Summer in Portugal

My first school year in Sweden ended in the beginning of June. It a great experience and if I was given the choice to go back to school in Portugal and stay in Sweden I would certainly decide to stay. This International course I’m doing now is opening me new doors to the world everyday and being able to communicate naturally in English with everyone is one of the perks of studying in IB (International Baccalaureate). I love my classmates and despite we are from all around we enjoy very much being together. Although summer break is nice I’m looking forward for next year.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t even enjoy the midnight sun because I had to fly to Portugal, in the beginning of June, to be able to compete in Oeiras and Peniche. Hopefully next year I will stay in Sweden a bit longer and enjoy the real Swedish summer.

In Portugal I had a lot of training with my teammates. We cycled a lot together (sometimes too much) and went to beautiful places such as Serra de Sintra. I had the chance to swim a lot in the cold sea along lisbon’s coast. Finally I ran many miles in the most beautiful place in Lisbon: Belém. With all this training going on my routine came down to SWIM, CYCLE, RUN, EAT and SLEEP.

While I was in Portugal I had four triathlon races and I became Triathlon and Aquathlon National Champion in my Age group 16-17. To read more about my races check Triathlon Page.

It was sad that I struggled with my foot’s recovery and that I’m still in pain while I run. I am lacking motivation each day I get on the track and I feel my foot sore. Athletes are made to run, not to be injured. I will hopefully now give it a short rest and heal it properly for next season.

Last week I have been in Tavira (My little paradise in the south of Portugal) and I went a lot to the beach. The weather was perfect, the sea was as warm as you can imagine and the food was delicious. It was nice to go back there after 2 years off.

I had a great time in this wonderful country. I loved being with everyone again. The weather was very good and food was, as always, the best in the world. In the pictures are some of the dishes I couldn't eat in Sweden: "Polvo à lagareiro" (Octopus in olive oil), Snails and "Bacalhau à Brás" (Codfish with chips). I was happy that I found in Lisbon's IKEA one of things I miss: Kanelbullar.

Now it’s time to settle down and focus on the next year. In August I will go back to Västerås and start training and studying again. I'm sad I have to leave so many important people behind again, but that's how tough life is, see you again on Christmas.

I will try to write on my blog more often now. This huge lack of news was due to that holiday laziness that wouldn’t let me do anything useful :P

Thanks for supporting me <3!!