Most of you probably don’t know that there is a
Portuguese Professor here in Berkeley.
He’s Miguel Villas-Boas and he works at the Haas School of
Business. Both my Dad and my Uncle Tó
know him and thus encouraged me to go introduce myself and ask for his contact,
in case I had any kind of emergency. That’s what I did this week.
After a few attempts to find him at his office,
I finally met him last Wednesday. It was
kind of awkward in the beginning. He
cheered me in English and I answered in English too and then I couldn’t find a
normal way to start speaking Portuguese.
When I did, I wanted to explain that I am an exchange student here and
that my Dad and my Uncle had suggested me to come introduce myself, but words
didn’t want to come out fluently. Haha. After a while (probably just a few seconds
that seemed like an eternity to me), I ended up making myself clear and he was
very nice. He invited me to have dinner
with his family right away. That’s what
I did today.
I went to their place, a nice house in a calm
neighborhood here in Berkeley, and had a typically Portuguese dinner. Not only was the food very healthy and
simple, as we (Portuguese people) are used to, but we sat at the table for hours, just chilling and
speaking. They invited me to come back
whenever I wanted and I think I’ll do it many times.
It’s time to go to bed. I have a very busy week ahead. Today I just wanted to tell you that it felt
really good to experience some familiar environment. It’s something someone living abroad values a
lot.
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