Wrapping up Portugal

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while.. I don't have internet at my home yet so I have to go to a nearby mall to get connected.

The last post I talked about going to a beer factory, well the next day we went to a fruit juice factory. The factory is called Sumol which is also a sponsor to the volleyball club. It was neat to see the fruit get transformed into a juice. I think my favorite part of the tour was that we were able to try a drink that wasn't released to the public yet and it tasted good! Here are some pictures of the factory.

We had to wear "suits" so that we wouldn't get any fruit on our clothing. Also to hear over the noise we were given headphones that was hooked directly to our tour guide.

These are tomatoes are getting ready for the juicing process!

After the tour we were given free time. I used that time to talk to my parents as well as some friends. It was nice talking to people and updating everyone on what was happening in my life. We had another fun night going out to dinner and then out after that. We ended up staying out pretty late dancing again but we had a great time.

The next day we knew we were going to the beach but we had no idea the surprise that was in store! Although it wasn't the prettiest day (it was cloudy) they told us that we were going to go surfing!!!! This was my first time and I was so excited when they announced it. I've always wanted to go surfing but never had the chance to do it. Now i was able to go surfing in Portugal!! It started off by getting into our wetsuits because the water was pretty cold. Even though we had those on, it was a bit chilly.

The beach!

All of us in our wet suits! The two men without the green shirts on were our surf coaches.

We all grabbed our surf boards and headed to the beach. We had two instructors that taught us the basics of surfing. After our quick lesson on land, we headed to the ocean. If anyone has ever tired.. it is a lot harder than it seems! You have to have the perfect timing of the wave and then get up on your board. I wasn't that successful at first but towards the end I was able to get up a couple of times. Throughout the course of the day, I swallowed so much salt water. My eyes and throat started burning because I had fallen so many times. Despite all of that, I had a great time surfing. I can't wait to try it again!

Trying to listen intently to the instructions!

Me and my surfboard!

A bit chilly after we were done!

After our trip to the beach we were all super tired so we headed back to the hotel for some rest. Our night wasn't over though because we had dinner at a really nice restaurant. Although everyone was tired we decided to go out dancing again because it was the last night. The next morning everyone slept in the airport and on the plane. It was such a fun trip and it was a great time to bond with my new teammates. Now it's back to working hard in the gym to get ready for the season!