Meeting the Session 2 Fellows

Introductions 

So although I try to write at least one blog post a day, I'm still really behind on blogging, especially in regards to a lot of the activities I've done with the session 2 fellows. So these next couple of blog posts are going to back track a bit, so I can write some more about some awesome adventures we've had.

June 24, 2013

I actually met the session 2 fellows at a dinner on the day before the session 1 fellows left. I had just gotten coffee and the likes with some session 1 fellows with their base5 students. It was a bittersweet goodbye between the base5 students and the fellows, but some azorean pastries softened the blow. I was supposed to meet up with the session 2 students at Docas restaurant at 6 pm. Joao, as per usual, was late and ignoring any phone calls I sent his way. Hear this: he didn't end up getting to the restaurant until 7 pm AND he changed the restaurant without telling me. He's so freaking rude. Luckily, I had the company of the session 1 fellows while waiting, otherwise I would have been really pissed. 

When Joao finally got a hold of me and told me where they were, I ate a mediocre meal in the company of the session 2 fellows. They seemed really cool, although not many of them  had arrived to the island yet.

June 25, 2013
The next bonding experience we had was supposed to be a formal ball with wine and cheese tasting. It was stressed that you must dress formally- not even semi-formally. It was supposed to be at a fancy restaurant where we could dance. Get this- Joao, yet again, didn't make the plans until the last minute, so the formal ball that we all dressed up for ended up being held in the dingy hotel lobby where most of the fellows are staying. They literally dressed up to walk downstairs into this dark, musty room. And surprise, surprise, Joao was 45 minutes late.

Besides Joao being a very unlikeable human being, the wine and cheese party was relatively fun. We got to taste cheese from all of the different islands, and as per usual with all-you-can-eat events, I probably consumed a whole cheese platter myself. Being of an age in which I still don't like wine, I couldn't really appreciate the different flavors. (In all honesty, do adults even really enjoy the taste of wine? Or is it just that they have gotten so used to it?)

Kirk teaches Brooke how to tie a bow-tie

Portas dos Mar

After the "ball", we went over to Portas dos Mar (the bar and restaurant area near the marina) and hung out a bit. I saw one of session 1's old base5 students so I talked to him for awhile. (This would be the first of many times I would run into them all over the island.) After having a taste of sangria, I called it a night and had Alberto come pick me up. There was some confusion in communication, a language barrier and too much wine on my end, and I ended up going to the wrong church for him to pick me up. Ultimately, I felt like an idiot because I forgot my island phone at the restaurant with my friends so I couldn't answer his calls. I felt like I made a horrible first impression and was super irritated with myself for the night. When Alberto and I finally got home, Erica (my homestay mate) ended up being there waiting for us. She had just gotten off the ferry from another island, so therefore missed the "ball". Although I didn't know it yet, Erica is the absolute best and I couldn't have ended up with a better person to live with.

The main plaza at night

The rest of the orientation week was filled with everyone being pissed at Joao. 

The big dot in the sky was the moon.
It was the biggest I've ever seen it
in my life.

The First Tour: June 30, 2013

 

Tea Factory

Although this wasn't actually the first tour since we had a walking tour of Ponta Delgada (the city), this was the first real tour of the other side of the island with the session 2 fellows. Daniel, who runs all the social activities for the Atlantis project on Sao Miguel and is hired by Joao, decided to not lead the tour because he was so fed up with Joao and the way he runs things. (This guy really knows how to make a good impression on people. Have I mentioned that Joao gets into fights with everyone so that we're even kicked out of restaurants? Also the fellows on another island got kicked out of the hospital because of him.) The tour was therefore led by this blonde, Swedish lady named Noora. Honestly, she was awesome, and I preferred

Women at Work

her over Daniel only because Daniel now spends all of his time complaining about Joao (which is understandable but also depressing. I also realize that I have done significant complaining about him in this post, but only to fill you in.) The tour ended up being really similar to the one I had gone on with the session 1 fellows. But still, I had a blast. I got to see some new things, learn more about some of the old places I visited, and bond with the session 2 fellows. 

The tour started off with visiting a lookout point and then the tea factory again. This time, I learned that black tea is separated into bigger pieces and smaller pieces and then moved through two different parts of the machine before mixing. The smaller pieces are apparently higher quality. Green tea is not made this way, and instead all pieces are brewed together. This tea factory also has women who work there at a table, separating all of the pieces by hand. I was a little shocked at how old fashioned it was. After the tour, I got to try some tea again, and this time, it was much better quality than when I tried it the first time.

After the tea factory, we headed over to furnas- the place where there are all of the natural hot springs. There was a beautiful lake here, and it literally glowed green. We sadly found out that that wasn't natural, and that it only looked like this because of all of the fertilizers that the azoreans use (though they use significantly less than we do in America.) Furnas was super crowed, with restaurants and families alike using the hot springs to cook their meals. There are all of these holes in the ground that pots of food are put in for six hours to cook. After visiting and seeing how it works, we went to a restaurant and ordered the food. It was a wide assortment of meats and vegetables that were to die for. I now understand the true meaning of "meat falling off the bone." It was absolutely delicious. In the town with the restaurant, there was a large, holy ghost festival going on. The town members made a carpet of petals and leaves for the new priest to walk from his house to the new church. It was so beautiful.

 

 

The procession of the Holy Ghost

After a two hour lunch, we headed over to this natural spa. There are these natural pools that are heated by the volcano earth beneath us. It was so freaking cool swimming in a natural hot tub. Though, it was so hot! I couldn't even stay in it for five minutes. When I was in Italy, we saw all these ancient ruins of baths/spas that were so elaborate and would have been fantastic if they were still around. I imagine that those ancient ruins would be similar to this place if they were still around. Unfortunately, we didn't get to stay too long because of how long lunch took.

Natural Hot Tub

The Evil Water

Our last stop was to some more hot springs in furnas. The tour guide Noora told us that we could grab some water from the water fountains here and fill up our bottles before going home. She conveniently left out some key information such as that this water was the most absolute DISGUSTING thing I've ever drank. There were all of these fountains that had all different kinds of water like copper water, silver water, etc. They tasted like carbonated metal, yet I tried every one. YOAO (you only Azores once)

I had such a fun time hanging out with these fellows. This kid Chris is probably the funniest person I have ever met in my life. So much sass. And overall, I love this whole group.