Fast food still exists??

This weekend in Sao Miguel was spontaneous, adventurous, fun, and much needed. Though there was internet at the residencia where we stayed on the island, I had fun getting away from my laptop and actually enjoying the natural beauty of the place. However, Laura already talked about the natural wonders of the ocean, mountains, and lakes that we discovered in Sao Miguel. I actually want to talk about the more modern aspect of the island.

First of all, we stayed at another residencia that was part of the University of Azores. We didn’t pay anything for it, because we were already paying rent at the residencia in Angra. Take note future APers- you can stay for free in other residencias! This place was so modern though, and had the weirdest floor plan I’ve ever seen in a building. However, it was only one aspect of the ‘modernness’ that we experienced on the island. When we first stepped off the ferry, we were greeted by sky-high hotels and malls galore. The traditional city gates that sat in the middle of this scene seemed kind of out of place. After spending so much time with the cows and small roads of Terceira, we were all a little amazed, and it reminded us of what our homes in the U.S. looked like.

Don’t get me wrong, there are small roads and a multitude of cows in Sao Miguel, but Ponta Delgada is a big tourism city, where people wander around after getting off cruise ships. Once you go deeper inside the island, you can see postcard views in an almost untouched environment. The contrast is so drastic! In the strip of stores and hotels along the coast, there is a mall called Park Atlantico. We found it on the night of our last day there, and went a little crazy at the sight of it. I walked on the shiny white floors, staring into the posh stores with the hot European fashions, and felt like a little kid the first time she enters Disney World. We ate at the food court there that had restaurants like KFC, Pizza Hut, and Burger King, but also Wok to Walk, a restaurant in which you pick vegetables, noodles or rice, and sauce, and they stir fry it all together. It reminded me of one of my favorite restaurants in Durham- Bali Hai. There was a traditional Azorean restaurant too where Nicole got a fish dish. The variety of food was a nice change from the hamburgers and fries we find in Terceira.

While we were at the mall, Laura H., Laura R., Erin, Ranjan, and I also saw the Hangover 2! It was kind of confusing at times because of the Portuguese subtitles that were at the bottom of the screen. The movie was in English, but since I can read Spanish, I can also figure out what some Portuguese text means, and I kept skipping between the words and the audio of the movie. At one point, a character in the movie says ‘PF Changs’ and it was translated into ‘Chinese restaurant’. Also, at the beginning of the movie, Alan says ‘No, the Jonas Brothers are in Raleigh/Durham that weekend’ and the five of us exclaimed collectively in excitement. I bet the Portuguese people in the audience were thinking ‘who are those loud hooligans in the back row?’. It was surreal to hear a reference to my hometown while sitting in a theater in the Azores! I realized that there are a lot of jokes and references to American culture in the movies that are out in theaters here, and I wonder how much of the movie the Portuguese actually understand. I wouldn’t want to watch foreign movies with inside jokes that I don’t get. I know there are Portuguese movies too, but it’s interesting how American movies have such a wide audience all over the world!

Aisha