Lisbon and Sintra Portugal

Lisbon and Sintra Portugal
I don't know if it because Lisbon and Sintra were the first cities I have explored outside the U.S. but my heart was absolutely taken by them. They were completely awe inspiring! Here are some of the things I learned from staying in Portugal.
Cathedrals are out of this world. This might seem like the stupidest thing you have ever heard of. But previous to this study abroad I had no idea how impactful Cathedrals can be. I think seeing my first Cathedral in Lisbon taught me that a  good chunk of the world has overlapping believes. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and being able to feel the spirit and ponder in those Cathedrals was powerful! In regards to my career being able to recognize similarities among cultures will be essential! I want to be a diplomat and being able to witness this cathedral and see a peoples similar dedication to Christ was very impactful.

.

I also had the opportunity to be able to see Sintra Portugal which was absolutely incredible. I was able to see one of the castles. Now you might say "how does that teach you anything." My goal is to be able to advocate and understand a vast array of peoples. This includes the aristocracy and those that live lives that I can't imagine. I realized that extravagance has its place in some settings. One of the most impactful parts of our day trip to Sintra was the train ride. The train ride took us through the country side it was hard and eye opening to see the contrast between city and rural life. There was an apparent socio economic divide. I think that going on this train ride me realize how important it will be as a diplomat to go and really try and take apart in a large part of the country I am advocating for. If I were to have only stayed in Lisbon I would have created claims and ideas about Portugal that would completely be ignoring the rural side of Portugal.
 here is my friends and I observing Sintra. Sintra was an immensely diverse city that open our eyes to a more non tourist portuguese tourist. I think to really understand country you need to walk the streets of its not so famous cities and that is what we are doing here. It was powerful to walk these cities, see locals, and just observe houses, shops, and peoples. For the longest time I had this belief that people didn't really live that differently then me. Sintra shattered that Idea. 


here is a bad picture but you can see  how different the lives of the rural Portuguese are. I think this shows how divided a country can be economically. I think that is incredibly important to recognize because how can you be a good diplomat if you haven't considered all of your constituents. 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1st week in Seville

Image
1st week in Seville  Spain is an absolutely delightful place! I have loved my first week in Spain because it has been simple but very enlightening. This week we started classes. One of my classes is on the history of Spain and being able to study the history while simultaneously walking Sevilla's streets is impactful.   This might seem silly. But this is my friend and I at the historic Plaza de Espana. It was created in 1928 and it is specifically impressive because it is a mix of Baroque, Renaissance, Moor, and Spanish art. We have been taught a lot about how Spain is a sort of melting pot for different peoples and being able to see physical evidence of that helps me really understand what a mixing of cultures means and how it impacts a place.   Here is a simple picture of my friends and I getting tapas in Spain! Getting Tapas might seem not education at all. Nevertheless it very much is. I know that personally for me that I believe that everyone is li...
Read more

Entertainment

Image
Entertainment has been apart of human's lives for centuries. It is embedded into the desires of all humans. I was at some Roman's ruins the other day and I was reflecting about gladiators. I felt so sick about the thought of people cheering as people died. I sat there and thought about how death is such a scary and entertaining thing. It evokes the deepest of human emotions. As I sat in this gladiator pen I recognized that bull fighting also agreed with this idea that people are exhilarated when watching someone die! I couldn't wrap my head around why people could be okay to see people slaughtered. Then I realized that in our own way we do that in our society. The world praises another sort of death a death of spirit. it isn't in to see people die in front of you. But it is to have highly sexual films which  hit on a very very spiritually dangerous topic. I walked around and realized that we endorse often movies and music that illustrate clearly for us what stepping ...
Read more