Hey friends and family,
So. Right now I’m on exchange in Lisbon, Portugal. I’ve been here for 2 and a half weeks, and am finally starting to settle in. In a country where the economy is in the toilet, I never could never have imagined what I was in for. Turns out, the Portuguese love cheap booze, food, and adventure as much as I do.
Before going on about Lisbon, I have an important life update; about an hour before hopping in the car to go to the airport, I found out that I had been hired for a sales position with a company called Newcomp. After a year and a half of networking and grinding out for a job, it was a fantastic way to start off my journey, and relieved a ton of stress that had been on my shoulders. Told you I’d get a job before exchange, Mom. Now, for Lisbon:
With only two days of class per week, I’ve had the chance to gorge on too many Pasteis de Nata to count (see attached), play in a Football match (read: soccer) with Europeans, who compared to me, might as well all be Ronaldo, and see some breathtaking views, which are called Miradouros here and are scattered all throughout the city.
The Portuguese are amazingly humble & friendly. Going into many of their mom & pop restaurants, you feel as though you’re walking into their home. In fact, there’s an ‘illegal’ Chinese restaurant here where you literally are in someone’s home! Walking into the bathroom, you see their toothbrushes, towels etc. Quite the experience, very tasty & cheap food.
The nightlife here is absurd. Every night of the week, the district Bairro Alto has music going from 12 until 6 in the morning, blasting everything from EDM to the Spice Girls. With beer and shots being a single euro (in the bars!!), it’s usually a really late night. With the help of some espresso and kebab, somehow everyone powers through.
On top of playing in a football game, I got to attend a huge match the other day. Benfica vs Porto – I’ve never seen fans so involved before. I was unknowingly sitting in the ‘Ultra’ section, where I was told after 15 minutes of trying to find my seat, there was no assigned seating. Once we found enough seats together with my friends and I, everyone in the stadium starts cheering for the bald eagle (real life team mascot) that’s flying throughout the arena. After a minute, a motorcyclist starts touring the field, giving out high fives. With no idea what was going on, it was definitely an experience. I didn’t realize I’d be having so much fun before the match even started! Finally, however, it begins. With everyone standing for the entirety of the 90 minutes, screaming SLB! SLB! SLB! (the team’s initials), throwing their garbage at opposing team players, and celebrating like they just received independence every time a goal is scored, there wasn’t a dull moment.
In other news, I’d been on Duolingo attempting to learn Portuguese for the past 5 months, thinking it would set me up for quick immersion. I quickly figured out that I had been learning Brazilian Portuguese, which is completely different, so wow was I wrong. With all ‘s’ sounds being ‘sh’, and irregular verbs going way over my head, it’s been really funny trying to talk with anyone. I spent 20 minutes the other day arguing with a woman about whether or not I could try on a shirt before buying it, before giving up and saying I’ll be back when my Portuguese is better (I really liked the shirt).
Funny enough, living beside me (I’m in a large residence with 40 other people) is a middle aged Brazilian woman, who didn’t get the memo it was a student building. I’m not totally sure, but I believe I’ve been taken in by her as a proxy son. She’s gone into massive detail (all in incomprehensible Portuguese) about how I should wash my clothes, and some cooking tips. Rez life as always, is hilariously great.
Although it’s been a short time, I already have an arsenal of stories I’m looking forward to telling you all when I get back. I’ll keep you posted.
Love,
Zev
