We arrived in Sydney on a Friday evening. It was an 11-hour flight... In the first 24 hours I could already understand the spirit of Sydney city. Lots of people on the street, many bars and pubs… everybody looking for fun!
I’m from the other side of the world. I call my mother before I go out to a club and she might be having breakfast! At the same time, I have lots of Brazilian friends that came to live here for one year to study English or work, so I had an idea of what Australia is like. But I was completely wrong. I thought that I would see nature everywhere - kangaroos, koalas and beaches everywhere. No! It’s been one week that I’ve been here and I haven’t seen any of this. But don’t worry; I’m not sad at all! Impossible, with the amount of entertainment that this city has to offer. And also here I remember always that I’m really close to Asia… I was impressed with the amount of Asians that I saw in Sydney. Smart people. Living here is great!
Wednesday, 26 December 2007
Sunday, 16 December 2007
Did I really travel?
It’s been already ten days since I left my country, but something feels wrong. I feel home! Funny, right? But South Africa is really similar to Brazil. Starting by the people. Both countries have white and black living together. And, especially the white ones, have really similar outfits. The South Africans are a mixture of Europeans, like the Brazilians are. I’m a good example of “nations soup”; I have descendents from Portugal, Italy, Spain and Greece. I asked some people here about their origins, and they said me the most different countries from Europe. Lots of Europeans immigrated here after World War 2… but what a good choice! I think they really came to live in this paradise. Here they have amazing beaches, the blue water contrasting with the green vegetation and the white sand. Lots of big houses, some with the cliff train to transport people down from the highest rooms. You can’t lose the view, you can’t lose the breath. Almost the same principle as the Cliff that takes the tourists up to Table Mountain, the rock that is in the middle of the city. And – I can’t forget my country – it remembers me the Pao de Acucar, another unbelievable sight from Rio de Janeiro. Ok, I know that there is no place like another, and that’s no people like others. But it is a compliment to the country from the other side of Atlantic Ocean: as I love my Brazil, I love South Africa!
Thursday, 6 December 2007
Fancy Africa
My first destination on this world trip is South Africa. It’s amazing, I never thought about coming here so young. OK, I’m lying. I was thinking about coming in 2010, at the World Cup. In fact it was more a dream that a thought. We just got here, so I’m going to tell you about my first impressions. At the South African’s airline I was already starting to love the country. People were nice and lovely, and like Kareem said at the airport: “There are a lot of Akonas here”. Of course it’s a joke, each person is unique. But there are so many black elegant women, bold and with big earrings and necklaces. Akona really represents a good African Style. Two Chinese tourists even knocked on our door (we are sharing rooms) to ask her if they could take one photo with her! Funny… And like the people, buildings in Cape Town are elegant. Every building seems new and clean. On the first day, after getting to the hotel and taking a shower, we went to “Victoria and Alfred Waterfront”. It’s like a marina around the sea with boats with lots of restaurants and a shopping mall – a really fancy place. When we were walking and searching for a restaurant, we were lucky to see some singers in line, singing African songs. It was amazing, made me think that now I can prove for real if a place is just how the movies and the television shows! This is culture, now I can have a trusted opinion about a country. Africa isn’t poor at all. In fact, Cape Town is one of the most fancy places that I have been. Besides that, Africans are rich… with joy!
Monday, 26 November 2007
After it all, here I am.
OK, It was a fast process. I subscribed to the Smirnoff Experience Contest in October; 20 days later I was chosen and my life changed. Almost in the blink of an eye, I woke up living this different and exciting experience.
Lots of people asked me if I was expecting to win. I don’t want to say YES with all certainty, because the other competitors were really good. All of them had at least one competitive skill. But I was hoping to win, from deep in my heart. And I wasn’t the only one; my friends and family also knew that this experience was perfect for me. I love to travel. For me, living is knowing as much as possible. And to see how people live all around the globe is the best way of doing that. Some think that I am crazy, because I was finishing my studies and wasn’t looking for a job at a multinational company. I (almost) graduated in Foreign Trade, so all my colleagues were starting a career in big companies. And I kept going to school with Havaianas sandals, while all the others were going with suits or social clothes. I can’t deny that sometimes I got worried, thinking like “what am I going to do in the future, how am I going to pay my bills?” The idea of working as an employee and having programmed vacations freaked me out. I worked in events for the last six years, as promoter or receptionist. The kind of job that you just can do when you are young and pretty. But this year was full of opportunities for me. In July, for example, I won another contest and spent an entire month living in Rio de Janeiro, as a fun reporter at the Pan American games. It was really similar to Smirnoff Experience, I had to write a blog and post some videos also. And I loved it! Maybe it was like a preparation for this more elaborate job and trip that I am about to start… Everything happens for a reason. So, I just keep reminding myself of the great Bob Marley song: “Don’t worry about the things. Cause every little thing is gonna be alright”.
OK - I have to share about the contest selection. I was at my university one day and two friends of mine told me about it. They said me: “You have to subscribe. It’s for travelling 300 days and searching out the best nightlife all over the world”. I thought: “This is perfect for me”, and the first thing that I did when I got home was enter on the Smirnoff website. This stage of the process was just finishing, and one-week later one lady called me to say that I was at the semi-final. It was tense. One whole day of tests: English test and interview, medical, physiological and toxicological exams. At the end of the day, we had met the nine people already in the Smirnoff Ten. It was a nice day. All the contestants were funny and good people, all of them qualified for winning. To get to the next stage, the five with the most votes at the end of the next week were going to be at the final. Difficult, it was a marketing week to get more votes.
The agency called me again, this time to say that I was at the final. On Sunday, all five finalists checked in at a hotel and went out to make a video about Social Responsibility. All of Monday was used to edit our films, and at night we had further interviews. It was a good chat, and I thought they liked me. Tuesday was the final day. That morning, we passed through another interview. But this time it was much harder. There were five judges in front of us, some audience behind us (my sister and a great friend of mine were there to cheer for me). It was a difficult morning, and even after we finished I still felt sick with nerves.
The announcement was made at a party. There were friends of all the contestants, the rest of the Smirnoff Ten and the other five finalists. Minutes before the presenter open the envelope with the name of the winner my heart was almost jumping out of my mouth. I think it was the most nervous time of my life. After she said my name, “the only girl between the finalists”, I cried and had my 15 minutes of fame.
It was the best. Until that moment, because the trip is just going to start!
Lots of people asked me if I was expecting to win. I don’t want to say YES with all certainty, because the other competitors were really good. All of them had at least one competitive skill. But I was hoping to win, from deep in my heart. And I wasn’t the only one; my friends and family also knew that this experience was perfect for me. I love to travel. For me, living is knowing as much as possible. And to see how people live all around the globe is the best way of doing that. Some think that I am crazy, because I was finishing my studies and wasn’t looking for a job at a multinational company. I (almost) graduated in Foreign Trade, so all my colleagues were starting a career in big companies. And I kept going to school with Havaianas sandals, while all the others were going with suits or social clothes. I can’t deny that sometimes I got worried, thinking like “what am I going to do in the future, how am I going to pay my bills?” The idea of working as an employee and having programmed vacations freaked me out. I worked in events for the last six years, as promoter or receptionist. The kind of job that you just can do when you are young and pretty. But this year was full of opportunities for me. In July, for example, I won another contest and spent an entire month living in Rio de Janeiro, as a fun reporter at the Pan American games. It was really similar to Smirnoff Experience, I had to write a blog and post some videos also. And I loved it! Maybe it was like a preparation for this more elaborate job and trip that I am about to start… Everything happens for a reason. So, I just keep reminding myself of the great Bob Marley song: “Don’t worry about the things. Cause every little thing is gonna be alright”.
OK - I have to share about the contest selection. I was at my university one day and two friends of mine told me about it. They said me: “You have to subscribe. It’s for travelling 300 days and searching out the best nightlife all over the world”. I thought: “This is perfect for me”, and the first thing that I did when I got home was enter on the Smirnoff website. This stage of the process was just finishing, and one-week later one lady called me to say that I was at the semi-final. It was tense. One whole day of tests: English test and interview, medical, physiological and toxicological exams. At the end of the day, we had met the nine people already in the Smirnoff Ten. It was a nice day. All the contestants were funny and good people, all of them qualified for winning. To get to the next stage, the five with the most votes at the end of the next week were going to be at the final. Difficult, it was a marketing week to get more votes.
The agency called me again, this time to say that I was at the final. On Sunday, all five finalists checked in at a hotel and went out to make a video about Social Responsibility. All of Monday was used to edit our films, and at night we had further interviews. It was a good chat, and I thought they liked me. Tuesday was the final day. That morning, we passed through another interview. But this time it was much harder. There were five judges in front of us, some audience behind us (my sister and a great friend of mine were there to cheer for me). It was a difficult morning, and even after we finished I still felt sick with nerves.
The announcement was made at a party. There were friends of all the contestants, the rest of the Smirnoff Ten and the other five finalists. Minutes before the presenter open the envelope with the name of the winner my heart was almost jumping out of my mouth. I think it was the most nervous time of my life. After she said my name, “the only girl between the finalists”, I cried and had my 15 minutes of fame.
It was the best. Until that moment, because the trip is just going to start!
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