A weekend trip to Lisbon!

The international office here at the University of Aveiro coordinates monthly excursions and this month it was a 2 day trip to Lisbon for only 60 euro (including transportation, lodging, 2 meals, and a tour guide named Joan (pronounced Cho-uuuuun) who laughed at his own jokes.) There were about 100 international students from all 5 continents and we packed into 2 buses and headed out...and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the coast and Lisbon area. Honestly, this place is under-rated, but shhhhhh, don't tell anyone because it's more beauty for all of us to enjoy.


Nazaré
The first stop was in Nazaré, a picturesque seaside fishing village with a long stretch of sandy beach. We only stopped here for about 1 hour, so all I can tell you is I need to come back to this quaint little town that has a funicular that connects "up-town" with "down-town". You see, there is the town along the beach (A Praia) and the old town (O Sítio) is perched high upon a hill, overlooking the ocean. The women are known for the traditional dress, seven flannel skirts in different colors. Yep, the Nikon caught a few traditionally dressed women by the lens, and the one you see featured here told me off in Portuguese, as I hadn't bought her nuts.


Óbidos
...a medieval walled-off town was our second stop. The name of the town has Latin roots and means, "citadel" or "fortified city" and the history goes back as early as the 11th century, when the area was taken from the Muslim Moors. The wall still sits proudly protecting the town and you can walk around the entire wall while enjoying a birds-eye view of the colorful terracotta roofs, and the classic whitewashed houses. I felt like Shakespeare was whispering in my ears as I walked the wall and imagined warriors riding in on horses...wake up Leasa, it's just another fairytale!


Lisbon
Finally, we arrived in Lisbon and due to the cold that knocked me out, I only enjoyed the back of my eyelids. Yes, the common cold bug lives in Portugal too! I woke up 8:00 a.m., ate breakfast and was like...where is everyone, we were supposed to meet at 9 a.m.? When you miss the nightlife, you also miss important bits of information like daylight savings! So, I enjoyed a morning walk in Lisbon and then we were off to see the sunny city. We jumped, and jumped some more in the Praça do Comércio, visited the 15th century Belém tower (a UNESCO world heritage site) and the mack-daddy of all monasteries, Mosteiro dos Jerónimos.

Sintra

After a sunny day in Lisbon, we headed to Sintra, a sweet little town nestled in the mountains. This was a great place to end the trip, as the narrow cobblestone streets and stunning views of castles on the mountainous horizon just gave us one last piece of heaven before the reality of graduate school hits. You see, we have a 10 page paper due in Economics on Friday...but this weekend, we are free to dream of Shakespeare and knock off a few more UNESCO world heritage sites. Which by the way, Sintra is on that world heritage list too.

This is a picture of the "crew"...my HEEM colleagues who decided to invest in their cultural capital rather than their human capital this weekend. Bad students!

Hazing in Portugal is Totally Normal!

Yep! In Portugal, hazing is completely normal, in fact it is a part of everyday life for the freshmen at the University of Aveiro. Imagine a huge bucket of ketchup, eggs, mustard, mayonnaise, grass, jelly, pudding, garlic puree, and yogurt all mixed together and then smeared on your head..now that is what I call a freshmen hair mask. But, this type of behavior is totally accepted...

haz·ing /ˈheɪzɪŋ/ [hey-zing]
–noun
"subjection to harassment or ridicule."

If you are a first year student ("fresh") at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, get ready for an annual ritual that will make you sing and dance as if you were a child again. The Portuguese Universities have a long-standing tradition of allowing older students to haze the first year students, it's the freshmen experience. The students are split up in their individual departments and on Wednesday afternoons the older students wear black capes (that makes you think you are in Harry Potter land) and the "fresh" prepare themselves for fun, ridicule, joking, and even humiliation. Last Wednesday, I stumbled upon many groups of students that were performing, under the direction of the Harry Potter capes, numerous push-ups, dancing like fairies, feeding each other yogurt (with blindfolds), cleaning the bottom of the canal (with clothes on), blowing an egg across the sidewalk as the older students poured ketshup on their heads, and smashing eggs on each other's heads. It is quite a sight.

This Wednesday was the "baptism" of the "fresh" where the students parade from the campus to the center of Aveiro wearing diapers on their heads and condoms, filled with stuff from that bucket I mentioned earlier, dangle around their neck, as the police escorts close down the streets. Once they arrive in the park in the center of Aveiro, the "fresh" sit together chanting, singing and cheering for about 2 hours as each department get's baptised (the older students in black capes pour water and salt on the heads of the "fresh".) Here is a video highlighting the explicit student life here in Aveiro. Enjoy!

Leasa Sounds Off...News from Around the Globe!

I have come to take a great interest in world events, as I believe a well-informed world citizen makes for a good traveler. Plus, when you have spent time in many countries and have friends from different parts of the world, news events take on a different meaning because of these connections. This week has been a BIG news week. Time to step up on my soap-box...

First, "my" (this possession will become important later) Colorado Rockies baseball team are going to the World Series. By the way, why do they call it a World Series...it's not a world series, it's a U.S. series? (Just one more reason to perceive the American's as arrogant.) Anyway...I digress, I have been to many Rockies games and sang during the 7th inning stretch ("take me out to the ball game..."), watched other people devour foot-long hotdogs with sauerkraut, mustard, ketshup and onions, cheered my friends on as they ate rocky mountain oysters (Shannel & Renaud). As you can tell, the socializing in the stands usually took precedence over the banausic 3 hour game of American baseball. Wait a minute, the Rockies don't suck anymore, and I can jump on the bandwagon of faithful (fair-weather) fans. Woohoo, GO ROCKIES!!
Photos: The Colorado Rockies home field & Schanell (my cousin) & Renaud (Mr. Aussie triathlete) trying Rocky Mountain Oysters, yum!

Second, the Rugby World Cup Final was HOT and the South African Springboks won! I have no idea how to play rugby or why the men are stocky and have cauliflower ears...but it's a South African team baby and Mandela even wished them well. These wins are important for the pride and politics in South Africa as it brings people of all colors together, and this is needed in a country that has a history of division. Woohoo, CONGRATS SPRINGBOKS!

Photo: All colors came out to celebrate the Springboks win.



And finally onto more somber news...Pakistan's exiled Prime Minister went back to her home country to negotiate a power-sharing arrangement this week. This is huge because... many "non-believers" want her head on a plate, she is the first women PM in Pakistan, and she is one brave mama. Having friends from Pakistan and India makes this news even more interesting, as I learned about the scandalous government from my friend Adnan. Personally, I think she is crazy but she is a woman with a mission. You go girl! Photo: Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Picnic Time!

An adult picnic with childhood games! Most of us are in our late 20's or even on the road to 4-0, yet this two year break from managing people, conducting meetings, and overseeing projects have allowed us all to be jovial. Seriously, you are never too old to pop balloons with a partner, or be blindfolded and walk through a park with curious on-lookers (who are these foreigners and what are they doing???) The date was October 12 and it was a beautiful, sunny day in Aveiro, perfect for a picnic with your classmates.

Women Who Wine!

The ladies who live in APTO AA on Rua Condessa Mumadona are a little wacky! They meet every Sunday, cook dinner together, drink Portuguese wine and end the evening looking like coal miners.

What is going on?

Move over Oprah, these women who wine are goal-oriented divas! Sunday nights are when we visit our weekly goals (made the subsequent Sunday night) and when a goal is left behind, the cork (from the empty bottle of wine) takes on special meaning as it is burned, cooled and lightly pressed on the face of the individual who spent their time blogging rather than reading about their human capital. Who knew a cork would have so much inspiration, drive, and motivation behind it??

P.S. I hear burnt cork is great for the skin.

Back to Normal...

After an incredible summer, life (as we know it) is back to normal. We have all come to Portugal with summer stories of our experiences; traveling through Eastern Europe, living in South Africa, trying to understand the Australian accent, working at the night market in Thailand, celebrating the new millennium in Ethiopia, and living in Portugal. Some have been changed by their summer experience, while others had another commute in the organic self-discovery of life. Yet, we have come back together as if no time has passed. We had our first week of classes (in the Economics of Higher Education) and our human capital is back on the rise again as we are now in paper-writing mode as well as preparing for our final thesis presentation due in 4 weeks. Life is back to normal! The routines have started to form; same supermercado, the walk to campus, skype dates with friends and families, the favorite cafes, best place to study, text messages from classmates, and caffeine breaks during classes. Our cohort class is very much like a family (and every family comes with a little dysfunction.) The group dynamics are settling in but not without a fair share of restlessness and compromise. Perhaps part of the restlessness has to do with the fact that everyone can feel the future, as discussions about the thesis and life after the program surface regularly. We all know that in 2 months, we will split off and begin another journey in this epic adventure, the thesis-writing joy-ride. Therefore, we must make the most of our time together NOW, which is never a problem for this group, as we are naturally a social group. The social nature of our cohort was kicked into high gear this weekend, as a few of us attended an Id Muslim dinner (a feast after 30 days of fasting) and then met up with the others to taste the Aveiro nightlife. Saturday we have planned a picnic and Sunday is a trip to the beach. Yep, life is back to normal!

Big Decisions in Portugal!

My sojourn days are over and now it's back to the books. Long are the days of being a free spirited traveler flying by the seats of my pants, now it's time to buckle down and get serious! (Someone please wake me up from this nightmare.) In January, my cohort class of 17 will split apart and begin writing our master's thesis in different places around the globe which will be the cessation of this 2-year European fairytale. Therefore, I have had some major decisions to make about my future (after a considerable amount of soul-searching.)

Top 5 BIG decisions:

(number 5 is the best...)

1.) I want to stay in Portugal to write my thesis (ah-ha moment!) About 3 months ago I wanted to go back to Oslo, but after really thinking about it...there is too much bureaucratic stress there, and it costs an arm and leg to live there. Plus, this quaint town of Aveiro is the epitome of a European city; there are cozy cafes on every corner, cheap wine in the supermercado, the language is manageable (Portuguese is similiar to Spanish), there is a hip, student vibe to life, and it's easy to travel from here. And you know me...if I want something, I go after it. So, that is just what I did...I researched the professors at the University of Aveiro & Porto and wrote to one them who was well-published and an expert in my topic area. Early this week I got word that he was interested in serving as my advisor. WOOHOO! So, I'm staying in Portugal.

2.) I finally have a REAL thesis topic! I won't be writing on the theoretic underpinning of airplane food in Europe, I will write my thesis on the Internationalization of South African Higher Education. The U.S. system of higher education is saturated with research, therefore I have chosen to investigate a higher education system that has just opened to the international community in the last 13 years (since apartheid was abolished.)

3.) I am applying for PhD programs (in the U.S.) As much as this makes me lugubrious-with the thought of leaving my European lifestyle, it is the best place for me to puruse a PhD (according to my pro/con list...not my heart).

4.) I will not be going home to Colorado for Christmas. (Tear)

5.) I really love the travel channel and am looking for a way to just trash all of these future plans and work as a travel show personality. Does anyone have connections??

Here are some photos of Aveiro, where I will settle in until July 2008.

Reflections on South Africa

Sanibonani (Hello...in Zulu)!

I am a globetrotting aficionado because it not only feeds my thirst for adventure, but it warrants me the fortuity to experience unique cultures, diverse ways of living, thinking, and existing on this planet. Many people said South Africa would get into my blood...but I never thought it would have the impact that it did on my heart and my mind. Let me be honest, I didn't know much about the South African history before I arrived (stereotypical American), but I never thought my 2 months of "South African schooling" would be so intense and often times overwhelming.

The "school" was unlike any typical classroom situation, as my teachers were the friends I met everyday through the University of Pretoria and my travels. Through their personal stories, perspectives, and realities I became the student, absorbed by the search for knowledge about apartheid and today's truth (as much as you can discern everyday truth!)

As Oprah would say, "What I know for sure..."

I have come to honor Mandela for his forgiveness, leadership, and his eternal belief that South Africa can be a rainbow nation. I discovered that my independent nature was stifled in South Africa, as I couldn't be out alone after 6 p.m., yet the time at home at night (without a TV, radio or internet) become my sacred time for yoga, reflection of the day's lessons, and further studies. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the country; untouched coastline, rolling hills, drylands, lush mountains, vineyards, sugar cane fields, african sunsets, and the ocean. I have been shocked and bewildered by the magnitude of poverty and violent crime. I learned that higher education in South Africa is transforming as traditionally black and white institutions are merging and integrating the races. I quickly learned to walk fast, NOT look like a tourist, be swallowed by my own fear, and distribute my money in my money belt with an extra stash in my pocket in case I am robbed (which never happened...thank goodness!) I have discovered that a 12-seater mini-van can easily turn into a 23-seater, an open lap is an open seat. I discovered that rooibos tea, biltong (beef jerky), and bunny chow (yummy!) are plentiful in South Africa and I was satiated by them. I have made an effort to understand the human spirit and realities of the black townships, yet I feel like I would need at least a few years fully immersed in that culture to truly understand it. My mind and heart have opened to the beauty and boundaries of interracial relationships. The personal stories of triumph and sacrifice will continue to live in my heart and mind. Viva South Africa!

I thank all of you who have opened your world to me and shared your culture with me. You have all touched my heart and mind and I have enjoyed your kindness and company...Peter, Heather, Dawn, Ninette, Linda, Helen, Edwin, Palesa, Wendy, Lungi, Robert, and Eva.

Salani kahle (Go Well...in Zulu)!