With two hours of sleep behind my eyes, my first Spanish collected memory and I boarded a bus to Portugal. 

His name was Bar Emilio and he was previously filled with white wine, carried to two bars, hid in a bush, and retrieved two hours later on our way out the door. 

Here are a few photos of him: 

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For background, this blog is called Collecting Memories because some would say it’s my favorite hobby.

When something memorable happens, I like to take something very insignificant with me to remember the moment. For example, a pen, a glass, an ornament from the TCU Christmas Tree, or a menu. Things that no one else will miss, but I will remember forever.

So, I collect tangible memories to bring the movie in my mind to life.

We reference Bar Emilio in past tense because after making it through the entire night in Spain, and all the way to Portugal, I left him at the first restaurant. After trying my hardest to ask for him back in both Spanish and English, no one could understand me and rip Bar Emilio. 

Portugal was absolutely beautiful. Faro, Portugal, is a fishing village with a beautiful cathedral, narrow winding streets placing you straight into an old rom com, and wonderful ham & cheese sandwiches (seriously).

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Bar Emilio and I were a little tired the first day, but the second day we took a ferry to an island called Farol.

We landed on the island, walked around and then, before we knew it, we were running headfirst into the chilling Atlantic Ocean. 

On February 1st in 65 degree weather. 

It absolutely chilled me to my bones but I would do it again in a heartbeat. We were in up to our necks, floating over giant waves and looking out to where the blue sky melted into the ocean in a blue haze. 

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So usually when you get out of the ocean, the sun warms your body and dries the water from your skin. 

However, the sun must have been broken yesterday. We ran laps, attempted cartwheels, laid on the rocks and half of my hand turned a ghastly white… it was freezing, but we were happy.

After we missed our train last weekend, (refer to Common Sense isn’t the Most Common Sense for the story) we weren’t taking any chances. We showed up for the ferry back to the mainland an hour early, ordered three pizzas and crashed at the Airbnb.

At brunch the next morning, I saw a quote on the wall that I loved:

“Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don’t, and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just said it would be worth it.”

Currently regretting leaving Bar Emilio behind, but that’s about it. Excited for more adventures and warmer seas 🙂