The Cast is Finally Off!

Então, pessoal?

So seven weeks have passed since I broke my foot, and I’ve finally been given the go ahead to get rid of my cast boot and crutches (yay!) so I figured it would be a good time to update this. Reflecting  back, I have to be honest and say that breaking your foot a month into your year abroad and then having the spend the next two feeling cooped up and very frustrated at home is pretty grim. FOMO is unfortunately very real, as while it’s funny to hear my friends recount antics from the beach or the club or even some story from the bus, it’s not exactly the same when you were supposed to be there too. Nevertheless, I’ve been extremely lucky with my group of friends and especially with my housemates (S/o to Tiago, Miguel, Simón and Amorim) who always made sure I was okay, had everything I needed and tried to include me as much as possible – it definitely made this whole time a lot more bearable! I have a few more weeks of physio before I’ll be fully recovered and able to get on with my life again, and it’s safe to say I’m very much looking forward to it, but I think the worst is definitely over.

Somewhere along the way, I realised that I feel completely at home now (cliché, I know), but I have my routine with my set of friends, I can sustain a conversation in Portuguese without having to think too much and be (more or less) understood, and I’ve learnt that for 38 pence, I will just stomach the university canteen lunch, though the endless supply of rice and beans certainly leaves a lot to be desired.

Being relatively restricted in what I’ve been able to do these past two months or so, I’ve had a lot of time to think and just reflect on my time here so far. One thing I’ve realised is that when you’re surrounded by other European students, unfortunately your languages degree seems virtually worthless to them…I’ve heard the words “em Portugal quem estuda linguas não tem futuro” several times and it doesn’t help that most of them already seem to speak two or three languages (albeit with varying amounts of proficiency) on top of studying mechanical or aerospace engineering. However, I’d say you just need to remember that for one, you’re not doing your degree in Portugal so don’t bother getting disheartened over it, just focus on improving your languages instead. In addition you come to realise that social media can be very dangerous as it’s very easy to make comparisons with other people on their respective years abroad, but it’s important to bear in mind that no one will ever post their lows, but we will all have them at some point.

I’ve also realised the whole “time is precious” saga, as overused as it may be, is completely true, and how important it is to take every opportunity to see as much of Brazil as possible. Lagoa de Conceição, the quaint little town where I’m staying, is pretty sleepy thanks to the heavy Brazilian beach influence, and it’s therefore extremely easy to get very comfortable here. However given the sheer size of this country, I figured I had to try and see more of it than just the island, as amazing as is in Floripa. My first road trip was to the city of Blumenau, a 3-hour drive away for the second biggest Oktoberfest celebration in the world! We’d hired a coach to take us there, and spent most of the day drinking beer, watching the occasional parade and joining in with the festivities. Though I was on crutches, it was definitely an interesting experience and made a change from spending the weekend at home.

I’m looking forward to making the most of my time here, starting with a Brazilian nation holiday (feriado), where I’m looking taking another road trip for a couple of days with some friends, but I’ll keep you updated with my next post.

Tchau!