Once somebody said that “good things come to an end” and I always knew it. The problem is that I never really realized it before living it on my own.
Now that even my second trip in Brazil is concluded, I can say that this one and the first one are both part of the same experience, the most important travel I ever did in my life.
And I’m not talking about taking planes and carrying tens of kilos of baggages with me all around. When I say “travel” I mean a lot of different things, that are extremely difficult to resume in few words or text lines.
Anyway, this experience pushed me breaking lots of limits and accepting challenges, so…that’s my goal for today, write about the last months and make it clear how meaningful and life-changing was all this.
Let’s imagine a hand: five points, one for each finger, that can show which are the aspects of my life affected by this travel.
Family
All we have one: large, small, crazy, unique. Family is our shell, the “place” in which we born and grew up. It’s almost impossible to imagine our lives without them, without these people that we call mom, dad, brothers and sisters. Although, I learned that it happens to find a new one, that not replace the first, but becomes a second family. How lucky are we? Two families, based in different sides of the world, two groups of people that love you as a son, doesn’t matter if there are blood ties or not. Living for weeks in their houses, sharing happy (and sad) moments with them, that’s what happens in a family, and that’s what happened to me in Brazil. I know I have two families now, and this is pretty awesome.
Friends
I always had problem in making new friends, since I was a child. Shy, quiet, not really good in playing sports…all these things made it difficult to me to become friend with other children. Years passing, things changed: there was a moment, I remember, in the high school when I understood that something was wrong. Find people to share the best moments of your life is a must. Then, you understand that friendship is the essence of life, and friends are the hands that hold you and help you going ahead, everyday. What would have I done without my friends? Almost nothing I did in my life. That’s the point: i can’t imagine my life without them and each day, when I wake up, I have a reason to smile because of this. Brazil gave me lots of friends, lots of special people, hundreds of hands, and hearts, and minds ready to be by my side every time I needed.
I have no more words to explain what friendship meant to me in this experience, so…my dear friends, maybe you should help me in doing this!
Work
Children are my teachers. And I’m not talking about their role in learning my Portuguese, rather about the impact they had on my life. Their stories, their smiles, their jokes…how can I ever forget all this? Helping them in such a beautiful way, teaching them about human rights and social problems…it’s for sure on of the things that make me proud to be who I am. Sometimes when I’m alone, I smile thinking about their smiles: it’s like a chain of smiles, that is still alive in my head and will always be. This is what life should be, a chain of smiles. Children taught me about this.
World outside
My vision of the world outside it’s not the same since I came back. Something changed, maybe everything. World is different, or am I? Don’t need to answer this question. I just understood that it took three months to change my 24-years-old idea of it, so…how weak was it? No more limits, no more fears, no more impossible things. Is that real life? The point is that once you recognize it, there’s no way to come back.
World inside
Yeah, this is kind of a problem when you come back home. The world changed (ok, your idea of it did), you changed, and then you perceive that it’s not easy to explain it to other people.
In the first days after your comeback, you meet people you know, and they always ask the same: “So, how was it?”
And you have lots of things to say, ideas to show, new discovers to illustrate, but soon you have to admit that it’s not so easy to do it. Who didn’t try this, who didn’t live the same experience you lived, who didn’t face the same challenges of you…how can he really understand what you’re talking about? That looks like a wasting of time. So your answer it’s kind of boring: “oh, awesome…”. Stop.
I said, good things always come to an end. Sad, but true. I’m here, in Italy, thinking about my former Brazilian life…and it’s in that moment I understand the truly meaning of the word “saudade”. Many people don’t believe it. According to them, it can take a few seconds to fall in love with an another person… But three months are not enough to do the same with a whole country. Ok. Maybe they’re right. And I’m wrong. What’s the big difference between me and them?
I know that life is a big surprise, a book where I can write all what I want, and that “impossible” is just a word in our heads. They don’t know about it.
They don’t.
Lucky me.
quellavoltachehovissuto 