This week I went to Portugal with my friends. Portugal has similar architecture and culture to Spain because they used to be one country. In fact, Portugal didn't receive its independence from Spain until 1910. 100 years ago may seem like a long time, but Spain and Portugal were united for even longer than that: almost 430 years. Their rich, intertwined history, makes the countries very similar. The main difference between Spain and Portugal is the language. If you know Spanish you can decipher a lot of signs in Portuguese because the languages are closely related, but speaking it is an entirely different story. One phrase I did learn was "eu tenho um carro," I have a car. See how this sentence looks a lot like, "yo tengo un coche (carro)"?
The farthest I have been so far is Barcelona, Spain. Barcelona is an incredibly beautiful city in the community of Catalonia. My favorite part was taking a tour of the "old" city. Our tour guide explained all about how Barcelona came to be and why they are currently fighting for their independence. All over the city there are lazas amarillas (yellow ribbons) that symbolize their desire to free the prisoners of this political turmoil from jail. It is certainly an interesting debate, but, unlike in the US, protests never rarely become violent.
