After my first couple of weeks in Porto, Portugal, I feel settled in and comfortable living here. A lot of that has to do with finally having a stable routine with my classes, meals, and free time. To recap, I am enrolled in the three-week-long European Innovation Academy, in which we are creating a startup business to pitch to actual investors from all over the globe. This Friday is our Grand Pitch, and all the work we have done leading up to it will be put on display. My group gets along very well and consists of students from all over the United States: Berkeley, Michigan, and Colorado. I have also been soaking in as much of this country as I can. Some of my classmates and I have been taking excursions. We went wine tasting, which had some of the best wine and views I have experienced in my life, as well as a couple sailboat tours. The sights here are straight from a story book; everything is so picturesque. This past weekend, I went to Lisbon, which was definitely hotter than Porto but just as beautiful. I got to ride my first ever train, saw a real castle, and had some of the best food I have ever had in my life. Coming from Alabama, I haven’t had the chance to eat too much octopus in my life, but here in Porto it is very accessible and tastes amazing. I also had the chance to try barnacles, clams, prawn, and every other seafood one can imagine, and each and every one was incredible.
