Boa tarde senhoras e senhores!
Good day ladies and gentlemen!
Now I have arrived to Curitiba, Brazil! After weeks of preparations and a couple days of travelling I now finally am here! Do I sound excited? I am!
Now I have arrived to Curitiba, Brazil! After weeks of preparations and a couple days of travelling I now finally am here! Do I sound excited? I am!
I never thought that saying goodbye would be so hard. I have never been away for such a long time and I never felt homesickness before, but somehow I realised that this time it might be possible. During the preparations I was grumpy, I had slept too little and I was stressed because I ran out of time with the final preparations. I received my passport and visa from Helsinki on monday, the day before I had to leave to Oulu, so that was also a close call. I had only 2 compelete days for packing and farewells. That was not enough. 1 or 2 more days would have been a lot better. My packing required a lot of time for it was my first travel ever and I had to pack essentials for six months. I took with me only one small suitcase and a backbag. My packing was based on light packing, electronics and the stuff that would be hard to get from there.
After emotional farewells I was in Helsinki. I met with a friend, and took a walk around the nightly Helsinki. I had reserved the flights from Oulu to Hki separately to get a cheaper price.I should have done that for all the flights, but it was my first international flight so I decided to take a package deal. My flight was from Helsinki to Amsterdam to Sao Paolo to Curitiba. The companies were Norwegian, KLM and TAM. Everything went very smoothly from flight changes to border control and arrival. It actually could not have gone any better. I left my luggage to station in Helsinki, spend a night at the airport and saw them next time in Sao Paolo. I lost nothing! The whole travel time was 20 hours and the longest flight was from Amsterdam to Sao Paolo, 11 hours and 10 000 kilometers across the Atlantic Ocean. The flight was very good, service and entertainment were arranged very well.
In Brazil time has gone very fast. I met Artur and I have stayed in his home with his family until I find my own flat. The infrastructure and traffic culture are way different from Finland. I think Brazilian buildings are beautiful compared to boring Finnish architecture. For a few days I have circled around the city of Curitiba, met many new people, learned a lot of Portuguese and seen things completely new to me. I have had experiences I can´t even describe. The best way to get to know a culture is to get inside the culture.
I have had an excellent week so far. I have seen many homes, birthday parties, lunches. A way of life on a local perspective. I am so thankful for Artur for having me in his home and taking me to these events as a guest,a part of the family. People that I have met here have been very positive and happy and everywhere I´ve gone I´ve felt that I am welcome and everyone has taken me very well, just as I expected.
The food culture has also been a very positive experience. I have eaten in some parties and also in normal situations and I think the food here is fresh, natural and tasty. Food culture is not far from the finnish one with same kind of basic elements. I have especially enjoyed fresh fruits, meat and the desserts. The desserts are sweeter than in Finland. The selection of fruits is remarkable, I´m amazed and I have enjoyed a lot of fruits.
The weather here is different than I had expected and what I had prepared for. I thought it can´t be cold in Brazil. It can. I heard that Curitiba is famous for being so cold. Of course I heard it here, not in Finland. But it has not been a problem. The temperature is above 0 and summer is coming soon. People have been laughing to me:
"-Are you cold?" "-Voce frio?"
"- No, I am from Finland." "-Nao, Sou Finlandes"
For I have lived all my life in Finland I have never lived in a different time zone. Now the time difference is 6 hours. And that stroke me upon arrival. I suffered 3 days from Jet Lag. I got very tired in the middle of the day and couldn´t sleep in the middle of the night very well because of the time difference. But I recovered, as always.
To sum it up in the end and refere to the subject. The travel and arrival were excellent. I have not had a cultural shock at all, at least not yet (Although I have sit in a room full of people talking portuguese not understanding a word they say).The only small problem so far has been jet lag, which lasted 3 days. I really have enjoyed my time here in Brazil. I think the country is very beautiful. I can´t wait until summer, the beginning of my studies and martial arts trainings.
Ate a Proxima- ´til next time! See you!
Do not hesitate to comment or ask if there is anything. Thank you!
Lukijoiden pyynnöstä minulta on pyydetty myös suomalaista versiota. Seuraavaan päivitykseen yritän saada jo suomeakin.
I have had an excellent week so far. I have seen many homes, birthday parties, lunches. A way of life on a local perspective. I am so thankful for Artur for having me in his home and taking me to these events as a guest,a part of the family. People that I have met here have been very positive and happy and everywhere I´ve gone I´ve felt that I am welcome and everyone has taken me very well, just as I expected.
The food culture has also been a very positive experience. I have eaten in some parties and also in normal situations and I think the food here is fresh, natural and tasty. Food culture is not far from the finnish one with same kind of basic elements. I have especially enjoyed fresh fruits, meat and the desserts. The desserts are sweeter than in Finland. The selection of fruits is remarkable, I´m amazed and I have enjoyed a lot of fruits.
The weather here is different than I had expected and what I had prepared for. I thought it can´t be cold in Brazil. It can. I heard that Curitiba is famous for being so cold. Of course I heard it here, not in Finland. But it has not been a problem. The temperature is above 0 and summer is coming soon. People have been laughing to me:
"-Are you cold?" "-Voce frio?"
"- No, I am from Finland." "-Nao, Sou Finlandes"
For I have lived all my life in Finland I have never lived in a different time zone. Now the time difference is 6 hours. And that stroke me upon arrival. I suffered 3 days from Jet Lag. I got very tired in the middle of the day and couldn´t sleep in the middle of the night very well because of the time difference. But I recovered, as always.
To sum it up in the end and refere to the subject. The travel and arrival were excellent. I have not had a cultural shock at all, at least not yet (Although I have sit in a room full of people talking portuguese not understanding a word they say).The only small problem so far has been jet lag, which lasted 3 days. I really have enjoyed my time here in Brazil. I think the country is very beautiful. I can´t wait until summer, the beginning of my studies and martial arts trainings.
Ate a Proxima- ´til next time! See you!
Do not hesitate to comment or ask if there is anything. Thank you!
Lukijoiden pyynnöstä minulta on pyydetty myös suomalaista versiota. Seuraavaan päivitykseen yritän saada jo suomeakin.
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