Holidays on the road

I left Amsterdam on Sunday by car, with 3 other couchsurfers (I met them on the couchsurfing groups and on local meetings), direction Italy. They were heading to Rome and I was staying in Genova, to spend X-Mas with my aunt Rejanie and see my cousin Bruno. We stopped for the night in Frieburg, southern Germany, where I could meet Gabriela, an old friend from AIESEC (we haven't met for years...). I found another host, Connie, and we all had nice places to sleep. The driving adventure was to have a broken window covered with plastic bags (great job Glenn and Valentina!). We managed to get it fixed on Monday morning, before we crossed the Swiss Alps...

After 3 days completely relaxed, sleeping a lot and eating like someone in Italy deserves (including good old Brazilian food), I'm ready to continue the journey. Tonight I'll arrive in Krakow (cheap flight) and I found a very curious couchsurfing host - I'll stay in the same place as other 16 couchsurfers, from all around the world! I'm looking forward for that - it sounds like those old reception weekend I had in AIESEC, including partying, sightseeing and cooking together). On Monday morning I hitchhike to Warsaw to meet my brother and spend new-years with Ania, another friend from couchsurfing. After new-years, a short stop in Berlin and maybe Hamburg, on my way back to Kaos, back to Aarhus.

My classes restart on 7th of January... My graduation is coming soon... 26th of June 2009!!

Holidays on the road

I left Amsterdam on Sunday by car, with 3 other couchsurfers (I met them on the couchsurfing groups and on local meetings), direction Italy. They were heading to Rome and I was staying in Genova, to spend X-Mas with my aunt Rejanie and see my cousin Bruno. We stopped for the night in Frieburg, southern Germany, where I could meet Gabriela, an old friend from AIESEC (we haven't met for years...). I found another host, Connie, and we all had a nice place to sleep. The driving adventure was to have a broken window covered with plastic bags (great job Glenn and Valentina!). We managed to get it fixed on Monday morning, before we left (and before crossing the Swiss Alps!).

After 3 days completely relaxed, sleeping a lot and eating like someone in Italy deserves (including good old Brazilian food), I'm ready to continue the journey. Tonight I'll arrive in Krakow (cheap flight) and I found a very curious couchsurfing host - I'll stay in the same place as other 16 couchsurfers, from all around the world! I'm looking forward for that - it sounds like those old reception weekend I had in AIESEC, including partying, sightseeing and cooking together). On Monday morning I hitchhike to Warsaw to meet my brother and spend new-years with Ania, another friend from couchsurfing. After new-years, a short stop in Berlin and maybe Hamburg, on my way back to Kaos, back to Aarhus.

My classes restart on 7th of January... My graduation is coming soon... 26th of June 2009!!

Catalunya no es España

I'm in Barcelona since Wednesday. I came here (finally) to visit my younger brother Gabriel, 21, and spend sometime with him. I kind of moved out from home when he became a teenager, so we never actually had the opportunity to enjoy a easy chat, a deep conversation, or simply party together. A week in Barcelona is not enough, but it's a good start.

Besides that, it's my first time in Spain (yes, I have never been here before, except a few hours in Madrid last year) and of course, first time in Cataluña.

Barcelona is very cosmopolitan, it's not that simple to find Catalanes, where there are people (mostly young) from all around the country, Europe and other continents. I find it fascinating though, the warm weather, the beautiful old streets, the beach and the bike system!!

In the other hand, we can find loads of illegal workers (my brother knows a few hundreds ;-)), which brings conflicts and hostilities with the locals. Barcelona is not the place to learn Spanish. Go somewhere else. As any other touristic city in the world, it's not easy to find what is typical, unique and authentic. Most of town is made for fools unfortunately.

Impressions, impressions... this place deserves more time to be understood. What is the real flavor of this town?

I'll keep searching.. I still don't have a ticket out of here, not sure when I leave... so let's enjoy it :D

Three months in a nutshell...

I arrived back to Denmark this Monday, after spending three months back in Brazil. The initial reason for going there was my process assignment for the Kaospilots, where I have been working for the Projeto Agua for three weeks. Besides that, the whole trip became packed with different experiences, lots of traveling, meeting old friends and creating new relationships. So, in a nutshell...

October:

• Left Copenhagen and stopped one night in Madrid, nice city!
• One week for preparation for my assignment, while meeting lots of AIESECers, playing some football and meeting old friends, going for Vitor Ramil concert, and of course spending some time with my family at home.
• Two days in Florianópolis, meeting with my client and preparing together for the period in Paraiba, where the project is located
• One day in Sao Paulo, trapped in the constant rain, meeting the Brazil-China Chamber of Commerce and playing football in the rain with good old friends from AIESEC
• Two weeks in Urucu, a small community of Sao Joao do Cariri, 300km from Joao Pessoa in Paraiba state, for my assignment.

November:

• On the way back from Paraiba, a stop in Florianópolis and a final meeting with my client, evaluating the results and planning next steps. I even got a job offer, so I assume they were satisfied with the results!
• One week back home in Porto Alegre, procrastinating and writing my final report for the kaospilots, followed by an examination over video-skype (quite nice, although the connection was not very good)
• Not much time to rest, I flew to Rio de Janeiro, to join the Global Journey on Sustainable Communities, where I was one of the co-hosts. It was an amazing experience, for 8 days with other 40 people from 16 different countries.
• One day to rest, by coincidence my birthday (Dec 9). I had a great dinner with Helena and other friends at her place, Indian style :), and in the next day we had an alumni barbacue and I (re) met a lot of old folks from AIESEC in Rio.
• No more rest, a night bus to Sao Paulo to join AIESEC and CONAL, the National Congress, where I was the Chairman. The conference was 5 days long for 500 participants, plus 2 days of pre-meeting for 150 participants, and we had 9 people organizing all logistics and 11 facilitators from the National Office. It was hard-core experience, and I really enjoyed being back after 2.5 years away from AIESEC in Brazil.
• Done with the conference, time to be back home, for Christmas. These were the days I spent only with my family, including X-mas eve, and resting from the long month I had, but at the same time getting prepared for going back to Europe - vaccinations for China, new passport, new driver's license...
• Soon after Christmas, beach-time. Together with some good friends from AIESEC we rented a big beautiful house in Ibiraquera, a calm place 70km south of Florianopolis, and we spent new-years there without mobile signal and without cars. Perfect weather, lots of meat and beer, poker games and good relaxed conversations...

January:

• The excuse for the new-years meeting was to prepare for the wedding of our friends Malhado and Cibele, and we went straight from Ibiraquera to Santa Maria, located 3.5 hours from Porto Alegre. The wedding was beautiful and I met friends I haven't seen together for 3-4 years. It was too fast but it was awesome.
• Back quickly to Porto Alegre on the 6th of January, just in time for goodbying my best girlfriends Jo, Jana and Lalau, and again traveling, this time to Paraguay.
• I spent 4 days in Asunción, visiting Clemen, who I had met during the Pioneers of Change event in December. I had a great experience and it changed a lot of ideas about my neighbouring country. People were so friendly and warm, and at the same time so similar to Gauchos... (people from Rio Grande do Sul state in southern Brazil)
• Back to Porto Alegre, after 21 hours on a bus, I just had a few hours to pack. I had my plans changed and I had to stop in Rio, in Teresópolis, to participate and facilitate a planning weekend for the AIESEC International Congress Organizing Team. This event will happen in Brazil this August and I got a "little" involved with it :)
• From Teresópolis to the airport and to Denmark. Not yet home, I still staying one extra day in Copenhagen to apply for my Chinese visa. Yesterday I got the confirmation, they accepted it!

Sorry for the short summary, but too much happening at the same time and without a proper computer in hands, there is not much I can do. I wish I could keep you updated more often!

Two weeks in Aarhus, and then Shanghai for another three months... Nomadlife continues...