Today is June 30th, 2014. Last time I wrote on my blog, I was about to start the second semester at UCSC and, today, I am here to write an overview of how it all went.It turned out that my father came over for a week or so on February 12th. 4 days in Milan, where I was happily able to show him around and how my daily life looks like; 2 days in Genova to visit our cousin Renata; and 2 or 3 days in Switzerland. To Switzerland, we traveled by train until Interlaken and, from there, to the final destination, in Grindelwald. What an awesome/unique trip with daddy! Me and him have very similar and strong personalities, and sometimes we end up having some minor issues because of that. Throughout the time we spent together, however, we managed to only enjoy each other's company and make the best out of it. The places we were able to see can barely be described with words. Switzerland completely blew our minds away. It was a dream for my father to be there. Swiss people seemed to be very polite and "well-raised." No trash on the streets, very organized traffic and expensive stuff to buy. We took some of the most beautiful pictures I have and the scenery will certainly stay in our minds forever.
The day my father returned home, Andre, my friend who had been doing his master in France at the time, also came over for a visit, and classes started the day after he left. So, February obviously passed by in a second for me.Classes this semester felt like they were not easier, but simpler this time. I took public management, supply chain management, political and public economics and the second module of transnational commercial law. Besides feeling that I was now completely adapted to how things work at school, these four classes did not require much other than studying and getting ready for assignments by myself.
Another big friend came over to visit in April and that was very special. We got to enjoy each other as much as possible and also went to visit Parma and Garda, which are two very pretty cities not too far from Milan. Passing spring break, I still had about a month to start getting ready for final examinations. As I have mentioned before, it has been hard to find that motivation to study for hours straight as I used to do back in college. I did what I needed not to put myself in an embarrassing situation and, luckily enough, the results ended up being a lot better than I expected. I had my third exam on June 10th, and the last one was only going to be on the 24th. That meant that I had 2 weeks solely to study for that last test and, well, that was way too much time wandering around. I was skyping my parents one day and they encouraged me to go travel somewhere.
I didn't think twice before messaging my two Belgium friends from the tennis team back at RMU to make sure they were home and, in 2 hours, I had increadibly purchased the tickets to go visit them from the 12th to the 15th. That turned out to be one of the best trips of my life. Nothing specifically made it be that great, but I was just extremely happy to be there. From the moment I arrived, they picked me up from the aiport to go to a bar watch the opening of the World Cup, Brazil vs. Croatia, and that was a lot of fun. The following day, and a little hangover, we took a train to Brugges. The sky was the prettiest thing ever. We explored the place, ate some delicious typical food and had a number of different Belgium beers. It felt great to be able to catch up with them and keep the mind away from the daily problems. The capital, Brussels, was our next destination and, again, we spent the whole day walking around, eating, drinking, taking pictures, and so on. I loved the fact that everyone appeared to be genuinely nice, happy, and interested about me (and wondering what the hell was a Brazilian girl doing in Europe instead of being back in Brazil for the World Cup…!)
After vising their cities and meeting their families and friends, it was time to return to Milan and study for that final exam. The course was political and public economics and, although the subject might have been of my interest, the studying part did not quite happen, as I was more worried about watching the World Cup games and in going to the park than anything else. Well, somehow I made things happen and, on the 24th, I was ready to put that final down and rush to the Central Station pick Annah up, a big friend of mine who is doing a sort of an Eurotrip and decided to stop by. Again, it was great to see and catch up with her again, since it had been almost two years since we last saw each other. After showing her the city, eating some great Italian food, watching a few soccer games at night and going for a random but fun trip to Pavia, it was time for us to say goodbye on the 27th and start packing, because I was finally going home on the 28th.
Passing the stress of making sure I was bringing all I wanted/needed and overcoming the trauma of going to the airport 6 hours earlier to watch Brazil vs. Chile that turned out to be a failure, I finally returned to Brazil. There are a number of good things in this world but, right now, I would say that the best one is to have food on the table, your laundry done and your bed made for your every day. Ah, back into that easy and super convenient life again.
As I write and go back to assess my past year since I went to Milan, it is not hard to state that I have grown a lot as a person. I have been feeling more independent, mature and confident than I could ever imagine I was going to be. Some of my uncertainties started to be answered at the same time that new questions showed up in my head. As long as I am able to successfully deal with them from an emotional point of view, though, I believe it is all valid. And apparently that is exactly what has been happening to me, so I am glad to feel like I have been only improving and slowly becoming a better person.
It might be a long road, but as of now, it does head North. All is good, then.
On a final note, I don't really feel inspired to write today. I hope to get back here after Summer break with some better insights about whatever it might be.
