It’s just weird. Ambiguous thoughts come to my mind. One year in a photo flash.

Gent. Minha Gent(e). Frenetic bikes. 297 different cosy cafes to go within the ring. Electronic music. What a hell of a city!!! Getting around. Adventure. Clã do Gento. Abu Simbel. Stripes and circles. Electronic for sure with Malaka! Duvel and his companions. Dutch language course. Ik ben moe! Food. Smoking instead of sleeping. Azul and qfwfq...(long time no see… but I kept remembering you). Loads and loads of work. Too much for Erasmus students… but guess what… this is Belgium!!! I can do it. Wake me up. Meeting floor. Sharing little things. Do you have an egg? Wanna join me for diner? Crazy Rebecca crazy… Only we know… Jilly, thank you for embracing me. Steven... I just hope you can find your way… I will be crossing my fingers. Wablief??? Getting lost. Going out, getting in. For a coffee, for a tea, for some papers, for an endless talk. MoCoMa fellows… I wish I would have just told you how life was so much beautiful when you were here. Kasia, everything was so damn “awesome” when you were around :) Kamila, I’m sorry, you’re not as tough as you thing, and you do have a pretty smile…, Nico, Nico… “Hablar portugues e como hablar castelano pero com a boca serrada!” :P we really fit hein? I hope I will still gonna make it… Paris avec toi! Estelle… what a surprise… I still feel ashamed it was so damn late when I really got to know the real you… what a hell of a smile you have… Laurita mona fofa! Come what may in Overpoort. Some did hear, some did laugh about it… we just didn’t care… It was our moment… and het spijt me but we were good! Without any practice or any agreement we just performed it as Nicole and Ewan would do! :P International dinner II. Geo, my lady… can you please tell me the word in English I cannot find to describe you? What wonderful chats we had… Hitch-hiking all the way. Martita, no words for you… I’m just looking forward to see you in your damn gorgeous white suit! :P Oh kouter 17… I wish we could all gather there while rushing from our schools to our homes. Tight hugs. More than 70 beers tasted. Graslei… there are few places on Earth as my Graslei… No matter what they say… for us nothing can beat it... we will always meet in the other side... you know why!;) International talks. Spaghetti with something. Manage! Definitely!!! Duvel. Like is like. Working and getting drunk in different languages. Contrast. Union. Flanders as more dialects than communities. Laptops with tea. Portugal. My dear visitors… I wouldn't be so happy without you around for some days. Gostas pouco gostas. Travels. Stevie Ray. Discovers. In the end it’s always about people. Limits aren’t always bad. Love what you do have. Wafels met chocolade during dawn… texas holder. Salsa. Languages. Compadre. Stripes and circles. Music. Crazy Gentse Feesten. No more Carapils. R&R. Fish with banana - some can do it pretty well while some were just meant to eat it! :P Bezuntai-vos! :P Mosquito Coast, Pink flamingo’s, Hot Club, Dambert, rumba Cabeza, Trapistenhuis, Geus van Gent… I wish you could be settled just around the corner. Luis “o sempre em pé”, I still laugh alone when I take a look to the videos in Boudewijn. Tic? Fries met andalouse sause a.u.b. And then Joana introduced herself - My name is Claudia! ;) Omer, the man. Cycling, cycling… Getting "found". Qual é o teu filme preferido? Mon Coeur, mon amour. Dreadlock. Jubruska or whatever you pronounce it. Karolienska’s moods. ;) One day you will give me a free will kiss. Misórdias. Chilling in parks. Maar ja... So many memories and so few words for it. Wandering around the table. In portuguese we have this expression... Bottles and glasses. Cultural differences end up with general laugh. Can you say this? Bottle cap. VOORUIT. Glass of something. “Kip pis” is finnish means txim-txim in Portuguese, Pupici means beijinhos and zmanquenixa moia curva… well… it’s polish! :P NASDROVIA! Rain. Snow just once. Rain again. Rain all the time. Pepe and Gert. Chips. Bruises. The sun shines and we go out just to appreciate it. There is time for everything is this life. Pannekoeken. Aldi. “Our” garden. onvermijdelijk. Why nooooooot???? J Super uber Turkish bracelets! Little moments count. Wearing high-hills. Trip to funklub (of niet!:P). Are you felling ok? No! Laura Latvia stressed as only she could be – we do like you that way though!:). Going to Slovenia, France, Italy, Ireland, The Nederlands and eventually Portugal. Nuddles met peanut sauce! Leker, leker! ;) Nouvelle vague. Cafeplangent. Artevelde, he is he man! :P Postcards and letters. Learning English. Friendships. Indy and Miya. Spelling mistakes. We just wanna have fun. Parties. Going to the laundry. Izita… can you give me some milk?;) I loved to live with you. Tucking in. verstoppertje. Projects and meetings. Meetings and projects! Passe passe le nioj. :P We are totally ok! Can you imagine? No, so cooooolll!!! :P Sharing, learning is living. Living means now leaving. Farewell. I’m sleppy. I do have to stop. Somewhere and somehow. It’s stupid but it doesn’t feel right. It was just a good journey,… and therefore it just hard to think it’s not going to happen again. Not with the same people, and for sure not in Gent. I really wanted this. I’ve lived it. One of the best years in my life. But not anymore. Everything in life has its time… (my mom used to say…) It’s time to come back to where I belong… and I hope all my beloved ones are still there for me.

When one chapter in your life ends, another one starts.

Tot strakjes mijn Gent(e).

Last days.

I'm sorry...

but there are few places more beautiful than this.

Mission accomplished!

I guess it’s pretty much about it.
My “job” is over, I don’t have my bike, my room, my school and my friends are almost all gone…
I’m flying back to Portugal next Monday.

Lot’s of thoughts/feelings have been coming to my mind lately… Although I would really like to write about them – It helps me to understand what I live/like/want – I don’t think I will have the time for it…

I just packed. I’m going to Brussels to finally get my way there and of course… to meet uncle Picos. :) He was the first with who I smiled here, and I guess he will be one of the last… I come back to were I started… Almost one year after…

Then I’m going to Beringen, somewhere in the only Flanders region I didn’t get the chance to visit… YET! :) I’m really looking forward to it, because I will also meet Mark and that can only be cool…

Then back to Gent to say goodbye...
And it’s over.

But I'm happy with it... It's really time to go home...

Mission accomplished! :)

Home parties are always the best...

For the majority of students, Eramus can almost be described in a word: PARTY!

“You will have time for everything, and sometimes you will really feel like resting.” – I remember my Viriato telling me something like this, just some weeks after he had arrived from his experience. Luckily for us, he was right! I’m sorry but no human being can party for a year without suffering any (bad) consequences later. I partied until I was sick of it – yeah, you can really get sick of it :P

Although I think I didn’t party much more than I used to do in Lisbon, the public opinion around here says I partied a lot - it something they say about all the portuguese people! I guess it's in our blood:) Well, the fact your floor mates have your age might easily lead you to party even when you don’t want/plan to... and it does. One night it’s poker night, then some friends of one of us come over, then somebody else invite two friends for dinner and you end up drinking a glass of something with them… or two or three… It’s just impossible to see/hear them relaxing with a bunch of beers, without joining them! And even if you try to resist because you have to study or sleep, adrenaline starts pumping in your veins and defeats you.

Those nights were so fun and unexpected that sometimes I dare to organize what I used to call “meeting” :P - You can’t never call it a party until the “party” begins!

My life would be different in Gent if I would have happened to live somewhere else...

Forgotten stop II: Paris

I just spent there one day this time… I wandered around the places that brought me back some extremely happy memories… (Without a map! I’m sorry but I really know my way there:))

When I was younger I used to say that one day I will live in Paris… I think I still would like to fulfil that dream…

Paris is…well... Paris!

Forgotten stop: Trouville

Once I went to France. – Actually twice now that I think about it… :P

My aunt Ana has been living there for a long time, and this year her daughter came over with her family to spend the Christmas with her mom. I joined them :) and for the first time in my life I didn’t spend Christmas in Alentejo.

For me the Christmas evening has always been special. We always create a mess around our evening; my little cousins always anxious while waiting for mid-night, my granny running from the kitchen to the living room 10 times a minute and the rest of us eating as pigs, chatting as Latinos and laughing together around a big table covered with tasty typical dishes… and that’s something I cannot have every month.

This year it was different, but I really liked it too. I must say it was quite a quite Christmas for me, but it was just one of different things I lived here… and you know… I just love to try-out new things!

The nicest part of my staying in Trouville was the fact I finally got to know better my cousins from my father’s family. We see each other each now and then but it’s not that I had spent some days in a row with them… and, once you do it, you really feel closer to them… and these cousins of mine are really interesting and nice people to be with. :)

Not everything in life happens as you were expecting to… but still, you should always manage a way to seek for happiness!

?

[Picture taken in “our” park…
I will never forget the trick Nico! :)
...missing those afternoons...]

Last stop: Bouillon

Finally... the Ardennes! :)

Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to spend there a few days exploring the area, so I just went to Bouillon - but I can say I got the picture though.
It is really a beautiful and pleasant little village in the middle of the green, in the lung of Belgium.
This country is more beautiful than you (I) think (thought).

Forgive me Belgian fellows, I misjudged your country! (Brussels fault!:P)

Talk to strangers! :)

I want to record this.

When I was doing the check-in to Valladolid (Spain), I thought an unpleasant trip was just about to start. I was taking that flight to reach Coimbra, in Portugal. Why did I go for this long trip just to get there? Low-cost advantages (or not!). So, the plan was hitting Valladolid at 8 p.m and wait 7 hours for the train that would take me to my final destination.

My backpack was pretty heavy and as I didn’t want to pay any extra fee for it I just weighted it before the check-in. But I had so many luggages that to make it easier I just glimpsed the guy in front of me in the queue and asked:

“Can you please look after my luggage for a second?”
“Sure, no problem.”.

I can still remember that moment because actually I was already thinking I could just try to start a small talk with him – I was pretty bored and couldn’t deal with the fact I would spend more than 10 hours without talking to someone. :P When I got back to my queuing position I said “Thank you” but I was too worried with my extra two kilos to think about small talks – but I thought that was the moment… I could just have told him that I had extra-weight, that I had to figure out a way not to pay for it (because it was what I was just doing!) and bla bla… and if he would happen to be in the mood to talk too, he would just follow my (not) interesting conversation and keep it going!. :P But I did none of this. I was tooo busy with my luggage.

Afterwards, while I was moving shoes from my backpack to a side bag I could use as hand luggage, this tall blond guy with a huge backpack stops behind me…

“Do you know what the weight-limit is?” – American guy with a f*ckin American accent (Really, I swear! :P)
“15 kilos” – me
“For sure I ain’t gonna make it. Have you been to Valladolid?” – American guy
“No, I’m actually going to Portugal, but I know there’s not much to do around there” - me
“Are you going to Portugal?” – the Belgian guy surprisingly says – “Me too!”
“I just lost my flight to Barcelona and said to the Ryanair guys to put me in a plain to Spain, no way that I’m going to stay in this shitty place.” – American guy

Some minutes later, after talking about the way the three of us were intending to take once we land in Spanish field…

“You’re a couch surfer right?” – Belgian guy
“Yeah,… I’ve been travelling around Europe. Men, it was been the experience of my life… (…) and I’m going to Barcelona to try to get a job there.” – American guy
“Why don’t you try Portugal? It’s much nicer we can tell - ask her… and besides, as I’m renting a car in Valladolid to reach Cabeças de Basto, I might as well have a companion and you can even sleep at my place if you want to. Afterwards, you can take a train to Faro or so…” – Belgian guy
“Ok, it sounds nice.” – American guy

“I’m Peter.” – American dude :P
“I’m Mark.”- Belgian guy
“I’m Ana.”

Well, I would really like to be able to put in words how awesome and interesting were the hours that follow that unexpected meeting... Me and Mark spent all the flight talking… all the time… what a hell of chatting… and I decided to take his lift to Portugal too, in order to avoid waiting 7 hours for the train, and because after two intensive hours talking with him, I knew that I could do it for a lot more!

An hour later, there I was, with a Belgian and an American in a Spanish renting car on our way to the north of Portugal. It was so much fun. I felt that we were just coming out from a movie… really… Mark’s life story…airplanes, Peter trying his best on asking for directions with his Spanish, the Spanish in the mood for French while I was trying Spanish but only Dutch words where coming out to my head, staying or not staying for the night at Mark’s, dilemmas, opinions… we spent about 8 hours together and by the time we split (say I stepped out in Guimarães), we had already some in-jokes. In few hours you can swap so many experiences and get to know little parts of strangers. Some times you’re lucky, and you meet people who make your day worthier. :)

Really, this kind of meetings make you realize how much people there might be out there with who you can mingle with.

I will never forget the good short time I shared with those two… and I know… I will see you sooner (Mark;)) or later(Peter:P)!

Biking without hands!!!

I finally did it!
ALRIGHT!!! ;)


p.s. keep in mind that I couldn't even scratch my nose when I first got my yellow here...

Sint Martens Latem area

Welcome to the Belgian Hollywood.

Sint Martens Latem is not even 10km far from Gent. Just by taking a look at the street that connects these two areas one can notice that he is stepping into a different” world”. Lexus, Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes and Rovers are some of the cars you can buy on the way to Latem…

But then you see the houses and the gardens and you realize it all…

I’ve been discovering this area with two opposite thoughts in my mind. On one hand, it’s impossible not to admire the lovely beautiful rich houses and to wonder how their inside should be or what a big party you would give there, If you would live there… On the other hand I wonder if this people really worked hard for it and if they actually take benefit from all the luxury they have. And it’s inevitable not to think… some people with so much, and others living with so much less.

But still, everybody is able to appreciate the beauty.

Flashback XI

I will never forget the moment I saw you standing at my door when I wasn’t expecting you…

“Come downstairs to check your post because you might have something for you…”

I cannot describe how happy I was when I had realized that my “mail” was you. I keep still remembering those moments…

Alpha Mike…

Visitors.

I used to say I didn’t miss my life in Portugal and my beloved ones that much. It was bearable, and I meant it.

The fact you are living a new life in a new country speaks for itself. It’s challenging (!) and since you know it won’t last long you just wanna live it! You just wanna live it and there is no much space left for the hardest part of being away from home… But I know there was another reason that helped me out. I was damn lucky. I had a lot of “visitors” as I used to say – or just some fellows who were coming not to pay the night somewhere else in Gent. :P They were my strongest connection to my roots. They brought me coffee, “unique” alcoholic Portuguese drinks, little gifts, news, but especially they brought me love! They embraced me as if I had never been away, and I’m sure that made the difference.

Some of them came just for a couple of nights, but others spent so much time here that when they were gone, it seemed a part of mijn Gent(e) was gone too. It was sooooooooo good to have you around and to share a little bit of my Belgian experience with you.

p.s. Nunão és um totó. Ritinha, totó número 2. MeireleZinho não te perdoo. Verinha, quase quase. Driquinha e Almacinha... foi uma pena! Miguelito e Viri.. eu percebo, estais perdoados! :P

Facto II

If I would like to write about everything I lived here, I would spend half of the time writing.

Language is power.