A Writing Assignment - Acting Silly In Portugal

You ever say a word or sentence and instantly know you’ve said something stupid? The moment of realization is always a millisecond too late, as everyone is suddenly paying attention, and everyone catches and repeats the unfortunate remark.

I usually think before I speak, but when asked if I wanted to travel for Spring Break my mouth blurted out “yes!” The last trip I had was to Boston, with my constant companion: homework. I’ve never had a trip where I didn’t bring along the extra baggage of a to-do list, and I desperately needed one.

I didn’t leave Portugal with a deeper understanding of something. I didn’t learn anything, I didn’t see connections, and I didn’t gain insight into myself. I had the first ever break in my life, and it was fun.

Three of us journeyed together to Cascais, Portugal, where we spent about a week relaxing and doing nothing, saying and doing whatever popped into our mind.


“Sinestra.”

Actually it’s Sintra, but that didn’t stop me from incorrectly asking baffled locals about it. By the time I got the actual name down, my friends made sure confuse me again.

Sintra is a historic wonderland of castles and shops, but what interested me most was Quinta da Regalerira, an estate created by an eccentric millionaire in the late 1800’s. It turned out he basically created a Discovery Zone for adults complete with a secret laboratory, trick mirror floors, and underground tunnels in the maze-like park. We were little kids again: scaring each other, searching for caves, climbing up medieval-looking towers. By the time we saw everything here it was well past closing time and we had to head back down to Cascais, the foreboding Moore Castle on the top of the mountain would have to wait for another trip.


“Do They Shoot Each Other?”

My friend Maggie posed this question while we watched a sporting event on television. Skiers raced cross country while stopping to shoot targets, and unfortunately Maggie thought targets might have a more menacing definition than a bullseye.

Television took up a lot of my time in Portugal. Comfy beds mixed with a plasma television tuned to American broadcasts were the perfect recipe for many lazily spent hours as the Cascais weather turned sour. Early on it was realized that this was not a vacation to be spent running from place to place, we chose the beach because we wanted relaxation, and as long as the stress of studying abroad in Rome was forgotten, the trip was a success. Silent hours, talkative ones, even hours spent snacking on groceries instead of eating out, the hotel room became a sanctuary we could return to at any time without the guilt of missing some must-see attraction.


“I Thought There Was a Roller Coaster.”

Having gone the whole week without a memorable verbal error, Allie joined the ranks while looking through a pamphlet at a Lisbon hostel. The three musketeers were now down to two as we spent our last night in a new city. The pamphlet in question was about Go Cars, a fantastic way to announce to the world you were a tourist, and the cover featured a giant city-wide roller coast that my friend momentarily took for real.

We wanted to be tourists. We wanted to see the sights. And we wanted a talking Go Car. Luckily, all three dreams came true in the form of a bright yellow three wheeled scooter/car that I had to sign my life away to obtain after I chose to not purchase the auto insurance. The appeal is its internal GPS that triggers recordings telling you where to turn and the history behind what you are seeing. An hour or so after angering our car with wrong turns, we received the silent treatment from her after her wiring came loose. Either way, it was well worth the money to speed through Lisbon at half the height of the cars surrounding me.


Now I’m back in Rome. This morning I woke up in Lisbon at seven o’clock, went from taxi to plane to bus to metro to elevator, and hauled my luggage back into my room to unpack, learning just how unfortunate it is to combine European daylight savings time with a Portugal to Italy time zone difference. I thought about my Spring Break all the way back to Rome, trying to find some hidden jewel or life changing message behind everything I’ve done in the past week, but the first thing I keep thinking about is all the fun I had talking, listening, and goofing around with my American friends in Portugal.