Muhleres American. Muhleres Shippensburg!

By Megan Oliveira ’98

Kelly McCormick, Elizabeth, Megan, and Heather Floyd pose on the eastern most point in Europe, Sagres, Portual. Below, Kimberly Norris, Brandi Quezada and Elizabeth Hall enjoy the night in Cintra, just outside Lisbon, the capital.

“What?! Are you crazy?”

That seemed to be the lock and load auto response whenever I told people yes, I was going on my honeymoon to Portugal, and yes, I was bringing my girlfriends with me.

These women are my strength, my heart, my soul: My sisters of Shippensburg.

We were brought together in the cozy campus atmosphere over twelve years ago. How we met, who knows? At the CUB, at a party, crying over some adorable fraternity boy, not the point. The point is Shippensburg University gave us the gift of circumstance, and the gift of friendship. I love these women, so off to Portugal we went: Elizabeth Hall ’98, investment support specialist and trader for Weinken and Associates; Brandi Miller Quezada ’99, human resource manager for Federal Express; Kelly McCormick ’98, mental health unit director, Elwyn Inc.; Heather Floyd ’98, critical care nurse for Bebe Medical Center; and myself, Megan Reilly Oliveira ’98, event coordinator, Asbury Park Convention Center and Paramount Theatre.

My husband Marco, Portuguese native and tireless (not to mention patient) tour guide, was perfectly fine with our tag-a-longs. “Why would I mind a gaggle of attractive and fun women on my honeymoon? The more the merrier.” I mean even though we are in our 30s now we are still Ship girls—a high-heel-mobilized group party machine. And we lived up to our tradition, European style.

Our first stop was Lisbon, the capital. We got off the airplane and were welcomed into the arms of a mini-Portuguese cheering section of Marco’s family and friends. “Bon dia, bon dia!” they cried as they wrapped me in their arms and shoved a bouquet of fragrant flowers in my hand. You see, although it is perfectly normal for a man to marry at age 37 in the United States, in Portugal his aunts and cousins were in code red at the abomination he hasn’t yet procreated. So I, along with my potential fertility was welcomed with feverish relief.

After I pried myself out of the hands of my new family, we hopped in a rental van and headed for our new paradise, The Algarve. The Algarve is the southern tourist attraction region of Portugal. We pressed our faces to the van windows to ogle at the Portuguese countryside as Marco drove at approximately 3,000 mph down the highway. European drivers make Jersey drivers look like kiddie ride amusement park material.

When we got to The Algarve, I then knew I wouldn’t want to share this situation with anyone more or less than Marco and my Fabulous Foursome from Ship. The beaches were vast and white, the water was clear, the natives were kind, the food was to die for, and the palm trees were a constant reminder we were enveloped in paradise.

Everywhere we went in the little town of Portimao where we had taken up residence in another family home of Marco’s, people recognized us as “Muhleres Americans” or “The American Girls.” The time difference worked in our favor, allowing us to slumber all day on the topless beaches (eye candy for Marco) on chaise lounges set up for us by the cabana boys (eye candy for us). We would then drag ourselves up to the Mar e Sol (Sea and Sun) café in the mid afternoon and dine on a culinary haze of fresh seafood, wine, cheese, and garlic drenched sauces. After lounging in the beachfront café and listening to the traveling minstrels play for Euros, we would pack it up; head back to the apartment to get ready to go out. This is when that six-hour time difference put us at a huge advantage. Midnight in Portugal is equal to 6pm in the states so when the clock struck 12 in the clubs, Marco and his flock of Shippensburg alumnae were just getting started. Further details on the wild antics of the European club scene are to be released on a need-to-know basis, but you get my point.

In closing, I had so MUCH FUN! Don’t worry, Marco and I did get the following week alone and to ourselves to enjoy the traditional long-walks-on-the-beach and candlelit-dinner honeymoon scene. But the story I wanted to tell today was that of a group of friends who found each other at Ship, received a foundation of education to make us all very successful businesswomen, and an even more important foundation of friendship, to which we share a passion for life and each other. So thank you Shippensburg University for all that you have done for these five “Muhleres Shippensburg,” or Shippensburg Women…

Megan is the event planner for Asbury Park Convention Hall and Paramount Theatre in Ashbury, N.J. She and Marco live in their bayside home “down the shore” with her pug, Ping. Anyone interested in event planning can e-mail her at megan@conventionhall.net.