Lisbon, Portugal: A Day in the Life of a Study Abroad Student in Lisbon

 Lisbon thus far has proved to be an unimaginable experience. It has opened my eyes to a new culture, which I have been encouraged to and and have so far thrown myself into. I have met what feels like a thousand new people, gone to various areas of Lisbon, taken public transportation, ate new food, and most importantly began learning about Religion in Portugal, which is primarily why I am here. 

Yesterday, Friday July 23rd, our class had two site visits. Our first site visit was the archeological museum of Lisbon in Belem (Museu Nacional de Arqueologia). 

The archeology museum was vast and detailed. It was extremely interesting to be able to look through important objects that existed during the time we are learning about. It is mind boggling that we have evidence of intelligent civilizations and language use and countries from hundreds and hundreds of years ago. We learned all about Rome's influence over Portuguese culture and religion from their 450 year reign over Portugal. 

We then ubered to a different area of Lisbon where would be walking through ruins of an ancient Roman Theatre. A tour guide took us into the theatre where we stood at various entrance points and watching points that Portuguese citizens actually stood at hundreds of years ago. A fascinating part about the theatre is that so many people came to watch that the actual theatre only held the high aristocratic/military men and woman and slaves and other people of a lower class would watch the plays from high building windows and terraces. 

Johanna, the tour guide also took us through a museum which showcased important details of the Roman theatre and civilization in Portugal from hundreds of years ago. This was the view from the museum window: 

And today, for our first free day of our trip, we went to the beach at Fonte De Telha. It was beautiful and the weather was warm and breezy, which made for a perfect beach day. 

Written by: Jane Porter