Zach Schmidt | Sr. | Business Administration Major | Midlothian, Texas
“Today was our first full day in Lisbon, Portugal. The morning started off at 8:00 AM with a Portuguese style breakfast of croissants, a lemon flavored pancake type dish, and of course, some coffee. We then gathered at the bottom of our hotel and started the day there. Our first adventure was walking to the top of a hill that looked over much of the city, making it a beautiful sight to see. From there we then walked down the hill to a statue that was in the middle of a very large and busy traffic circle. The statue was of someone the Portuguese believe started Lisbon from a small village to the beautiful city that it has become.
After we walked to the metro, which is the form of transportation we have used while in Spain/Portugal. We took the metro to the downtown part of Lisbon, and walked the streets sightseeing, taking tons of photos, and learning all about the history of Lisbon. From there we walked to the river that runs through Lisbon and got to see the wonderful sights it had to offer. Going back through downtown we stopped at a well known baked goods store and enjoyed a pastry that everyone eats and knows in Portugal, called pan de nata.
We then got back on the metro and rode to Jorge Pena Academy, which is an athletic academy started by Jorge Pena, who was a boxer that lost his sight. He had a dream of opening a place for kids in need of somewhere to get away from the things the streets have to offer. After touring that facility, we rode a bus with the kids from the academy and played soccer with them at Clube Oriental De Lisboa, which is a Division 3 professional team where professional soccer essentially started within Portugal back in 1946.
Our team and the children divided up into two teams and we had a blast playing a soccer game. We enjoyed being able to interact with the kids and share with them why we are in Portugal and about college life in the US. After the game, we dropped them back off at the academy and went to Cristiano Ronaldo’s restaurant, where we enjoyed time together as a team while watching a Champions League matchup between Real Madrid and Liverpool. Recapping on our time here so far, the culture and atmosphere in Spain and Portugal has been nothing but awesome to learn and hear about all of the history that both Madrid and Lisbon hold,” Senior Zachary Schmidt, a Business Administration major said.
