It is such a shame to admit that Portugal wasn’t even crossed my mind when I think of traveling in Europe. Not until Louise decided to spend her last 6 months of her gap year in Lisbon that I first added Lisbon on my list.

On a beautiful April morning, Lisbon completely blew my mind with its tiled buildings and cobblestones street as the first impression. Then the famous Liberty Avenue. Lisbon is a perfect place to get lost. I’ve always had such a good kind of weird feeling about Europe that I am sure I cannot find anywhere else like Gil in Midnight in Paris once said: “You know, I sometimes think, how is anyone ever gonna come up with a book, or a painting, or a symphony, or a sculpture that can compete with a great city. You can't. Because you look around and every street, every boulevard, is its own special art form.” Lisbon to me is even more special. Lisbon and its metropolitan area has a Subtropical-Mediterranean climate so it means Lisbon is a bit similar to Vietnam or Asia in terms of plants. Weirdly, I realized I started spotting things that reminds me of Asia that cannot easily being exported like plants. Or driving habit. I am currently studying in Germany where cars always give way to pedestrians on a crossing. In Lisbon that’s hardly the case and strangely, it makes me feel like home. That’s strange, I know. I’ve always wanted to leave home to go somewhere far far away since I was a little kid but now I find yourself thinking of home more often, craving some strangest things like that. I guess it truly is there’s no place like home.
Has anyone of you ever wondered why people use the term “feeling blue” when they are sad? Some say because it is linked to a custom among many old deepwater sailing ships. If the ship lost the captain or any of the officers during its voyage, she would fly blue flags and have a blue band painted along her entire hull when returning to home port. However, I don’t find sadness in blue. I like the color blue. I was amazed by the blueness when the blue sky met the blue sea when I was standing at the highest point of Moorish Castle. Looking down I realized I am just a tiny part of a massive universe swirling around. I felt alive more than ever that I am here in this universe. Other universes may not have had the perfect balance of gravity, electromagnetism, strong and weak force. I am one of the lucky ones. At that exact moment, I know I’ll always look for the blue horizon to find peace and comfort in my long journey ahead.