This curious writer's thoughts on traveling and international experiences ^^

Hello dear readers,

Thanks for visiting my blog, whether you're new here or you've followed my blogging attempts for a while. I just have to say, I really appreciate it! :)

When I was a student in Utrecht, the Netherlands, my fellow students all around were going on exchange. I didn't go then. After my masters, I wanted to do an internship in the US, but for a number of reasons it didn't seem to be working out, which is when I began to think of going on an internship abroad, though not to the States, with AIESEC, the biggest international student organization in the world which makes international internships possible. With the thought of, if they don't accept me for the programme, I will go study Spanish in Spain or Latin America (I already checked out several options, seriously), I went to and back from the AIESEC admission interview. A couple of months later, I was in China, where I could not understand a word, spoken or written, and learned very little other than to say 'thank you', 'hello', 'my name is', and a few very random phrases, such as ''what are you staring at'' (I never did use that last one apart from with friends).

A few months after that, I was again in a new country, on yet another side of the world. I was in Brazil, trying to learn Portuguese. If I wasn't going to go the AIESEC way, I probably would have gone off to Spain or a Latin American country, to try and learn Spanish (again). I came back from Brazil in August 2010, and to this moment I am trying to learn Portuguese, and I believe that this new favorite hobby of mine will never leave me.

(Just for a laugh, here is something else ironic: before leaving to China, I took a beginner's class in Argentine tango in the Hague, and a few months later I was trying to learn samba... my life doesn't make much sense, does it?)

An international experience seems somewhat of a 'must-do' these days. Through Facebook, I can keep up with the traveling and internship/exchange updates from friends around the world, and what I've noticed lately is many people I got to know in Brazil during my five months there, are currently away in another country themselves, whether they've been there for a while, are half-way their trip, or just arrived. There are updates from Brazilians from Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Chile, Canada, Bangladesh, Thailand, Colombia and Russia ;) It's crazy in a way isn't it, how small the world is nowadays. I don't take it for granted that I've been able to have this experience myself, certainly not. Despite the increasing numbers of people who go abroad for an exchange experience, I still think it's quite a special thing to do. Once I was talking about it to a friend, and we were thinking, you know people are different in this respect, some feel like their local environment is enough for them, and a move to another city in the same country is a big step. Some go on exchange to a country next door, some within the continent, or some across the world, like me (I specifically wanted to). And some even go to countries where the challenges are even bigger than just going across the world, and I wonder if it really takes a certain type of person to do it, or it's something you may learn from traveling. Whichever the case, traveling and exchange experiences, though certainly not to be taken for granted, are exponentially on the rise these days, especially among young people and students. But I guess it's not just a hype, it's a sign of this world getting used to mixing up its cultures after all.

These days, the world is at your feet...
They say an international exchange or work experience looks great on your CV. Sure, it does, it helps you stand out and proves you have that personal quality of initiative and sense of adventure, in most cases it also signifies that you've learnt much and grown from your international experience. And yet, the more (young) people go on exchange, the more competition there is, isn't there? Hahaha... how do you still set yourself apart then? How do you prove your uniqueness, enhanced by your international experience smiling at you (and your employer) from your CV (or online profile, etc.)? Aaah, the question of modern times, when just being international may no longer make you seem so special when trying to 'make it (big)' in our harshening society. But how thankful I am that there are organizations such as AIESEC, which made it possible for me to get to know two different cultures on the opposite sides of the planet. Because I know that every international experience is unique, isn't it, for every person, who can take from it something special for themselves, something that will most likely play a big part in their lives for a while after the exchange itself. And it's great (though I have to admit, I'm a little jealous too) to get a peek into the exchange experiences of your friends around the world, see what they're up to in all these different countries; striving to live the experience unites us, after all, it should certainly not be something to separate us. And though I am here in Holland, I've left parts of my heart behind in other countries, which connects me to the people I know there.

Ok, the last thing for now, something that I wonder about, and I'm sure would make the dream job for many people, what about travel journalism? Before I sat down to write my blog entry, I read an article about Lisbon in a travel journal, one of those you get on board the plane (going somewhere, so reading an article about traveling is just about the most appropriate thing for the occasion). But I actually have no idea who wrote this article, what relationship they themselves have with that city, where else they have been and written about. The life of a travel journalist seems to be a fairytale, you go traveling around the world, to all these exotic places, you write about it, and you get paid for it all, too! Can't say I wouldn't wanna do that, but what a killer of a competition this job must have then, because I can imagine many people who wouldn't even wanna be writers otherwise, piping up to say they're up for it. How do you even become a travel journalist? It's like a mystery to me.

At the same time, it must be a heck of a difficult job all the same. Especially if you do it freelance. Being sent out once in a while by the magazine you work for, coming back and writing an article, may be one way of doing this, but somehow it sounds... too easy. I have a feeling there is much more work to this profession than just having a chain of vacations in diverse places linked up one after another and the occasional work involved. What about all this online media these days too! For some inspiration I checked out the travel page of the Global NY Times before this, and it's full of articles on traveling, and sometimes I really wonder about the people behind these stories; who writes them, when, where, how many they manage, what else they might be doing for a living, what kind of home life they have. It's another mystery yet ;)

Then again, life is full of mysteries, and I'm not demanding any answers now, you live and you learn, and someday I may have the answer to some of my questions I raised here. The world is gonna keep spinning, and we all will do so with it, in our increasingly melting pot international society. But I guess the beautiful thing is, no matter how small the world is getting, there will always be - I hope - enough diversity in it, enough corners yet to be (re)explored, enough new things to see, try, learn about. And there will always be curious writers like me wondering about these things; and ever more people lucky enough to have their unique international travel-and-live-abroad experiences :)

Life will always be full of surprises and mysteries, and we have to manage it that way. After all, when I kept the option of learning Spanish in Guatemala, Peru or Barcelona (or wherever else) as a pretty good plan B to going on exchange with AIESEC, I didn't know I'd be trying to keep up my Portuguese a year later, did I? But that's how it goes.

Thanks for reading!

Beijos, obrigada mais uma vez pra ter lendo o meu blog!

Gringas from Holland traveling together in Brazil :)

Ooooi!

You know, when I first arrived in Brazil, I didn't know anyone there other than the people from AIESEC and Saci, the school, who received me and whom I had 'met' online before leaving Holland; I didn't speak the language, and was feeling a little bit lost for the initial period. It was so different when my friend Bryley arrived at the Rodoviaria Novo in Rio de Janeiro, three and a half months later. And it was such a funny feeling in the beginning to see her there in Brazil. We often said in Brazil that we made a good traveling couple, as I speak the language and she has a great sense of direction, so together we made our way around easily. Of course, Bryley has even traveled in more challenging countries than Brazil and on her own, and I always admire people who have the guts to just go anywhere and everywhere by themselves, and wonder if it takes a certain type of person to do that, or it's something you can learn as you go about it?

In Rio, we stayed at a hostel in Copacabana recommended to me by my friend Roberta, which, I remember, we had to put some effort to find initially once we got off the crowded, rambling city bus. We should just have stayed where we got off as the hostel was just around the corner, but instead we actually decided to try our luck with a cab... the driver had no idea (hmm?) where to go and just drove us in a circle before setting us off somewhere close to where we started, but it was a funny conversation, as it involved a random conversation in Portuguese between me and the driver about where we came from and, since we were from Holland, about the Brazil-Holland game two days later. Bryley just arrived so I'm not sure anymore how much she understood, other than what I might have translated for her benefit. I just remember it being really funny, so that I didn't even grit my teeth too much that we paid the taxi ride money for nothing, since our hostel was really so close, we just didn't know. And I remember the guy thought that Holland would win the game... and well, he turned out to be right. In any case, he must have been pretty entertained as even in a busy tourist area such as Copacabana they still probably seldom get such random gringas (with such good Portuguese skills ;)).

After spending a couple of days in Rio and getting about a bunch of tourist things like seeing Christ the Redeemer and the Sugarloaf Mountain, on Friday we ended up going out till 5 30 am in Lapa on the night of my birthday, with a big group from the hostel that quickly reduced itself to me and Bryley following this random Brazilian guy for a little while who came by the hostel every weekend or something to take the whole lot to Lapa. But as we weren't satisfied by the quality of the first place he took us to which was full of seriously horny guys grabbing you at every corner (it was a seriously intense atmosphere hahaha), and we kind of figured that the guy was just trying to show off by demonstrating how many friends he has, we made our own way for a while. We ended up in this funk place (it's a music style) in the middle of Lapa, where we found our hostel roommates again and their friends, a bunch of Brazilian guys! One of the girls knew them from her previous stay in Brazil, as I remember... well, I can only hope that I can come back to Brazil and show off such a cool friends-pack at a party hehe (I'm sure I can). The funniest thing was, they even acted as our protectors from the other guys around who wouldn't leave us alone (there were some annoying ones). Time flew and it was early morning by the time we left and climbed back into bed, to roll out too late the next morning to have breakfast at the hostel, so we had to go eat our sandwiches and drink our juice at a local cafeteria, perched on high chairs by the counter, listening to the sounds of fireworks around, which were in the honour of Argentina losing so impressively to Germany in the Cup. If Brazil didn't get to use up the fireworks the day before, this was the day to do it... apparently, in JF, it was the same case! Fireworks, just for Argentina!

That afternoon, after perusing the area of the city with the beautiful Teatro Municipal which is similar to the one in Paris, and another coconut-water stop-over by the Ipanema beach, we headed to Petropolis, a small near-by town in the mountains (right on the road between Rio and JF) famous for having been the summer retreat of the Portuguese kings during the colonial period. The kings left several famous castles and building around the city, which is a small but beautiful place surrounded by green mountains, and is relatively cooler than Rio, which explains its popularity with the cariocas from the capital (and thus the Portuguese kings), when the heat is just too much to take even lying sprawled on Copacabana beach. And yes, it is one of the towns that was recently affected in the floods that took place again in Brazil... There was a big flood in Rio where I was still in Brazil myself, but this was unfortunately even more serious, so as I have been to two out of three places that were hit (the others towns were Teresopolis and Nova Friburgo, and I've been to the latter) I was quite sad to read the news on the floods in Brazil... it's interesting how much more you find yourself paying attention and how much more it means to you when something happens somewhere in the world if you have a connection with that place. So I hope that things will soon get better in these towns.

As for the moment, back to that day in Petropolis... (well, yes, it was my birthday... who would have thought that I'd spend my 23rd birthday in Rio and Petropolis, in Brazil!) We were met there by Amanda, a girl I met through Aiesec, whose family lives in Petropolis. So we came over to her family's lovely, comfortable house (so nice after three nights in a small hostel room), where we met her family and her cats, had some dinner, went out to get a movie (the famous Brazilian comedy I already wanted to see before, called 'Se eu fosse voce' - 'If I were you'), and as we were tired, fell asleep soon after it ended (Bryley fell asleep during, haha). The next day we went to explore Petropolis for a few hours, starting with our visit to the top of the hill popular with sporty-outdorsy paragliding people, to seeing the richly done homes of the Portuguese kings, to even a German-inspired party that just happened to be taking place in Petropolis that weekend. I remember Bryley's reaction to it, because it was one of the first things she did in Brazil... a German party.

It was a short, but lovely trip to Petropolis, and hopefully not the last one! In the following weeks, we did a lot of traveling, that's for sure: we traveled to Belo Horizonte, Ouro Preto, Cabo Frio and Buzios, met up the other trainees in Rio again... and after a weekend back in JF, we headed together for the exotic Bahia in the north-east of the country. Well, I do hope there will be more adventure in Brazil next time for me! (Who knows, I might even have the guts then to travel by myself a little bit, too!).

Hope you enjoyed reading!
Beijos! :)

Brazilian zusjes in Holland :)

Olá meus amigos!

You know it's a curious thing to suddenly have a full house, with dear foreign guests to take care of. I had this feeling when my host-sisters from Brazil, Mariana and Cacau, came to visit Holland recently. When they arrived at my house, everything was new to them, so of course they were a little shy in the beginning, so I had to try and make them feel at home... after all, I stayed at theirs in Brazil :) We've never really had many guests stay over at our house, let alone international friends, so it was a new role for me too - that of a host. But I learned a little bit about host families and living at somebody else's house in another country while I myself was in Brazil, so now it was my turn to be a host-sister, and it was great, I miss having a full house, preparing coffee and breakfast for my zusjes, taking them around. I'm glad we could experience living at each other's houses in turn, within the same year! :) By the end of their stay, the girls felt so at home here, they cooked a whole Brazilian meal for me, my mum and Bryley, including real brigadeiros (a chocolate dessert) brought over from Brazil! I think I had so many brigadeiros that night, I was on a bit of a sugar rush.

The girls arrived here the day before Christmas Eve, and I still remember the feeling of anticipation when I went to pick them up at the airport. Actually, I've never really picked anyone up at the airport either, at least alone and in the last ten years, and it was very special for me... it's a funny feeling, standing in front of the arrival gates, waiting for your friends from across the world to arrive... don't you think? It's so surreal. Seeing them suddenly there, coming out with four large suitcases, those special friends from Brazil who you said good-bye to a few months ago on another continent. Actually, it felt just as surreal when we went back to the airport when the girls were leaving Holland. But then it's a little sadder of course, as two weeks together have flown by so quickly.

Together, we explored the surrounding cities, had a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas (with snow!), exchanged gifts, watched the new Ivete Sangalo show from New York (that I was so happy to receive as Xmas gift from the girls!), hung around on the couch at my house watching movies, and much more! Also, as a lucky coincidence, our annual Christmas dinner with friends was in the week the girls were also here, so they got to meet my close group of friends, too :)

Amsterdam, of course, could not be missed either! The funniest thing ever is still Mari trying to take some naughty pictures in the Red Light District. Which were not allowed and had to be deleted, and our group once even had to relocate ourselves. Oh, and the search for the condomerie that Mari was so excited to visit and buy souvenirs for her friends at! (I must say, it's a very cool store). Among others, we made a stop at the Anne Frank's House, and believe it or not, I've never been there before! But what a great and inspiring museum to visit.


The five of us in front of the famous IAmsterdam sign :)

After exploring the great things in Amsterdam for two days, we even managed to make a stop over in Utrecht, where the Brazilian girls tried the Dutch broodje kroket, patat friet from the ever busy Manneke Pies, and the Belgian beers at cafe Olivier, the coolest bar ever.

And then it was the end of 2010 and the arrival of 2011 already! Hard to believe how hard time flies, but how great that we could spend New Years Eve together with our Brazilian host-zusjes here, in Holland! And our group for NYE was huge too, with friends from both sides of the ocean. Free (at least, before midnight) champagne and olliebolen, which are special Dutch pastries sold around this period, roasted marshmallows, (slightly late) fireworks at the big square: a great way to celebrate the coming of 2011, with great friends! Happy New Year everyone! =D

And, of course, Paris! We made our trip together there a couple of days after NYE, where we stayed in a very nice hostel full of Brazilians (of course), and kept up with a busy schedule of hitting all the famous Paris landmarks (and there are many) in that January cold, brrr! Eiffel Tower, Arc du Triumphe, Champs Elysees, Louvre, Monmartre, Notre Dame, all the beautiful sights of Paris are difficult to describe of course!

Trying to speak (although Bryley was impressively good at it) French, trying out French food i.e. crepés, buying Parisian souvenirs and black-and-white cards with the romantic city scenes, being shocked at the prices of coffee and even coke in Parisian cafés, wishing it was summer and warm and making plans to come back when it actually is (so we can hit all the cafés in Paris despite the ridiculous prices), taking the boat tour in the evening along the Seine river, holding a mini photo-shoot in front of the Eiffel Tower, dragging our butts around on the kinda-expensive (it turned out) pub crawl in the red light district of the city with a guide from Holland, looking for Amelie Poulain's café, buying all those mini-Eiffel towers (I think Mari got like 30 key-chains... and more than 10 mini-towers... ok, I got a couple of mini-towers too ;))... life á la Paris is full of glamorous randomness... or random glamour? ;)

Beautiful girls in front of what is probably the most famous landmark in the world! ;)

After the Paris trip, the girls only had a couple of days more in Holland, but we squeezed in a little trip to Delft, a small but lovely Dutch town where all those white and blue ceramics come from (too bad the weather was so... blah); and a wonderful Brazilian dinner at my house, after wich we watched together the Dutch movie Mari has been wanting to see since I was in Brazil and told her about it: Zwartboek.

But I have to say again, what a pleasure it was to see my Brazilian zusjes cooking and taking charge of my kitchen... eeeee! =D

It was strange bringing the girls back to the airport, as the time flew by so fast. But Bryley and I waved them off on their trip back to Brazil, with loaaaads of gifts for friends and family (remember the 30+ Eiffel towers?), knowing that either here or there, or anywhere, we will see them again soon! Zusjes re-united again :)

Au-revoir my friends, till the next post ;)
Beijos :p