This morning we met a man named Hugo (pronounced "oogu"), who lives in the Residencia with us. He took us to the university to pay our housing deposits/rent. This was around a 30 minute walk, but it didn't matter because the city around us was so beautiful. Hugo is one of the coolest people I've met here so far. He's from Madiera, another island in the Azores, but he's in Terceira to study Nursing. His English is really good, so he told us a lot about the island and Azorean culture. After paying our deposits, Hugo took the scenic route home ('scenic route' actually applies to any route in this city i think), that took us past the bay. It seems that the Portuguese built the city right up to the edge of the cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
Afterwards, we went to a cafe for dinner. I think my food cycle is still on American time, because I get REALLY hungry at 4 pm local time (noon US time). Oh well, the food's good enough to be eating 24/7 (I know someone who wouldn't have a problem with that at all...). I had been having issues with getting my credit card to work, but all that got fixed. word. Also around this time my camera ran out of batteries, which wasn't a good thing because I missed out on some excellent photo-ops. oh well, i have 6 more weeks.
Then we came back to the Residencia, and chilled for a little bit before heading out again. Originally we just wanted to see the Hospital (where me and everyone else but Laura, other Laura, and Singer would be working), but that turned into EXCITING ADVENTURES. we walked into an area of the city we hadn't been before (I wonder where the ghetto of this city is...probably isn't one). We came across a giant statue of three bulls. The running of the bulls is a big deal in this city. It'll happen in a few weeks; I can't wait. Anyway, after taking a lot of pictures with the (admittedly well-endowed) bulls, we pressed on. We came across a bakery, where I had the best pastry of my life. It was chocolate, and...ok I can't describe it. But it was good, and now I'm full.
We walked to the pier, and talked to a pair of swiss sailors who were stopping over in the Azores for the night. I kid you not, they were sailing on the Black Pearl. I think they were kind of mad at us though because were staring at their ship/home for 20 minutes.
I think what has taken me aback the most here so far is how nice the people are. Everyone here is willing to help us out. I'm kind of embarrassed to be visiting their country and forcing everyone I talk to speak English instead of Portuguese, but everyone is so patient with our broken Portuguese/sign language.
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