sábado, 27 de janeiro de 2018

Milan - The mind changer

So, the first post will be about the experience that changed my way of facing life, that made me grow up a lot and learn even more.

First things first, I was about to finish my tourism degree in the beautiful city of Coimbra, but I needed an internship in order to do it, so I asked the school to get me one there, in Coimbra. They got me one, and it looked interesting, in theory...
It was an agency that promotes and organizes events in downtown of Coimbra, seemed like a nice concept to me and I was super motivated to be good at it. But my motivation vanished like a flash once I started, my tasks were all about going to the streets to distribute papers, going to the bank to deposit money or to collect some money from our associates. I've been there for 4 months but I wasn't completly being part of it, I wasn't learning anything and each day I was feeling less motivated to work there, so, I made a decision! I decided to interrupt my internship there and looking for something that was going to push me to the limit, something that was going to make me feel tested, something challenging to prove myself that I was capable of doing a lot more for me than I was doing at the time! So I did some research and I got a 3 month internship in a hostel in Milan, Italy. I was very excited about it, but at the same time I was a little bit uneasy, because it was a new country, a language that I wasn't able to speak and I didnt know anyone there. But, on the 7th of March of 2017 I packed my things and I flew to Milan. One of the best decisions I ever made!
This is what happened...

I arrived in Milan and I came across a new reality from the one I was used to, everything seemed bigger, I was hypnotized, contemplating every inch of construction, listening carefuly every italian word, running in my mind different scenarios of what was going to happen there... I was feeling that tingling in my stomach like a child feels in christmas day! I was thinking "what am I doing here?" but, on the other hand, I was thinking "It's all in!". So, I faced this experience as an opportunity to learn, to push myself to the limit, to test my capacities and to evolve as a human being. That's exactly whan happened !
The following text has been written in order to inspire you to be bold and to do what you want, but do it today, if you have any doubts about what you are doing right now don't leave what you want for tomorrow, start follow what you want step by step, and soon you will realize that you are becoming more accomplished each day.
Here it goes...

My stay in the hostel was so much more satisfying than I ever thought. The owners and the staff were all very kind to me, always trying to help me and teaching me everything about how the hostel works. Step by step I started to adapt to the tasks and before I realize I was able to do a full shift by myself! Besides the shift, I had other tasks like being responsible for the daily events (pasta night; karaoke night; drinking games night; movie night), and interact with guests during the evening, sit with them, having drinks and learning with every story that they had to tell. It was a very good way to make friends and learn with some more experienced travelers.

The city...
The city of Milan quickly got me by her charm! From the amazing Cathedral of Duomo, to the canals in Navigli, going through the beautiful Vittorio Emanuele Gallery... I was amazed by all of it! They have an amazing cuisine, very cool restaurants and pubs and good people there always ready to help you.

I also had the opportunity to travel a little bit around Italy and visiting new places that I would like to share with you on the next posts.

So, the final day came and it was very hard to leave the city, my 3 month stay seemed to me like 3 weeks, because when I left I felt like I still had so much to see and to do there. I made some real friends there, and I already went back to visit them. I know I will never forget this experience and I will always be thankful to the people that helped me there. Somehow they contributed for my development and growth.

That's why I am telling you to keep fighting for what you want to do because you will always learn a lot, you will meet awesome people, you will make some friends and you will be happier!


PS: I went back to Portugal and I finished my degree !





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