Carnival without Brazilian Music

In January I was chatting with a friend of mine and I asked him if he likes Carnival which he replied that no and that maybe it was in part due to the fact that he is not fan of Brazilian music…

. .............................................................................................. .... It was then that I decided to attend the Carnival in Rijeka (the biggest and most popular Carnival in Croatia) because it just came to my mind that for sure in Croatia they don’t listen to Brazilian music, so I had to see and experience a Carnival without Brazilian music… So I went :) . .............................................................................................. ....

I got there on Saturday, went to do sightseeing under rain and after dinner we went to a concert inside an improvised tend. Until then everything was fine but that concert finished and we went to another one outdoors with 4ºC of temperature and wind! The place was not full but there were a lot of people dancing and having fun… I don’t understand how they can…

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On Sunday morning (Carnival and Parade day) we woke up at 9am and at 10am I had a cultural shock or whatever you want to call it. . .............................................................................................. ....

Basically what happens is that AIESEC people join and create a group, there is an organization that arranges the dresses and everything, you just need to go with the flow, so I didn’t have any clue of what was going to happen. Rijeka’s VP TM just told me “Come, you can stay over my place and we will take care of you” (thanks Zana!). And for me that was enough so I didn’t even made many questions, I only knew we were going on a parade dressed as bees.

. .............................................................................................. .... So, after getting dressed everyone started to drink wine with coca-cola at 10am on a Sunday... I thought I couldn’t do it, but I did…

. .............................................................................................. .... Then we went to the streets and I started to get into the Carnival atmosphere. First we went to take the Millennium Photo: everyone that goes in the parade joins and they take a photo from a derrick (Rijeka has the biggest port from whole Croatia and it’s a very industrialized city).

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And also another interesting characteristic of this Carnival is that the groups that go in the parade are all friends that invite other friends and those friends invite other friends and together they become huge groups that just pick a theme and dress according to it.

. .............................................................................................. .... Meanwhile, everyone drinks and the only rule is that TV cannot record people drinking in the parade. So people invent ways to hide the drinks within the disguises…

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In the meantime we had to wait for our turn (it took us 4 hours) so meanwhile we danced, we drinked, we meet other people. It was amazing!

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Thus when our turn came we were very ready :) During the parade we passed by various stages and all of them presented us: AIESEC Rijeka group with people from many places (Portugala heheh) and even with the rain, we didn’t mind at all:

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When the parade was over for us, everyone was dying, we went to the improvised tend to have a meal that the organization provided and most of people stayed there dancing and partying.

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Some of us went home, me included… I felt like if I went out for clubbing and had a really hard party time. And later we came back but it was too late. There are other traditions in this Carnival that I missed, for example, they burn at sea a pust to scare away bad luck :)

. .............................................................................................. .... On Monday I also had opportunity to do some sightseeing and we went to visit Trsat Sanctuary and the Trsat Castle which has a great view over the city.

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So, to conclude I missed a little bit the Brazilian music but most of the time I didn’t even remembered that. It was just great and different. I loved it.

I will repeat next year, for sure :)

Back to the routine?

Returning to Croatia in the beginning of January was not easy, I must admit. I believe that many of you felt like that after vacations, I mean, to get back to the routine is complicated and besides the cold in Zagreb was not appealing compared to Portugal.

But gladly we had to make visits to the local chapters in Croatia, so just two days after being in Zagreb I travelled together with Geet and Alex to Osijek. Osijek, like I mention before is in the North East of Croatia and it’s a small and nice city.

Besides all the work, I also had the opportunity to get to know Osijek night live and I must admit that it was a positive surprise. First a private party in a basement with great music and then a nice club, very fashion.

And I also had the chance to meet again Sanda, the part-time MC member that studies and lives in Osijek :) After Osijek we travelled to Varazdin, a city in the North of Zagreb. I had a lot of experiences there, like riding a bike (which I haven’t done for years), sharing a sofa with Geet and Alex (which I don’t want to repeat) : And also I got a serious virus in my laptop, so after returning to Zagreb I’ve spend two days doing backup of all my files and restoring the system (I don’t wish this no anyone).

But also we had normal things, like giving sessions and trainings:

And going out, have some beers, the usual.

Then we returned to Zagreb and in the end of the month I enjoyed the free museums night, so I went to 4 of them. This is a great initiative and definitely I have to start enjoying more the cultural side of the city and its events.

So, back to the routine? Not really... Not yet :)

Matar as Saudades*

Home. After some time living abroad that concept takes a different meaning. Where is home? The city you live in? The country where most of your friends live? The place you were born? The streets you know since you were kid? What is home?

After some time living in Lisboa I also had the same questions, I’m sure some of you also had the same questions when you changed residence because of studies.

When I went in December to Portugal, more concretely to Lisboa and then Madeira, I had the same questions. “I’m going home” I said to some people and I actually did go home.

The first days in Lisboa I used mostly to be with my friends. In the first day I had dinner with people from my LC who were returning from their National Conference in that day, I also had a great dinner organized by Marta and this time it was real surprise because there were many other people there and I had no idea, I had great lunches, I had the chance to go to Bairro Alto and meet many friends who are also living abroad.

Then, Margarida and I arrived in Madeira on 23rd after many hours of waiting in Lisboa airport because our flight was overbooked, which is normal in this period because of students and tourists that spend Christmas and New Year Eve in Madeira.

On that night we meet with friends from high school, as always, to enjoy the very famous and best night in Funchal, “A noite do Mercado”. Streets around the old part of the city, where the market is, are full of people and improvised bars. It’s a very old tradition to go to market on the night of 23rd, you can taste the best sandwiches, typical drinks and find everyone there. During Christmas I spend most time at home with family, besides I was sick, can you imagine? When I left Zagreb it was snowing and in Madeira this was the average temperature outside: During the next days I meet some old friends, I went to travel by car around the island, had some dinners where I had the chance to taste the typical food from Madeira, nice… Then New Years Eve arrived. In Madeira the tradition is to watch the fireworks with the family in some friend or family house in Funchal. Then, after that amazing 10 minutes, we meet in the city center with friends to go to some bar, club or disco. Normally people dress up a lot for this occasion but I really don’t like that, so normally I meet with Margarida and drink in some cheap bars and enjoy low quality music heheh. But this year some friends at 6am convinced us to try to enter this really fashion club, and even in jeans, we manage to enter :) Part of our tradition also includes watching the first sunrise of the year… in one word: Perfect! After Madeira I returned to Lisboa and I’ve spend the weekend with a friend in the north cost of Lisbon. We have visited Alfeizeirão, São Martinho do Porto, Foz do Arelho and Óbidos. The ocean was wild and beautiful, it was a dream trip but unfortunately I don’t have any pictures…

Besides that it was again the same routine: coffees, lunches and dinners with friends. This picture is from the last night with Margarida, Rita and Marco, where we had a cool and improvised dinner. So, to conclude, I think home is not a place or a time, is a feeling, a feeling of belonging, of being known, of understanding, a feeling of safety and peace, that feeling that makes you lose conscience of time and place, a deep and comfortable feeling.

And I definitely felt I was home :)

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*Saudade (singular) or Saudades (plural) is a Portuguese word for a feeling of longing for something that one is fond of, which is gone, but might return in a distant future. Although it relates to feelings of melancholy and fond memories of things/people/days gone by, it can be a rush of sadness coupled with a paradoxical joy derived from acceptance of fate and the hope of recovering or substituting what is lost by something that will either fill in the void or provide consolation. Saudade has no direct English translation; its translation is dependent on context. No other languages in the world have a word with such meaning, making saudade a distinct mark of Portuguese culture. It has been said that this, more than anything else, represents what it is to be Portuguese. Some specialists say the word may have originated during the Great Portuguese Discoveries, giving meaning to the sadness felt about those who departed on journeys to unknown seas and disappeared in shipwrecks, died in battle, or simply never returned. Those who stayed behind—mostly women and children—suffered deeply in their absence; the state of mind has subsequently become a "Portuguese way of life": a constant feeling of absence, the sadness of something that's missing, wishful longing for completeness or wholeness and the yearning for the return of that now gone, a desire for presence as opposed to absence—as it is said in Portuguese, a strong desire to "matar as saudades" (lit. to kill the saudades).

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.

My next step

After HMS I had time to taste more international dinners and to say “see you soon” to new friends:

But November is a month to make decisions in AIESEC, or at least to start thinking about them. For me it wasn’t an exemption.

In these last months in Croatia I had my ups and downs, my victories and defeats, I have learned to appreciate this country, I’ve understood how relative our principles can be and I realized that in life I have to define my own standards. And although it was the most difficult decision I took until now (at least the one that took me more time) I have decided to apply for MCP of AIESEC in Croatia for the term 08/09 because I believe I can contribute and because I still feel I have much to learn with this country and experience.

Thus, during CNC (Croatian National Conference) the elections would take place which includes speech, election panel and Q&A, so in the previous weeks I allocated time to read and above all to speak with people.

Then CNC came and I have to say that the whole experience was very important for me. Applying for the same position was also Sinisa, the VP Finance.

I couldn’t have chosen better person with whom to share this experience. I didn’t felt in any moment that we were opponents, I always felt that we were actually together in this challenge and experience.

Parallel to this was always the usual crazy parties from AIESEC Croatia. You need to experience it to understand the whole atmosphere and craziness, I definitely advice: Alien Party Fun here ;) My Functional Team Who? Me? Nooooooo…

Meanwhile, I also meet two very cool and inspiring girls, Viola (Maltese) and Mia (Serbian) with whom I had great time and conversations.

And concerning the process for me it was a strong cultural experience because in AIESEC Portugal questions are very different and the whole atmosphere of the election in my perspective is much more positive. For me it was quite challenging to understand the relevance of many questions or to frontally say “I don’t know”.

Then, after my final speech I had an amazing surprise because my biggest friend, Eduardo, came all the way from Portugal to support me… I was speechless… Obrigado gajo!

And yes, that is me with a skirt heheh.

Then we went for the official dinner and people surprised me again. Before the announcement and dinner they just started dancing and having fun, while Edu asked me “Aren’t they curious to know the result?”

Then the moment arrived and I was elected MCP 08/09 of AIESEC Croatia :)

So, this means I will be staying in Croatia one more year and I will lead the country next term.

And like so many people told me: “Good Luck”.

Hrvatski Motivacijski Seminar 07

In the middle of November AIESEC in Croatia had its National Motivation Seminar for new members, in which I was conference manager.

Of course that for such occasion I had to gather the troops, so I invited a good and old friend to chair the conference, Eduardo and he brought with him another good friend, Ricardo.

All started back in Zagreb with a great international dinner with food from Slovakia, Czech Republic and Portugal (and drinks from many other places).

We had a great and big faci team with whom I had a lot of fun preparing and delivering the conference. Thanks to all of you for those great moments wherever you are ;)

The conference took place near Split, in Stobreč Elementary school, the theme was football and I will leave the pictures to talk for them:

Opening plenary Sessions during the day The winning Homegroup from the simulations, Porto ;) LC Split, my LC in Croatia and then the parties...

“Aí gaja, para quê que me trazes para este país com Rakija e gajas giras?” quote from the drunkest chair ever...

In the train returning to Zagreb, it seemed that we didn’t have enough yet.

Hvala. This was a very important conference where I meet many people that made me think about my future and what I wanted to achieve. It was the moment where I started to think about what to do next :)

My Brother and trip to Vienna

A long time has passed since my last post, so I will do my best to update my blog with what happened in the past 2/3 months… if for nothing else, for the sake of having my memories abroad all together in one place.

So, in the beginning of November my brother, Sérgio came to visit me in Zagreb.

The highlight of his visit to Zagreb was to do sightseeing in a cemetery, the Mirogoj cemetery. It’s a real open air museum because of its architecture and memorial monuments. Also, one impressive fact was to see the amount of flowers in the tombs, which I believe it’s connected with the fact that Croatian people are very religious, therefore they frequently visit their relatives in the cemetery.

And during the weekend we went together to visit Vienna where we made a quick study tour of more or less 24 hours.

We started by visiting the Danube Tower with 252 meters height that was built in 1964!

From the top it’s possible to have an amazing view over the city and the river:

Afterwards we went to the city center and we had our first interaction with the old part of the city when we immediately got out from the subway and faced in front of us the St. Stephen’s Cathedral.

Then we went to Mozart’s House Museum and to the Church of St. Charles Borromeo:

In the middle of this church there is a structure that allows the visitants to climb until the ceiling of the church. Let’s just say that after climbing those stairs, my brother took a picture and we got down as soon as possible…

Then we went back to a small but beautiful church where we had the opportunity to listen to a free organ concert.

Next we visited a famous museum, Albertina and we still tried to visit the palace but it was too late. But for us the night only started, so we went for a concert of Mozart and Strauss music heheh.

When we got back we decided to go to a Disco near the Hotel we were staying. That disco had 3 different dance floors and cheap drinks, and it was full of kids, like us ;)

In the morning after my brother left but I still had time to visit the Palace, Sisi Museum and to formulate my own conclusions about Vienna. It is a beautiful city to visit and it makes us feel surrounded by culture and history. It is very well organized and prepared to receive tourists but the people are not that warm when they noticed that we cannot speak the language. But after seeing this advertisement, I gave an excuse:

Oh well, it is definitely a city to return and to enjoy the cultural part of it ;)