Port #6: Lisboa, Portugal

My experience in Lisbon unfolded in an unexpected yet deeply gratifying way.  I was offered a job interview which was to take place via skype.  In order to facilitate that, I would need a hotel or another space that had a stable internet connection – the ship’s internet would not work.  After researching hotel prices and locations, I decided to pursue AirBnB.  A very wise decision on my part.  AirBnB connects people with apartments, extra bedrooms, or spare couches with those who are looking for a place to stay – typically much cheaper than a hotel.  I found a tremendous spot, a yoga studio, in the heart of Lisbon.  It was the right type of place for the interview and to crash for a night.  The interview took place on the second day. 

The first day was a duty day.  I was required to stay on the ship and be available for whatever emergency and non-emergency situations might emerge.  Because of some miscommunication, I stepped in to provide a tour for representatives from the Fulbright Portugal office.  It was a two-hour experience that went off without a hitch.

That night was a busy night, to say the least.  Many students decided to drink to intoxication and return to the ship at all hours of the night and morning.  That resulted in no more than three hours spent sleeping. For me  My time awake resulted in responding to the inebriated.  With limited hours of sleep, my shift ended at 8am and I headed into the city to get situated in the rented apartment and prepare for the afternoon interview.

Following the questions and answers, I headed back out into the city.  I ventured out to the University of Lisbon to check-out the campus and to connect with my new friends – two of the Fulbright staff members whose office was located at the university.  We spent the evening with beers and conversations chatting about the difference between the USA and Portugal.  It was time well spent.  Engaging conversation to say the least.  I am hopeful.  Young professionals from across the globe are engaged in deep and meaningful work and yearn to challenge the way things currently operate. 

I departed the conversation with filled with inspiration and ventured to the Alfama neighborhood- just below the Castle of St. Jorge.  It is within this old part of the city that the alleys narrow, and every turn leads you through a magical up or downhill corridor.  I ate tapas at a fantastic little restaurant before walking for hours on end through the streets – new and old – before heading back to the apartment.

The last day in Lisbon was spent doing the same – walking through the streets and exploring the sights.  From park to alley and alley to park until meeting back on the ship for our evening departure.  And now I am in Cadiz, Espana.          

View into the restaurant

View out of the restaurant

Tapas dinner

The absolute best apple pie i've ever had...

Port #5 Antwerp (Continued)

After several days of roaming around Antwerp, it was fantastic to visit some other cities within Belgium.  Antwerp consisted of:


 - eating frites (fries)
 - getting lost in and out of the narrow cobble-stone alleys
 - happening upon the red-light district
 - eating more frites
 - falling in love with frites all over again

Bruge

 Although we were docked in Antwerp, I was able to spend a hunk of time in Brugge and Ghent.  Both cities were built in medieval times and have wondrous water-ways.  Bruge is considered the Venice of the North.  All in all, it six days full of walking, exploration, eating, and all-around good times.    

My favorite Frite spot

Port #5: Antwerp

It’s actually called Antwerpen.  For some reason, the ‘en’ is cut off when we transition to English.  I am not impressed with the language situation, but am quite impressed with the city.  Before diving into that, let me share about my travels to Brussels.

I am privileged to have an opportunity to co-teach a leadership course on this voyage.  Each course has a Field Lab with which it is associated.  Ours was an opportunity visit NATO as well as the European Union Parliament.  To view both organizations, one right after the other, through a leadership lens was fascinating.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), based on what I heard in two different briefings, seems to be a reactionary, fear-based, exclusive organization.  The use of the term ‘us and them’ was used repeatedly throughout in several different contexts.  NATO seems to serve the privileged western world at the expense of the rest of the world.  I appreciate the opportunity to visit and learn more about the organization, but a left contemplating if this is the best we can do to advance ‘peace and security’.

The NATO visit was juxtaposed against an amazingly inclusive EU parliament.  It is this body that works to create common laws for the entirety of the EU members.  Much of that has to do with commerce and individual rights.  What I found most fascinating is the dedication to honoring each elected officials national language.  Instead of NATO’s policy of working solely in English the EU operates in over 20 languages.  Before any bill is passed, every word is translated into all languages.   1/3 of the EUs budget goes to translation and transcribing.  Although this policy slows down the system and is quite costly, what an amazing statement of inclusivity!

After leaving Brussels, I returned to Antwerpen.  The ship is docked across the street from the heart of the old city.  We step off the ship, go through security, cross the road, and stand on a cobbled street leading to the massive and impressive Cathedral.  That first night all I could do was walk the narrow paths with a smile on my face.  There was something sacred about being in the heart of the city that first night.

Yesterday, I woke early and headed out on a job to a children’s jungle gym with a pirate theme.  It was very cool and a whole lot of fun swinging on the monkey bars and doing push ups / sit ups in and out of the other equipment.  On the way home, I got lost.  I literally ended up on the other side of the city.  Although the rain was falling from the sky the entire time, it was a blast making way through the city.  After showering and changing, the afternoon was spent reading mentorship literature, before venturing out again.  Another long walk led to meeting with some friends/colleagues for a night out on the town.  More to come from Antwerpen as the days unfold…        

Port #4: Southampton (London and Bath)

The first day in Great Britain was spent almost entirely on the ship.  I was on duty.  It was a great way to rest up, relax, dive into some doctoral literature, and spend time with those students not interested in venturing off to London or other part of England on Day #1.  I did hop off for about an hour to meet up with other RDs for lunch.  My walk off the ship mostly consisted of passing through the industrial port and a shopping area, including several Starbucks, a Staples and an Ikea.  Nothing too impressive with Southampton.

On Day #2, I bussed it to London.  I’ve travelled to London before so the traditional tourist sights were not on the immediate to-do list.  What was though, was visiting a long-time friend who has been living there since graduating high school, Lavanya Thana.  Lavanya is studying for her doctorate in psychology and serves as a Resident Direct-esque position for Imperial College - the third ranked university in GB (after Cambridge and Oxford).  I was able to stay in her flat beside the medical campus.

It was tremendous catching up with her.  Although communication between us is not frequent, we picked up where we left off.  It was incredible being in sync after not seeing one another for a decade or so.  Additionally, it was a privilege to see the city through the eyes of a ‘local’.  We visited Wimbledon and that area in the south of the city and strolled from Hyde Park to Big Ben.  During my time in London, I dove into fish and chips as well as a traditional English breakfast - and, two different Indian meals.  Indian food (curry houses) has become a national food item.  Needless to say, I was able to experience it fully.

The last day in England was spent with Emily (an RD) and Jonathan (a SaS librarian) in Bath.  The whole of the staff on this voyage is incredible.  It was great spending the day venturing out of Southampton to an ancient Roman post with these two.  We immediately headed for the Cathedral and then to the Roman Baths tour.  It was very, very cool.  Actually the water was quite warm as the baths were built around natural springs.  The tour lasted much longer than any of us expected, but provided much more detail and depth than expected.  Following the tour, we walked the main corridor of Bath and happened upon a remarkable sandwich shop – Same Same But Different.

On the whole, The UK port stop was solid.  Although, I don’t feel the need t return to London (except to visit Lavanya).  I do feel the need to return to the country and visit as many small towns as possible.  A return to Bath is on the list, as is Cambridge, Oxford, Salisbury (Stonhenge), a coastal villages throughout.

Port #3: Dublin

Being raised not far from New York City or Philadelphia and having lived in Pittsburgh and Boston of recent, Dublin was a city like many others.  Maybe with a bit more pubs - but similar nonetheless.   Over two days, I walked within the heart of the  city visiting Trinity College, the infamous Grafton Street, shopping district, the up-and-coming Docklands area, and the not-to-be missed Temple Bar within Temple Bar.  Yes, the actual bar with which the greater area is named - after the founder? of Trinity College.  In fact, it was there that I had my first Irish Guinness.  Better than in the USA – much smoother and creamier – but still not one of my favorites.   

In addition to spending time with some SaS RDs while visiting Dublin, I was fortunate to know some other folks in the city.  Michelle Tierney, from my PhD program, and her husband have an apartment in the city and were in town for the week.  To walk around with ‘local’s added another level to this city experience.  And visiting with a doctoral colleague was wonderful.  Of course, all of that is not to mention our Indian food lunch!  Check out the Great Tikka Tour for more on that…www.tikkatour.blogspot.com

I spotted this sign post soon after leaving the Port on Day 1.  Interesting that two ports-of-call are displayed - Montevideo and Cape Town (both on the bottom left).  Is it a sign?  It's gotta be - in more ways than one 

The other folks with whom I lived about 30 minutes north of the city in a beach-front town called Malahide.  Gorgeous.  Kevin is a colleague of my father’s and it was absolutely tremendous to spend time with him and his family.  After being picked up in Dublin, we drove north to their home.  On the way, we visited the coastline (hence the photo) before enjoying an amazing Sunday supper.  Although the food was remarkable (especially the creamed mushrooms), the conversation and dialogue was ever-more nourishing.  Dublin/Malahide jumped up on the list of places to return to in the near future!  (Check out all of the amazingness that is this family and their new venture - The Healthworks Clinic - www.thehealthworksclinic.com)

I am now writing for the ship.  We are docked in Southampton, UK.  I’m on duty and will be on the ship until at least 8am tomorrow morning.  After that, I’ll head into London for a couple days to visit a great high school friend Lavanya before heading back to the boat…be on the lookout for a post-London post.   

Port #2: Galway

I would have loved to share that I spent time in Galway, a college town on the west side of Ireland.  However, that simply wasn’t the case.  After tethering from the MV Explorer to the dock, I boarded a bus to participate in the Celtic Spirituality excursion.  It was fantastic.  Our tour guide actually wasn’t a tour guide, but an archeologist who was friends with the tour owner/operator.  Christie was layered knowledge upon knowledge by sharing about Celtic spirituality and early Christianity in Ireland.

We visited Poulnabrone, an ancient burial ground and holy site that was built the same time as the pyramid.  Although it is not as massive or extravagant as what is found in Egypt, while at the site I realized how limited our/my knowledge of history is.  We seem to center solely on the major civilizations.  However, people have been making things happen all over the world for ages.  Could the tribal communities in Ireland known about what was going on in Egypt at the time of the pyramids?  What kind of responsibility do we have to one another within our global community now, with the ability to know and know about the other so quickly?  Curious questions.

We also visited a number of Christian churches and pilgrimage sites from the 10th through 15th centuries.  You don’t find that kind of history in the USA.  It was fascinating to learn how the Christian faith was layered upon the pagan rituals and beliefs from this part of the world.  To take from Buddhism, it wasn’t a matter of swapping one faith for another, it was the notion if ‘transcending and including’.  You can see the Temple Cronnin, one of the earliest pilgrimage sites in the Barren of Ireland      

 

It was also wondrous to see how people in this limestone-filled environment created a way to survive.  Once seemed like unusable land was, with ingenuity and cultivation, developed in a fertile ground, which has and continues to sustain life.  You can see in the pictures below, a landscape (left) and a circular fort built from the limestone left after the glaciers melted.