The Coimbra Diet

Well it's been 3 weeks now since I've been in Portugal. My lessons have started, the sun is still tannable and I've made some great friends. Not only all these things you'd expect from an ERASMUS student... but I am losing weight! This is no easy task since I do love my food and the cakes here are DA BOMB but in all honestly with the heat and busy slow days... eating has taken a back seat. Which is good for me =) especially since before coming here I'd be thinking about food with every other thought... What am I gonna eat today? Should I eat now? How many donuts are too many? And then of course there's the never ending guilt and depression that the thing I love so much does turn you into Nelly the Elephant and people don't seem to like Nelly's. Peh! Sad huh? I know I'm not the only one though =). BUT the thing about being in Coimbra is that I'm not thinking about food... at all! Only when my tummy is growling ferociously will I venture to the fridge, but not for chocs (that just melts so chocoholics beware) but a MASSIVE peach. Fruit here tastes better and it's a real treat from the dried tasteless stuff in England. Our apples own though. Any who =) I'm a lot happier now because I'm not thinking about food and I vow to never think about food or be self critical and self indulgent ever again! Or as far as humanly possible anyway. Sod it, I like Nelly the Elephant!

Of course any good dietician will tell you that diet and the 'e' word are the best ways to lose weight. And bloomin' 'eck they're right! WARNING - if you are lazy and the sight of stairs sends shivers down your spine then maybe Coimbra is the place for you. I have two words for you. Hills and Stairs. Muchas many hills and stairs that will turn your calves to steal and leave you so cream crackered by the time you get to class that at least 5 mins vegetation time is required to get over it! Don't believe me? I took a picture of the stairs leading to Letras (my faculty)...

Yes... I just had to prove it.

Yup. 120 bad boy steps. Twice a day. Gillian McKeith eat your vegetable heart out. I am getting better at them though so there is hope. One day I might be able to muster a sentence at the top of these steps, and put it in my CV as an achievement. There are other stair places to other faculties and one is called the back breaker. No thank you. O and that graffiti of the steps? It's everywhere. People here like to express themselves that way and some of it is pretty good so I'll take some photos some other time.