Tried wearing my (new!) sunglasses in Boston airport to help my brain adjust to the earlier timezone faster. Not sure how effective it was but I think I was kinda mogging.
On Sunday this week, I had to pack up all of my things and my travels began. And yes, I do mean all of my things - my current lease requires my roommates and I to vacate the house for 3 weeks in July for the landlord and her family to use it for a vacation, so I packed not just for my summer trips but boxed up nearly everything I own to put in storage until I get home in August. Even though I made a very detailed plan for getting everything packed before I left, I had a few days where I got derailed and ended up with a lot to do the weekend before I left. I was still packing and cleaning up until the very last minute. It was a really busy and stressful way to leave home. 0/10, I do not recommend.
Annette and I took a redeye flight direct to Lisbon and started working there almost as soon as we got in. Annette had been invited to visit IPMA, the Portuguese Institute of Ocean and Atmosphere, to help them establish their own program for eDNA sampling. On this trip we brought some of our equipment to teach them methods and to lend to them for a research cruise this summer. I came along to help with the demonstrations and making sure they had everything they would need to get started.
Annette giving a talk at IPMA
Me! giving a demo on how to use our parastaltic pumps to take eDNA samples
Some taxidermied sharks from late 1800s-early 1900s in the Lisbon Aquarium
Annette was given a very warm welcome here and everyone seemed very excited about the work that she’s doing. Our hosts and everyone we met at IPMA were super nice. We had the chance to try some delicious Portuguese food including whole grilled sardines and on my last afternoon working, we even got a private guided tour of the city aquarium which is one of the oldest in the world.
On thursday evening I said my goodbyes and Friday morning I began my leave of absence from working at WHOI with Annette. For the next 7 weeks, I will be either on vacation or working as a contractor for Ocean Exploration Trust (OET) , the non-profit organization which operates the ship I will be sailing on out of Guam and around the Mariana Islands during July and August.
Friends! 2 of 3 were veryyyy jetlagged
For the last few days, I’ve been vacationing here in Lisbon with Anaiah and Junko. They flew in on Friday morning and we’ll be here together for most of this week. So far, we’ve mostly been walking the neighborhoods around our hotel doing some shopping, talking for ages over long meals and doing activities/watching shows and movies around the hotel to recover from all the walking and Anaiah and Junko’s travel. I think in the days we have left we’ll try to see more of the city and the surrounding area.
This evening, we headed back to the neighborhood I where I was working last week to go to the beach. Plans for tomorrow? We've got some ideas but who knows yet. Whatever we get up to, its great to be together.
p.s. some bonus food pics ;^P
I starting drinking coffee a year or so ago! This is my first trip to Europe since and I've been drinking ALL the coffee
The grilled sardines from the lunch restaurant we went to on our first day in Portugal
Our enormous and incredibly delicious hotel breakfast the first morning Anaiah and Junko were here