Smile, Breath and Go slowly. You are in the Azores

Hello Readers,
Sorry, it’s been a while. I hope you all enjoyed the video from last post (if you haven’t seen it yet…catch up!)

Weekend in Faial:

So last weekend I went to Faial, which is one of the other 8 islands.  It was a 7 hour ferry ride ONE WAY! Which is a little bid ridiculous considering on a clear day the island can be seen from here.  Anyway, we arrived close to midnight, walked to the three-bedroom apartment that we were renting and went to sleep haha (yeah exciting first day in Faial right?) Anyway the next day was really good: First, we went to the Caldeira, which was a giant crater in the center of the island from the extinct volcano that originally formed Faial.  The idea is to hike around the perimeter of the crater and it takes 3ish hours.  So we started to climb. We were literally in a cloud; you could feel the dense, cold mist that surrounded us and it was difficult to see more than thirty feet in front of us.  We got on the trail and climbed for say 35 minutes, then some people started getting cold…we hadn’t really seen too much of the crater at this point because the cloud was so dense, there was no cell reception, we were underdressed and the marked trail had vanished several minutes ago. It felt like we were in an episode of LOST.  We ran into some Germans who were hiking in the opposite direction and decided that the people who seriously wanted to hike the whole thing would go on but the more practical group would just go back with the Germans lol I turned back J On our walk back the clouds cleared up and we were able to see into the crater (please see the video below but don’t tell my friends aka the narrators that I posted it because they’d probably be embarrassed).  The crater was vast and mystical, like nothing I’d ever seen before.  But the adventure had only just begun; next Advaita, Katrina and I called a taxi to take us back to the port…the driver-Jose Manuel quickly became our favorite driver thus far.  Not only did he give us a discounted price on a ride back to the city but he also became our tour guide and photographer.  He drove us all around the island and when people called him to ask for rides he said, “Sorry I am giving three young ladies a tour of Faial” in Portuguese of course.  Other highlights of the trip were Peter’s Café, which is apparently “famous.”  I had broccoli and a tuna steak….it was AMAZING!  Also, on Sunday we went to Capelhino, a dormant volcano that erupted in 1957 and rather than ruining the island it actually made the island bigger.  Again see the pictures below…they could have filmed Star Wars here, it felt very odd.  And yes I was slightly worried that the volcano may erupt, as irrational as it sounds.  So that was Faial.  It felt a lot more modern and touristy than Terceira.

Other things:

Teaching is going really well.  We have two new students this week, which brings our total for beginners to 14 students, and the total for the program to 37 students!!! We have been drilling a lot of grammar but they keep working really hard and I can definitely see improvement with many of them  (YAY). Today I had them read a fable called The Ant and the Dove…moral of the fable is one good turn deserves another. 

This weekend we are going to Sao Miguel to see harry potter and the natural wonders.  It is a three and a half hour ferry ride but that is a small price to pay for Harry Potter 7 (part 2).  Ok that’s all I really have time to say, we have to be at an academic discussion at 9 and I need to brush up on my knowledge of the European union/ economic state of Portugal before we go.
Harry Potter- A look back
One more thing, I just read one of the advanced students essays on beauty and I want to include something from it: "It's like my mother says: 'We are all beautiful, because we all have amazing qualities and I know that there's always a person in the world who will love those qualities, we just need to wait...' So, I will wait :)" ~Alice  Ok yeah I just thought that was really wonderful haha.

Love always,

Anya Sophia Keithley