Taking my students to Europe

A few friends pointed to me that they actually don’t know what it is that I do in Brazil. From my blog it might seem that I’m here to travel, to party and to experience different diseases. But that’s just half of the story. Mainly I came to Assis to teach English at the São Paulo State University and to prepare the students for the IELTS exam (English language proficiency test).

I have more or less forty students. The number depends on various factors such as heavy rain, exam periods and I suspect that also on the wildness of the parties. Although not all of them are very good at coming to the class regularly, generally speaking, they are amazing students and I will try to demonstrate why.

Normally my lessons mainly focus on training students’ listening, speaking, reading and writing skills with the use of general topics. However, last week was somewhat different. I was so shaken by the news from Paris that I couldn’t continue with the teaching as usual. I decided that I would spend the week on activities around the topic. I think that describing what we did and what was my students’ reaction will provide the best picture of why I like them so much.

The activities were divided into two lessons, each had 1,5 hour. The general aim of the lessons was not to discuss details of the terrorist attacks. Rather, I wanted to provide a context of what happened and understanding of the impact it could have upon Europe. I realize that it is somewhat controversial since I am not an expert in the field. Therefore, I tried to present only very basic facts and encourage students to do their own research, which was followed by a debate.

My presentation and students’ research took place in the first lesson. By showing some pictures of bombed Syria and Afghanistan (these are the two main countries where the refugees to Europe come from), I tried to elicit that these are two examples of countries that are “not very safe” and people try to flee from them. With a video made by the Guardian (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5H5w3_QTG0), I presented a simplified explanation of the civil war in Syria. This introduction led us to a discussion of what people in these countries can do and what they actually do. Many decide to flee and search for a new home elsewhere. This was a bridge to the immigration crisis in Europe. By presenting different positions and opinions that could be heard from the European politicians, I tried to demonstrate how deeply divided Europe has been over the question of immigration.

This was the end of the theoretical part and the practical one could start. “Welcome to Europe,” I announced. “Imagine that you live in a small village somewhere in Europe and you need to decide whether to accept 5 Syrian refugees to your community. Your village is small, about 500 inhabitants. You don’t know anything about the people who would come, apart from the country of their origin. The decision you will make is very important for the future of your village. Make sure you know enough about the pros and cons of immigration and that you consider different points of view.”

Each student was given a role card with a fictional name and an opinion they should argue for. They could decide what was their occupation and their interests and generally what was their life story. After spending some time on creating their character, they were invited to search for more information on immigration that would help them to argue in favor of the presented opinion.

 

The best waiter in our village

The Mayor (in the suit) and the villagers

In the following class, before which I had sent out an online invitation to the vote, I welcome the villagers in my new role of a secretary. We spent few minutes on getting to know each other while eating refreshment that was provided by the village council.

Socializing before the debate

 

Then we had the debate and then we had the vote.

And while the votes were counted, I received a phone call from my husband. He was telling me about a horrible tragedy. I could not really understand. Dead people. Hostages. More people dying. What? The line broke. I was shaking, nearly crying. I got the message, something horrible was happening.

“I’m very sorry, guys. We need to interrupt this,” I tried to stop the vote. “Sorry, I need to check the news. Something horrible happened. I just talked to my husband who’s in France. I didn’t understand clearly. I need to see the news.”

Everybody in the class got worried. I should apologize about that again because some of them got really worried. However, the effect was there. The whole situation felt more real. I showed the news.

After that, I insisted that we needed to vote again “because this changes everything. This could have happened in our village.”

That was the end of the game. The results? Similar as in Europe. People got even stronger in their beliefs. Those against accepting the refugees got another argument to support their view and did not change their opinion. Similarly, those in favor to accept them felt even stronger urge to help so they did not change their vote either.

My aim was to show that Europe was divided over the immigration crisis and that the attacks will even worsen the division. From the debriefing, I understood that this is not really what the students took out of it. But never mind because what they told me that the lesson for them was, was even more precious.

“I learned how complex the issue is. Before the game I thought I had quite a clear opinion on it. But this made me consider some of the things that I did not think about before. I mean, I didn’t change my opinion. But I started to think about my own position more critically.”

“Well, I understood that it is really important to read a lot before making an important decision like this. It is hard to take part in a debate if you don’t have enough information. You need good arguments which you can’t have unless you do some research on your own.”

“It was really interesting to defend an opinion that is not my own. It actually made me understand the other side better and consider the other points of view.”

* * *

Just some final notes. I emphasized that the information presented is simplified. The fact that we focused on Syria was because most of the refugees are coming to Europe from there. However, I pointed to the fact that there are also other immigrants coming from different countries for various reasons.

Also, I should say that the students agreed that I can use their pictures to illustrate the game on my blog.

Finally, if any of my friends recognized their names on the role cards, please be aware that I used only the names. There is no connection between the names and the opinions presented.

Thanks to Dener, Sybille, Petra and Vojtech who all contributed to the creation of the game.

Terribly homesick

I bet that I know what most of my family and friends have been discussing the whole day today. It’s hard to immagine that anyone in Europe woud miss the shocking news of the terrorist attacks in Paris and could resist the urge to share their thoughts on it (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/14/syrian-greece-refugee-paris-attacks-killers).
Can you guess what I have been talking about today?… Nothing. I preferred to keep my mouth shout for the whole day rather than to participate in conversations that had no meaning to me.

I spent the day in a neraby national park Morro do Diobo. I went there with students from UNIP, another university that we have in Assis. If I had gone with European students, I know what we would have discussed. Unfortunately, among the Brazilians only few heard about the news. Those who have, did not see a point in having their day spoilt by discussing dead people. Here in Brazil (quite understandably) the attacs are nothing more than a disaster that you notice in the news but you keep on talking about your shopping. I guess it is processed similarly as most of us process the news about the fires in Indonesia (so far the worst ecological disaster of this century, yet most of us have not heard about it or we have but we do not pay enough attention to how disastrousit this is, http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/34787289 ).

Thus I spent the day in a beautiful place, with group of young people who are full of life and energy. They talked a lot and they laughed a lot. And I was upset and irritated and I wanted to be in a bar with my friends, discuss what happened and more importantly what is going to happen with Europe.

I made a weak attempt to explain to my Brazilian friend why I feel so upset about the news. How worried I am for the reaction that is to come from the opponents of the immigration from the Arabic world to Europe. How upset I feel when I immagine that we are going to tighten our security measures, close our borders and refuse to provide shelter for refugees. This is not the Europe I grew up in. But I am worried that this is the Europe where I am going to return. How can I possibly explain these worries to somebody who has never been to Europe?

My friend stopped listening. Possibly because my Portuguese is bad, but even more likely because this is simply not something she could relate to. It’s too abstract and probably boring. So I stopped talking and I spent the whole day just with my dark thoughts.

For the first time I see how incredibly incredibly far away I am from everything that is the most familiar and precious to me. I miss my friends who organise trips to refugee camps to delivere humanitarian aid. I miss my friends who spend their weekend picking litter to make their local area more beautiful. I miss my friends who have visions and they beleive that they can change the world. I believe they can and I want to be part of it.

And don’t get me wrong. I know that Brazil is full of people with great visions. I’ve been just failing to join them.

Brazilian healthcare

Today instead of teaching, I had an unexpected tour of Brazilian hostpital. For about five years, I’ve had an abdominal pain that the Czech nor Scottish doctors could explain. I started to think that it was all in my head and just accepted the fact that I feel sick from time to time without an obvious reason. However, last week I found a tiny lump in my groin which started to worry me a bit. When I woke up this morning with no energy and more pain I checked the lump and saw that it was
somewhat bigger. Time to go to see the doctor, I thought.

At the GP they said I could see the doctor only by appointment or tomorrow morning and referred me to the emergency.
Wow, Brazilian emergency is an experience. It seems they’ve got more staff than patients.
At the reception there were four nurses or secretaries registering the new-comers. After the registration, I was immediately seen by a nurse who checked my blood pressure and temperature. The information was passed to another more experienced nurse who made a decision about how urgent my case was and what doctor I should see. A minute later I was talking to a young doctor who even spoke English. She sent me to another nurse who asked me for urine sample.
Straight after that I had my blood taken by another nurse. I was really amazed that I did not need to wait for more than two minutes to be seen by somebody.It seems that all the staff have their own role which fastens the whole check-up process. Or maybe it was this quick because I’m a foreigner. They told me that I’m historically the first stranger to enter the hospital which explains the curious faces all around me.

My thoughts about how it feels to be a celebrity that everybody talks about and smiles at were disturbed by my sensation that I was going to faint. I was receiving some medication via interveneous therapy and it was more than my body could handle.  I informed the nurse that my consciousness was about to take a break and in few seconds I was surrounded by other three nurses. Unfortunately, instead of putting me into a lying position with my legs up they rather started to check my blood pressure. Well, I could just tell them that it was rediculously low, there was no doubt about that. I guess they just needed to see and have some kind of proof. In that case fainting seemed to be quite an obvious choice if I wanted to make my point that I was really not feeling well. Everything went black and I was enjoying the pleasant feeling of not feeling anything.

I woke up in a bed, surrounded by yet more nurses.  After they checked I was OK, they let me to stay in the bed for another two hours by which time the blood and urine test results would arrive. No kidding, altogether in three hours you can have medical results. In a country which is by many considered part of the so called “third world”. What’s more, during these two hours, a psychologist came to talk to me. I mean seriously, they’ve got even a psychologist at the emergency! And he talks to anyone, regardless how serious the case is. I just couldn’t beleive it.

Two hours passed and I was talking to the doctor again. All the results were negative, which confirmed her initial diagnosis that I suffered from hernia. She said I need a surgery but since it is not life threatening at the moment, they can’t do it at the public hospital. I would need to go to a private clinic and pay for it.  Until that I can happily live with that as far as I avoid lifting heavy stuff and stop with sports. Happily live and stop with sports???
I mean how the hell do these two things gotogether??

This is when I am happy.

I love travelling which involves carrying heavy backpack. I love capoeira which she clearly said was forbidden. I love riding a horse which she said would cause me pain. How can I give up on things I love and be happy?

Well, I guess things could have been much worse. I still can enjoy thousands of other activities. I want to learn to play the guitar, I can study portuguese harder and I can finally start working on an academic paper that I have been wanting to work on for ages. I can also give my students more homework so I have things to correct.
It’s not too bad, it’s just not really great either. Therefore, I welcome any suggestions what one can do to keep herself happy without the need to be physically very active.

I should make a note that most of the story happened in Portuguese. That is only thanks to my amazing flatmate Ju who went with me, did an amazing job in translating everyhing and comforted me when I broke down. It feels great to be surrounded by good friends.

Getting off my high horse

I have fallen in love. Deeply and crazily, in a way I have not experienced before. His name is Canario and he made me to understand that I  am an arrogant idiot.

Canario is intelligent, adventurous, friendly, super strong. He’s got nearly everything I’ve always admired in people. I met him last weekend in the Brazilian countryside and it was love at first sight (at least from my side). We seem to share all our passions. We both love nature and we can spend hours and hours outdoors. We both prefer to go to places where we won’t meet people, nor cars. We enjoy silence and we can understand each other without words. At least he can. Canario doesn’t talk. Ever. He’s a horse. And yes I love him  as weird as  it may sound to some. And yes he probably thinks I’m a naive selfish princess that ignores her own weaknesses, thus getting us both in trouble.

At the weekend I went to a farm of my friend’s parents. They own cattle, chickens and horses and they grow their own vegetable. After they saw how I loved the place and how I enjoyed riding the horse the last time, they invited me to come again. And so I did (I really hope that Brazilians really mean their invitations and that I was not expected to understand that it is only a polite way to give goodbye).

I spent two beautiful days with Canario – the horse,  his other horse friend and Camila who volunteered to be my guide in the endless labyrinth of Brazilian fields and jungle. On the third day, Camila and I agreed that I knew the area well enough so I could ride the horse on my own. I was so incredibly happy. I could take him wherever I wanted, as fast as I liked, for as long as I desired.

For two hours I was enjoying the enlightening feeling of freedom. On Canario’s back, I could see much more of the beauty around than I ever can from the ground (the plants grown there are higher than me, but not if I´m on the horse´s back, HA!). I sang to him Czech and English songs and he didn’t mind that it was not very melodic. And I asked him to go faster and faster for the mere joy of movement.

It was midday so the sun was getting stronger and stronger and I was running out of water. Clearly, it was time to go home. Home… Where is home? I thought I knew but Canario was protesting. He wanted to take a different direction and I let him. However, later I thought he must have been wrong so I took the lead. Then I lost my confidence so I let Canario to search for the way. And he did! What a smart horse. He was actually taking me towards the farm. When we arrived, suprise suprise, we both realised that it was not our farm and there was nobody in to ask for help. I could sense Canario’s disappointment. He was clearly tired and neither of us knew where to go.

“Onde vamos agora?” “Dove andiamo adesso?” “Co ted, koniku?” What do we do now?” I asked him in all languages I know and he just looked at me sadly, with no answer.

“Well, don’t worry. I know where to go. I’ll get us home.” I confidently said, this time only in English because it was getting to tiring to talk. Needless to say (for those who are familiar with my sense of direction) that Canario wasn’t back home not even 12  hours later.

We walked together under the hot sun for another two hours, without any water. I walked next to him to offer some moral support but he didn’t seem to care. He wanted to be home and so did I. I could not stand the thirst, heat and Canario’s sad silence anymore so I had to call my friend’s parents for help.

They came to rescue me with tons of water which I think was very close to saving my life. Their friend who was suppose to know the area very well came with them and offered to ride the horse back to the farm. It was actually not far from there. Yet, an hour later, the friend and the horse were still not back.This was somewhat alarming. Two hours later they were still not back which was very alarming. Three hours later they were still missing and this was extremely alarming
because it was getting dark and the area is full of snakes and wild cats which may be harder to avoid at night.
Another rescue mission had to be sent to the fields to search for them.

Fortunately, they were found. They just couldn’t cross the river and find their way through the labyrinth of fences that is there to keep the cattle at their place. It’s a mystery to everyone (including me), how I managed to  appear at the other side of the river. Since it was already dark when they were found, it was decided that the horse would sleep over at  another farm and only the day after somebody would take him home. I hope he’s home now and he’s not too traumatised for having encountred the human stupidity = me.

For three years I dated a guy who was able to find a way from the most impossible places and get us home safe. He was also able to find drinking water in the most impossible conditions. And because he was able to do that, I started to think that I can do that. I bacame ignorant of my bad sense of direction and arrogantly started to think that I can’t get lost. I’m glad I learnt my lesson in Canario’s great company and not on my own in the middle of jungle. I’m upset that I  probably lost his (Canario’s)  trust and he (Canario) might never want to see me again. But hey, he’s my best friend so this can’t be the end of our adventures.

PS I welcome suggestions for really good GPS devices that could navigate me even in the mountains. Any idea?

University life

I thought that the University of Stirling, where I studied last year, had the most beautiful campus in the world. Surrounded by forests, hills and beautiful lake it seemed to me as the most peaceful campus I could possibly imagine. And then I came to Assis. There are no hills and no lake, but the campus is similarly green and relaxing.

There are plenty of trees casting shadow protecting one from the strong sun and always blossoming flowers. What’s more there are even orange trees! My dream of picking fresh breakfast on my way to work has become true. And I was told that in December some of the trees bear mangos so I’ll be able to introduce some variety into my diet :D.

The campus offers many leisure activities. It is not as well organised as in Stirling where you have a list of all sports and societies presented in a brochure and you simply choose which one you like. Here you have to ask around to find out what, when and where things are happening. But because Brazilians are very friendly, it is not too hard to find the information you need. There is always somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody else who does the activity that you are interested in trying. And if you keep asking, sooner or later you know all you need. So far I’ve learned that there are many language courses (Japanese, Mandarin, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese for foreigners). For those who are more into sports, there are trainings of Karate, Judo, Capoeira, Tennis, Cheer-leading and Ballet.

This is another school of capoeira in Assis, not the university one.

The University has also a basketball and volleyball court and a football pitch which I believe are always accessible to anyone who wants to play and gathers enough players. I also regularly hear people playing percussion instruments. These music sessions are again open to anyone. From time to time, there are posters advertising a movie night followed by a discussion on the topic presented by the film. Believe it or not, all these activities are free of charge. They are organised by students who volunteer to dedicate their free time to train or teach other students and they don’t charge not a single real.

Another great thing about public universities in Brazil is their attempt to mitigate poverty. Public universities are free of charge. Students who come from financially more difficult backgrounds can be provided with free accommodation. Meals in the university restaurants are subsidized partly by the government and partly by the University so the cost of lunch is 3,50 reals (about £ 0,60). For this you get rice and beans (the base of any Brazilian meal), meat, salad and a dessert. There’s even a vegetarian option – instead of meat you can ask for an omelette and sometimes for soya meat.

University canteen. Colourful and social.

Obviously, students’ life is not only about leisure activities and eating. Students also study :). What I found surprising is their schedule. The same lesson is taught twice in one day and students can choose whether they want to come early in the morning or late in the evening (such lessons can finish at 11 pm). This is great for the students who work next to their degree and it allows them to be more flexible. However, it is not that great for the teachers as I’ve heard. Teaching the same thing twice in one day isn’t fun at all (and I can only agree with that), plus they either have to come to work twice in one day or they have to stay on the campus from early morning till late evening. I’m lucky to have all my classes in the afternoon but that is an exception.

So far, I’ve got the impression that Brazilian students are very dedicated. They actively participate in the lessons, most of them always do their homework and come on time and they ask questions when they don’t understand something. What I find impressive is that lots of them use their free time to volunteer in the most deprived primary or secondary schools. Some of them get some sort of scholarship (about 400 reals, that is about £66 for about 40 hours of work) but lots of them do it just to get a teaching experience or simply to help where it’s needed. From the stories I’ve heard it is an incredibly hard job and yet they keep going back. I am really impressed.

Last but not least, students like to party. That’s probably a common thing for students of all nations. What is different, however, is the beginning of it. The earliest parties start at 11 pm which means that at 11 people start to get ready to go out. That usually takes about 2 hours and at about 1 am they are comfortably ready to meet. What I like about the parties here is their purpose. It seems that people mainly want to meet up and enjoy their time together. It may be accompanied by beer but that’s not that important. Compared to Scotland where I felt that the purpose of a party is to get wasted, this is very refreshing. However, what I feel a bit uneasy about is how relaxed everybody seems to be about kissing strangers. And by kissing I don’t mean a cheek-kissing but French kissing. It’s a bit shocking for me to see two people who never met to have a conversation for less than two minutes and then exploring each other’s mouth. I’m not judging it, it’s OK if they have fun. I just wish I could write on my forehead that I want to be left out of this. Anyway, Brazilians are generally very warm. And mostly I really like it. I’ve received so many friendly hugs and that is absolutely great. So I guess that I should not complain about them sometimes being too warm and just let everybody know that I come from a slightly colder country where things take considerably more time :D.

All in all, I think that students’ life in Brazil can be very enriching. It’s not all only about studying but also about sharing knowledge and skills so that others can learn and enjoy time together.

Some attempts to support recycling. Not very commonly seen in Assis and even on the Campus there are only few places where you can bin your trash ecologically. Well, better few than none.

Open space for students. You can come just to chill with your friends. From time to time there are presentations, discussions and exhibitions.

A different picture of São Paulo

São Paulo is an incredible city. Before I arrived here, I was warned that it is dangerous, I need to be always alert and careful about my stuff. From pictures I saw, I imagined the city a jungle of concrete with polluted air, dirty streets and poverty.

Although all this may be true, the city is much more than that.

On our second day in São Paulo, Ben and I went to explore the Ibirapuera park.

This place turned out to be the most amazing park I’ve ever seen. Not only that it is absolutely beautiful with exotic trees and refreshing lake, but it is also a centre of all sorts of leisure activities.

The park has plenty of football pitches, basketball courts and workout areas. There are also cycling paths, playgrounds and running tracks. Anyone who wants to be active can use all these facilities for free.

For those who are more into culture than sports, the park has a lot to offer as well. There’s Museum of Modern Art, Museum of Contemporary Art and Afro-Brazil Museum.

Throughout the city, there’s beautiful street art and plenty of cycling lanes.

The coordinator of our programme explained to us, that the mayor of the city came out with two ideas: to fight against the ugly graffiti that the city was full of and to reduce the number of cars in the city. He gave people space where they can paint freely and as a result, there are areas which resemble rather a modern art gallery than a boring city wall. His less-cars project is a bit more controversial. He had cycling and bus lanes created but people complain that these only limit the space for cars so the traffic is slower in the end and it also reduces the parking space.

Another fact about São Paulo that I find amazing is that smoking is prohibited in all public buildings including bars and restaurants. I guess that it would not be such a surprise for most Europeans. However, being from the Czech Republic where smoking in pubs is still as common as drinking there, I could simply not believe that.

All in all, the city is absolutely different from what I had heard about it. It seems very progressive with lots of opportunities for an active life. Today I’m leaving from here and I’m heading north to Assis. I’ve never been a big fan of big cities but I must say that I will miss the atmosphere of São Paulo where I feel that there’s always something interesting happening. Let’s hope that at least they sell coconut on streets in Assis as well because drinking coconut water from a fresh coconut is the best thing ever!

Safety bubble

Finally I am in Brazil. The arrival date had been postponed from beginning of August to middle of September so I had also enough time to go to visit my family and friends in the Czech Republic before leaving the continent for half a year.

Leaving everyone was not easy. Life in the Czech Republic turned out to be amazing, always having something interesting to do and meeting with inspiring people. I broke down on several occasions thinking that leaving my sweet home is the last thing I want. I need friends around myself so why the hell do I always go to new places where I know nobody?… Loneliness is the worst and maybe the only fear I have about this journey.

Nevertheless, I got on the plane on Sunday. We took off and I could not go back anymore. So here I am, in São Paulo. So far the experience has been very different from what I’m used to. But that just because the British Council has taken a great care of everything. I did not need to stress how to get from the airport to my accommodation because a driver picked me up. I did not need to contact couchsurfers because they paid me a really nice hotel room. I don’t need to go to search for places to eat out because I’ve got all meals provided. It is a really luxurious and stress-less, but also it means that I haven’t experienced the country at all, yet. It is a very enjoyable change not to worry about all these things and having everything perfectly organised. But it is also a bit boring.

I am looking forward to Saturday when I go from São Paulo to Assis my final destination. I am going to use their local transport which everybody warns me against and hopefully I’ll have a better chance to experience a more authentic Brazil.

How it all started

“Apply to teach at Sao Paolo university in Brazil for three months” says an email sent by our Brazilian teacher who had gone on a mysterious month business trip. Coincidently he is also my dissertation supervisor so his disappearance for the whole month and lack of communication at times when I was starting to work on my dissertation and felt like I can’t ever finish it unless somebody super smart kicks my brain cells, well, how to say it politely… I was upset he wasn’t around. However, this email was a very exciting explanation and a really good reason to abandon students who were desperately waiting for his guidance. Apparently, he went to Brazil to negotiate cooperation between Stirling University and Sao Paolo University so that after our graduation we could go to pass our freshly gained knowledge on others. OK, I don’t mind the stress of dealing with the dissertation on my own any more, this is super exciting. Sao Paolo University is said to be the best Latin American university and is ranked among 50-60 best universities world-wide. Although I never particularly dreamt about Latin America and was more attracted to Asian cultures, starting my career at such a good university sounds pretty amazing. So I wrote a letter of motivation and applied.

I spent hours thinking of my previous relevant experience, my strengths, reasons why I want to go, what I would gain, what I would offer and why they should want particularly me. I must say I felt pretty confident about the result in shape of according to me a really good motivation letter. And yes, I was not the only person liking it. My time spent on it was fruitful as I got invited to an interview.

Unfortunately, the interview was scheduled on a week which I was spending in the Czech Republic where I went to do my dissertation research. God bless the modern technologies and the modern flexible approach of the interviewers. They suggested to talk to me on skype which I happily agreed with.

Eight of June 2015, the D day. I collected my first set of data for the dissertation and an hour later I was sitting in my living room connecting to skype. Partially, I hoped that the connection would fail and I would have an excuse for not taking the interview. So nervous was I.

The interview was terrible. I was expecting super difficult questions so it took me by surprise when I was more or less asked the same questions as in the motivation letter. Why could I not reply similarly well? I wasn’t sure if they wanted to hear from me something new or just expand on what I had written. I was confused. My English was bad. My reasons why I want to go were bad. My answer to how would students benefit from me was the most cliché one possible: “I’m very enthusiastic.” I’m very enthusiastic? Really? Is that what I said? Gosh, enthusiasm is probably the only thing starting teachers have in common and I present it as my best strength? …

Honestly, I did not expect to be accepted after saying that “I’m enthusiastic”. But possibly I showed an extraordinary amount of enthusiasm. Or maybe my motivation letter saved the situation. Or maybe they liked that I want to learn Portuguese and eat lots of papaya. I don’t know. Anyway, I got accepted and in August I’m going to Brazil! In meanwhile I’ll need to focus on finishing my dissertation and on learning some Portuguese. And if you didn’t guess by now, I’m super enthusiastic to do both because that’ll open me doors to a new adventure!