Amazing! Lots of coffee shops, but narry a single Starbucks anywhere! Cell phones are ubitiquous--lots of thumbs flashing, doing texting rather than long conversations in public places. I took the train to Porto today and now have the rest of today and all of tomorrow before I start school on Monday. The class is only for two hours, so I should get to know Porto pretty well. My host family is a wonderful woman, Consuela--grandparents were Spanish so she got a Spanish name. Very jolly lady, very helpful in spite of the fact she speaks no English--her hands work very hard to make up for what she knows isn´t understood by me. AND, thank God, only one short flight of stairs instead of 4 incredibly long ones. I met her brother. Not sure if he lives
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