The week before I went to see a movie screened especially for Erasmus students by ESN Porto. The idea behind this event was that we get to know more about Porto through the eyes of artists, people able to communicate to us through images, sounds, suggestions and, as the case with cinematography, to communicate to us through other people.
The movie shown was 'Jaime', the story of a 14 years old boy that lived in Ribeira with his mother, twin sisters and his mother's boyfriend. It was shut in Porto in 1999 and it is directed and written by Antonio-Pedro Vasconcelos.
As a native of Ribeira, Jaime is very poor and quite unhappy that his mother decided to separate from his father. Thinking that if he bought a motorcycle for his father, then he would get a job, start earning some money and change in the eyes of his ex-wife, Jaime decides to start working during the night without his mother knowing about it. But as sometimes bad luck follows those who are already unfortunate, Jaime gets fired from his job at a bakery, finds another job, but his mother's boyfriend steals his savings, his father commits suicide and his best friend dies while working on a construction site.
The tragedy that surrounds this little boy is at times unbearable and, although the movie has a happy ending as Jaime finds a less dangerous job and his mother gets rid of her loser boyfriend, a feeling of misfortune stays with you even after the movie is over. At least, that's what happened to me.
This story is important to me as it changed the way I see Porto today. When I first arrived, because of all the great stories I've heard about the city from other Erasmus at my university and from Erasmus coming from ISCAP and because what I saw here, Porto was a fairy tale city to me - the city is beautiful, the people are warm, the party never ends. What more could I ask from a city to have a perfect Erasmus experience? Nothing! Life here was going to be amazing.
And it is! But after I watched this movie, Porto seized to have a fairy tale image for me and became a real city inhabited by real people and not just Erasmus students, with problems of their own (real problems, as I call them) and not just a dilemma of whether to go to this party or the other, of whether to go to the beach, to visit another city or stay at home to study/read.
As the aura is gone, as Porto is a bit less the Mecca of Erasmus students, I feel a little sad, as you would feel when you woke up from a dream. Surely, I still live in my perfect Porto and I still have the same 'hard' choices to make, but from time to time I stop and think about the real Porto. As I am bound to live my Erasmus life here, I am happy I don't live in the 'real world', at least not in Jaime's real world.
While I was writing the above sentences, I realized that as Erasmus students, we don't live in the 'real world', we live in a carefree world.
Am I right? What do you think?
I enjoyed very much reading your post and understand well your feelings. I don't know what your emotions were before coming to Porto but I feel that all erasmus students live a kind of dream and unique moment in their lives when they leave their country and decide to spend some time in a different country.
ReplyDeleteWell, what could I say now? I imagine what I would say to one of my boys: try to live your dream, to enjoy the most of this moment because none of this will ever happen again in your life. In some months you will need to start looking for a job and your dreams will be to be independent, to have a career or do something else. But this moment of being a student in a foreign country, of being free and without "big" problems is unique. It is true that life, outside this this bubble can be very hard and it is true that there are people with lots of problems but this happens not only in Porto but everywhere. and somehow I feel that here, In porto, in portugal, we still live in a paradise.
I look at the photo you put as background in your blog - try to enjoy the colours of this city, try to capture the smells, the music, the sounds. This is life. Sometimes the sun shines, sometimes it rains and it is cold. this is life. And you are the sum of all your experiences. I call this "growing" :-).and sometimes growing hurts... tomorrow will be another day. Don't worry too much :-)
Thank you so much for your beautiful and thoughtful words. You are right when you say that is an unique experience that I would never have the opportunity to come across again. And I plan to take full advantage of it since it's not everyday that you get to go on this kind of adventure, a 'carefree' adventure.
ReplyDeleteI am really enjoying most of my time here and I really love the city, I have seen here beautiful places, but sometimes, without me wanting at all for this to happen, I get reflexive. From now on, I'll definitely try twice as hard not to be that serious. At least out of classes! :)
Thank you again for your caring advice.