The year was 2012, the month December. At the age of 23, I was in the last year of college and I ended my internship with one of the largest companies in my city in Brazil, with a good chance of being hired as a permanent employee. One of the best business and administration courses in the country, a decent company, probably two parts of an equation called stability. To be graduated and to have a permanent job at age 23, for many seems to be a successful formula. But not for me. This looked to me more like a form of incarceration. This check-list seemed to me quite obvious – College – employment – car – home – children – and there it was 35 years of my life. In my mind this logic never worked perfectly.

There is an idiomatic expression in Brazil that says “to want something, does not mean you can have it”, and among all the experiences and educational apparatus that have brought me here, a memory always comes alive in my head: When I once asked my mother about the above sentence, and she calmly lowered herself to the level of my eyes, a child about 10 years old at the time, and told me: Wanting is power! Anything you want just go after and get it!

That scene haunted me like a ghost for many years of my life, and to tell the truth, it still haunts me. I decided to free myself from what I had planned in the short term, and to change all that apparent stability momentarily by a crazy plan to travel to Europe for a period of 7 or 8 months and learn a new language, meet new people and if possible meet some of the charming cities who rotate the world through movies and postcards.

Here we go 5 years later, a new language, 25 countries and the first and only serious love relationship I’ve ever had in my entire life. Well away from all that glamor demonstrated in exchange travel blogs, swapping office work by serving the public as waiter or doing all sorts of the considered sub-jobs certainly have their down sides. But it was these experiences that paid for my travels, my experiences, my courses abroad and especially, that left me closer to the real people. Apt to better develop the language and learn about Irish people, their culture and behavior.

Many may say that exchanging a certain life with office employment would have been the best path to take, but anything that does not full fill you in your life should be replaced, after all how long do we really have? Among all that, I saw and learned walking through Europe, the greatest learning was independence and self-knowledge. Changing my eating habits, prejudices, lines of thought and behavior towards life, time and other people is an irreplaceable baggage.

For many people success means making the first million before 30, for others having a master’s degree at 25. Some prefer to travel the world for one or two years, others do not find happiness if not in the arms of family. And who are we to judge or decide what is right or wrong? Among everything that is realistic or mythical, whether you want to open a company at 35 or make the walk of Santiago de Compostela, If you want to write a book or spend some time at some retreat in India, if you want a professional experience in the United States, an academic season in France, or simply a vacation on the paradisiac beaches of Brazil, no one is here to judge.

What we do know is that life talks to us, and if you do not reply her, it will scream and makes a scandal, like a baby that needs attention. They say that every 7 years people go through periods of personal change. Because we all have doubts, we are all vulnerable. Far beyond religious or political perspectives, I want to understand through the experiences of everyday life and ordinary people the meaning of it all. The challenges and opportunities of two people so young, entering adult life, swallowing daily doses of knowledge, pain, happiness, experiences, doubts and feelings.

Interests

• books
• fashion
• beauty
• cooking
• vegetarian
• vegan
• meditation
• music
• languages
• religion
• travel
• food
• people
• lifestyle
• listening
• connecting
• experiences
• gayfriendly

Music, Movies, and Books

Madonna

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Brazil, Ireland