The most interesting person I've ever met

To be honest, I decided to take advantage of our homework. But this story is so fascinating that I’d like to share it with you. We had to describe who is the most interesting person we've ever met. So I chose Risy. It’s my Brazilian friend who I met during my Erasmus in France. I really enjoyed her company and I found that we were absolutely on the same wavelength, so we became best friends very quickly.

With time, I was getting to know her better and better. Her story about her life made me feel like a whole new person and I would never look at the world as I did before. Despite the fact that we’re both the same age, her life has been full of trials and tribulations. As a child, she lived on the outskirts of São Paulo, in favelas, a shanty town. Her neighborhood was full of dwellings that people had made themselves from any material which they could find. She lived in a two-room house with her parents and two brothers. She was the oldest one, so she spent every afternoon (and weekend as well) in the market, where she sold snacks. Luckily, at the age of 16, she met a French teacher who played a leading role in her life. He decided to help her family and thanks to him, they were able to move out from favelas. Now, after a few years, her family’s life is much better. Moreover, as a French student, Risy works for a charity and teaches poor kids for free.

All in all, Risy showed me a way to look at the world with new eyes and what is the most important, she let me notice what I really want to do in my life and what I’m really keen on. I realized that I want to help people and that French is something that I want to base my career on. For this reason, I’d like to be a teacher of French at an elementary school in Brazil, where I could make people’s dreams come true.

São Paulo

Some time ago, I wrote about my holidays in Brazil. And today, I would like to tell you something about one of my favorite Brazilian city – São Paulo.

With a population of almost 20 million people ( can you imagine?! ),  São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil and the sixth the biggest city in the world. As soon as I left an airport, I had already knew that it would be one of my greatest experience ever!

São Paulo is the city of contrasts. There are some beautiful old buildings, churches, shopping centers and the old Mercado (fresh produce market, where you can taste the fruits from all over the world!):

What's more, São Paulo is a multicultural city. Because of the incredible ethnic diversity in the city, you can enjoy almost every kind of cuisine. For example you can eat a delicious Italian bread, a sushi like from China or an Arab food. 

But what struck me the most, was a stark differences between favelas, a slums area, and a rich district with skyscrapers and other modern buildings. Only one street separates these two districts! It was so weird to see expensive houses and on the other side, irregular and self-constructed sheds. It’s very sad that in one place, there are people who are very wealthy and have huge houses and also poor people who live in very bad conditions.

The other thing which seemed to me very interesting was a combination of urban buildings and green spaces. Although São Paulo is a huge city, there’s a lot of parks with exotic vegetation like the baobabs or the palm trees.

In general, São Paulo is a beautiful city that I’ll never forget. I wish I spent more time there…but as I’ve already said, I’ll come back to Brazil soon! :)

Couchsurfing!

I’ve just read a post made by Marta about her trip to France and I decided to write a little bit about my experiences in Paris and more exactly about my first adventure with Couchsurfing. Have you already tried it? 

The main idea of Couchsurfing is to host the travelers from all over the world who need a place to stay the night. But also, it’s a fantastic opportunity to meet new people and others cultures without leaving our home.

Before my Erasmus I decided to spend few days in Paris with my friend. I had been there already 3 times but never on my own! I wanted to find something not expensive (as long as “not expensive” exists in French dictionary!) so I started to check out the offers. And then, one of my friend recommended finding an accommodation on couchsurfing.com. At first, I wasn’t very enthusiastic about it…  Sleeping at strangers houses? And in other country? It could be dangerous! But finally, I decided to try it. After reading the offers, I chose Joel – an Australian guy who seemed to be very nice and, what’s more important, he had a lot of good opinions. So few days after I knocked on his door. To my surprise, this guy turned to be very laid-back and veeery hospitable! He gave us an extra pair of keys so that we were independent of him. He showed us around the city and at the evening, he invited us to the party. It was an amazing night that ended with drinking wine under the Eiffel Tower.

So if you have an opportunity to host somebody or you want to stay overnight in another city without spending a lot of money, don’t hesitate to use Couchsurfing! I strongly recommend it to all of you! 

Post-Erasmus Depression Syndrome

As I’ve already mentioned, I spent 5 months in France where I was on Erasmus student exchange. It was such a great time! But what to do when your Erasmus experience comes to an end? Have you ever heard about the post-Erasmus syndrome after studying abroad? I thought that this syndrome was a joke. Then, I came back to Poland and I learnt the hard way how true it is! As a former Erasmus student I can assure you that it concerns almost all the people who came back from abroad…

Some students believe that the world stops after coming back from their Erasmus, they just can’t handle this situation. And it was the same in my case. I returned back to my parental home and I just couldn’t stand my “old” boring daily life.

These few months abroad was filled with so many emotions, new friendships and to be honest with you, a feeling of being a little bit “special” was amazing. At home, my life seemed to be very simple and empty without my foreign friends. I felt that nobody understands me. I felt like a stranger in my own home! Trust me, everything became boring and pointless and it took me a lot of time to adjust again…Even after a year (omg I feel like it was yesterday when I came back to Poland!) I still have the flashbacks about things I used to do there…A lot of my friends are not from Europe so it’s not so easy to meet with them. However, we live in 21^st century, so thanks to Skype and Facebook I can be in touch with them all the time! :)

I enclose you a short video made by one of the Erasmus student who talks about life after Erasmus! It’s so funny…and, to be honest, so true! Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCsbo8j_HDI

BRAZIL!

As I’ve already mentioned, I spent holidays in Brazil. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. It was time to say goodbye. But where’s the ‘good’ in goodbye? I just wish I can go back in time and live this experience again, because it was just the best time of my life. Life wouldn’t be the same without Brazil and all the memories it has given me…

It was definitely worth the struggle to come there (almost 15 hours of flight!) During my time in Brazil, I visited many incredible places, I ate things I didn’t know existed, I met a lot of amazing people who became my friends…

It was awesome, and I have to say that I love Brazil and Brazilians. They are happy and warm people. They are known for their hospitality and friendliness. Brazilians lead relaxed lives, although they do work hard. 

When it comes to weather, in the most cities in Brazil it’s very hot and the landscape is beautiful, with palm trees, sunny beaches, and seductive, exotic nature. Even people who live in big cities like São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro can be happy because they can escape their environment and go to the beach, where true Brazilian culture comes alive with samba, capoeira, caipirinha ( I love this drink !), partying and sun.

All in all, now Brazil is my second home and I’ll return there soon…for sure ! 

The Help

Hi everyone! Last Saturday I was a little bit sick so I decided to watch a movie instead of going out with my friends. I read a lot of  film reviews and finally I chose “The Help”. It's an American drama film directed by Tate Taylor and based on the novel of the same name. The action takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s. The story is about American black women who work as the maids in Southern people’s houses, standing humiliation and racist treatment.

The main character, Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone), is a young woman who has just come back from the university to her hometown Jackson, Mississippi. However, it turns out to be a place full of narrow-minded, racist people where black maids are treated as people of inferior category. But Skeeter wants to change their situation. Her dream is to be a journalist and she decides to write their stories. In the beginning, it’s very difficult to convince any maid to talk to a white woman but thanks to Aibileen and Minny, two of the central characters, she finally succeeds.  Skeeter hears breathtaking stories of their everyday life. They show how life of black maids really looked like at that time. They are women who are forced to neglect their own families to take care of white rich women’s children. And what they receive in return? The separate toilet because of the fear of white people catching diseases from them.

The film does not show big struggle against segregation. As I already mentioned, it rather focuses on everyday reality and shows how maids were trying to cope with it. ”The Help” is exceptionally well acted and all the characters are absolutely remarkable. 

Furthermore, even though this film talks about a difficult issue, it can also make you laugh. Thanks to this combination you do not have the feeling of watching politically correct film but a realistic, true story of everyday challenges.

To sum up, I must say that I really liked this film. So if you are seeking an emotionally, well worth seeing film that uses humor to tell a story and send a message, I strongly recommend it.

time to think about my future!

A liitle bit late, but here I am. I created this blog like 2 years ago in connection with my English classes (you can find below some information about me). But as they finished, I resigned from running it...Hovewer, time passes, things change...Therefore, I would like to tell you something about my future plans :) Now, when I' m 23 years old, I think about my future quite often..
             First of all, until my departure on Erasmus student exchange programme last year, I had my goals and one of them was to become a translator. Therefore, I chose to study French philology. However, those few months in France made me feel like a whole new person and I would never look at the world and my life as I did before. Beyond studying experience, Erasmus is a lot more. For me it was a way to look at the world with new eyes, to feel and discover new emotions and what is the most important, it let me notice what I really want to do in my life and what I am really interested in. Going abroad showed me more than I expected, both about my studies, and about myself. This experience widened my horizons, changed my priorities and my future plans.
             I met there a lot of new people who had a great influence on my plans.  Surprisingly enough, in most cases, they were Brazilians. At first, their language was too difficult for me and I could understand nothing. But the more time I was spending with these people, the more interesting Portuguese seemed to me. Thanks to my Brazilian friends, I learnt basic words and expressions, and now, when I am in Poland, I study this language on my own. I realised that not only French, but also Portuguese is something that I want to base my career on. For this reason, I decided to be a teacher of French and English at an elementary school in Brazil. This may seem shocking, not only because I chose this country, but also by the fact that probably, I am the only one in my group, who wants to work at school. However, this summer I spent in Brazil (I'll write about this beautiful country next time, I promise!) and my Portuguese is not so bad right now..:)

 Nevertheless, I am aware of all problems connected with this job like stress, annoying students, preparing lesson plans instead of going out with friends and rather low salary . But there’s also a lot of positive aspects of teaching: summer holidays, the enjoyment of sharing knowledge with others, being able to help children learn new things and upbringing the next generation.

To sum up, no matter what job we choose, if it allows us to be fulfilled, we can say that it’s our “dream job”. The most important is to be happy and achieve one’s goal. That's why I think that my place is in Brazil.! Especially in view of the fact that my boyfriend is Brazilian..:)