and had breakfast outside and sunbathed for a while until it was time for paintball action! The outfits were quiet large for the women but gave away a little too much for the men. With our guns and helmets ready we were split into teams and tried to come up with tactics. These tactics didn't go too well. The paintball area was like a valley with steep hills which u could slide down and crawl along the floor like in films. Well.. that's what I did anyway! I managed to kill a few people in the first game. The second game I had no real idea of what I was supposed to be doing and so when Ali finally shot me 3 times in the same place I was pretty glad to be walking away. After paintballing a few of us headed down to the beach to canoe and swim. I got in fully clothed and then realised I had a white t-shirt on. Big mistake. The day ended with a fire, a BBQ, lots of alcohol, me getting drunk and crying on Francesca, more music and more laughs.

Day 45 - We all got up quite late and had a bite to eat before heading out on a walk along the river and then up some sort of mountain (big hill). Me and Ali did the old naming sticks game and took it all rather seriously. I will miss Dave. We were fed and sent on our way back to Breiner, all pretty sad because we'd had such a good weekend.

Day 46 - I decided not to go to the lecture. Ali came home and said that he thought the guy must still be ill because he wasnt there... but actually he just went to the wrong room!

Day 47 - I went to a lecture!!!! Wow I know. And it was quite good. Anyway. After recovering from getting up I socialised in the kitchen before going for a walk through the park to a wine bar. I had a Rose Port cocktail thing and we sat outside and looked over the river. I love Porto too much!! In the evening we had a dinner party to thank the people that helped out over the weekend and have a look at the photos. We headed out to bar 77 for some drinks and some table football and then to a little club at the end of my road which I had never seen before. It was so small and so close and so cool! A little reggae evening, lots of dancing A LOT of drinking. My god. I was so drunk that I was having a really deep conversation about men with my beer bottle. He's called Cristal Pilsener. Yeah. I know. But he's a good listener.

Day 48- I got up at around 4pm. I gathered the girls. I took them to Primark. I spent up. I came home. This, although quite simple, was a very successful day.

Day 49 - I ended this week by going to a Graffiti party :) We all got a free white shirt and a free pen and went mad, writing endless rude comments and confessing our undying love for each other all over each other's shirts. Great :)