T.C. Heydon's AFS Experience

No Alliteration Continued: School is Out

2010-06-09T02:30:00.000-07:00

What more do I need to say? I guess a little elaboration is in order...I did my time in the Portuguese school system. I came to appreciate ISA more as a result. Classes that were made up of roughly 95% Lectures and 5% Other stuff got tiring, and mentally exhausting. I wanted my own school back, not necessarily for the people (though I do miss my friends) but for the intellectually stimulating curriculum. Portuguese school was definitely not all bad, I loved the 15 intervals, 1.5 hours for lunch, the school snack bar (with super cheap prices) and being the exchange student.
Now I have a couple more weeks (just a couple more weeks?!?) to travel around Portugal and maybe Spain to some extent. I hope to spend some time with some other AFSers from Porto and just enjoy it. I will throw some running in the mix too!

No More Alliteration For Titles

2010-05-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

Well there are about four weeks left. Its hard to believe. I love looking at my journal from when I first got here. Its a great way to see how this experience has changed me. I cannot say that my fundamental beliefs have changed much, but I feel that this has really helped me focus my beliefs. Its like adjusting the focus on a real camera, there were ideas and beliefs, but this has helped me really solidify them.

In regards to the culture, I love discussing Portuguese culture with other AFSers. Portuguese are proud of their country, and very non-confrontational. AFS always says that things are not good, or bad, just different. In a way, I think I automatically group things into good and bad though. Or at least better and worse. Some aspects of Portuguese culture are much better than others. It is really difficult to describe a culture.

Life is good here. School is tiring though. Only six days are left, but that is six days of lectures and tests. School is lecture based, and it seems like it is more the students responsibility to learn, than the teacher's to teach. Its different. A lot of kids have tutors, a lot!

I had an AFS camp this weekend in Braga. Those are always nice.

Running is great. I like the team and enjoy the company, solo running can get tiring sometimes. I had a race a few weeks ago, but it went poorly.

I guess its hard to convey the fact that life here, while a great experience, is just life. Its a routine (to some extent) like life in the U.S.

Lost: Lisbon

2010-05-09T04:20:00.000-07:00

I have been enjoying a delightful four days in Costa Azul. I took part in a temporary four day trip sponsored by AFS where I lived with a different host family, hung out with other AFSers and saw parts of Lisbon, and the surrounding area. It was great to speak in english, meet other american exchange students and exchange students from around the world.
On the first day, due to a series of errors committed by various parties, a student from Switzerland and I ended up taking a VERY round-about way to Cacilhas. It was a fun detour and I got to see a bit of Lisbon. We eventually got to our destination, 2.5 hours late. We visited the beach, made the best of bad weather, enjoyed the company of fellow exchange students and shared stories, experiences and photos.
In response to some requests, I will give a bit of a summary about the People, the Culture and My Family. The Portuguese, in my experience, are very group oriented people. They also care a great deal about guests, friends or companions feeling comfortable. Another important feature is that they stay out late, 10 pm is early, midnight is when you go out, give or take a little. Even for dinners or having company over, staying very late by american standards is common.
My family is incredible. They have been more than tolerant of me, and constantly helpful not only with the language, but with everything else. I could not have asked for a better family. At first, I was a little frustrated that I was living about as far from Lisbon as I could get, but now I am delighted to be where I am. Its great.
Pictures and more text is coming soon.

Phull of Photos

2010-04-24T03:33:00.000-07:00

I have decided that shorter, more frequent blog posts are a good way to keep those who are interested informed and not that difficult to write.
I am back in school after a 2 week Easter Break and a 1 week trip to Hungary. Easter was great. The local priest from Poiares (the small district I live in, which is part of the "state" of Viana do Castelo) came to our house to deliver the news of Christ's resurrection. It is traditional to offer the Priest and the small group that travels with him pastries, wine and other refreshments.
Over the course of the two week break I also made two solo trips to the city of Porto, as I mentioned before. I learned the metro system, enjoyed a long walk along the Rio Douro and enjoyed a bit of relaxation and independance. The following picutres are of the Casa de Musica (Music House), the river that runs along the city of Porto and O Estadio de Dragão (Dragon Stadium) which is the home of the F.C. Porto Dragons soccer team.
The trip to Hungary was very fun. I went with a group from my school for a one week exchange program. I stayed with a Hungarian family, attended a Hungarian school, learned how to curse in Hungarian (the language itself is very complicated), saw Lake Balaton and enjoyed various aspects of Budapest and Hungarian culture in general. Of course, I enjoyed the food a great deal. Here are some images from the trip which include a club in Budapest, my Hungarian Host Brother Pepe and I, and finally a picture of Budapest.Going back to school after 3 weeks of vacation was tough, but I managed. It is hard to believe I only have about 6 or 7 more weeks of school in Portugal. I have really been enjoying my running routes up on the Monte de Santa Luzia. There are various trails where I have frequent encounters with wild horses, I will take a picture next time I see some.

Long Lay-Off

2010-04-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I last blogged. I have been on Easter Break (two weeks) and enjoyed it a lot. I visited Porto twice on my own. My Portuguese has improved a lot, and I have been able to hold conversations well in the foreign tongue. I am now in Hungary on a field trip. I went to a Hungarian Club/Disco/Bar yesterday, that was an amazing experience. Budapest is a very cool city. I am going to make an effort to write more from now on, and post more pictures, but that will begin when I return from Hungary.

Ambling Around

2010-02-28T13:34:00.000-08:00

Another view of Viana do Castelo from my running route

Traditional Lisbon architecture

Since my last post, I have really experienced a lot. First of all, I am adapting well to my life in Portugal. School is getting better, I can understand the language pretty well now and I can communicate decently. I have been to a disco (it was a fun, but I had to leave at 2:30 a.m., pretty early by Portuguese standards), passed a few tests, joined a Running Club (and gotten a ton of free running gear from them), gotten used to taking the train, joined the school basketball team (that is really fun!), been to Lisbon and had another AFS orientation.

Well, in regards to running, I qualified to go to the National Portuguese Club Team cross country championships next weekend. They are in Algarve. My club team is great, it is nice to have company while training. The downside is, a lot of the team is hurt, so we are not going to Algarve to compete. I will play in a basketball game with my school instead.

I went on a trip to Lisbon this past week. It was a blast. It is quite a large city with a diverse population. Viana do Castelo and the surrounding areas (where I live) have much less diversity. I saw the aquarium, tried the famous Pastéis de Belém (and scalded my mouth), enjoyed some art, saw the Colombo shopping mall (again, the Portuguese really enjoy malls!) and then took a bus to another AFS orientation. It was great to be able to talk in english, hang out with Americans and just relax in a more natural environment for me. We discussed some very helpful topics such as how to learn the language better and adapt. The orientation was in a costal town (the town was rather empty, probably due to the fact it is still winter). Pictures will come later.

I have been making an effort to explore more in my free time and have discovered new pastries, cafés and sights as a result. At the moment my favorite pastries are the coffee eclairs, these wonderful chocolate filled croissant-type things, a coconut macaroon sort of confection and this cake that is like a roll of dough. I do not know the technical terms for most of them in english, or portuguese for that matter, but pointing to the "bolo" (pastry) I want seems to get the point across.

My subsistence

To conclude this post, I would like to encourage you guys to post comments with any questions you have. I have been growing accustomed to life here, and as a result neglect to mention things that you guys might find interesting or have questions about. Also, suggestions for photos would be good too!

Don't I look so Texan? The flag is in fact Chilean and the hat Argentinean

Portuguese can be difficult to read at times...

Good Grub

2010-02-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

In order to bring closure to my last post (which was a while back), I am going to start off with the results from the District "Corta-Mato" (basically Cross Country) race. The course itself was swamp-like, a combination of rain and a couple races prior to mine had turned the park where we were running into a mud hole. I managed to slip, slide and skate my way to an 8th place finnish out of a couple hundred guys, but unfortunately only the top six runners get to go to nationals. In order to get to and from the race, the runners from my school traveled on a charter bus. None of the schools at the race had School Buses (see picture below). After the race, I was introduced to Manuela Machado (feel free to click the link for more information). She is a former world champion marathon runner who now runs a track club in Viana do Castelo. She invited me to train with them, and next tuesday I intend to attend my first practice. In response to a reader request, I included the picture above which was taken from my daily running route. I went for a great run in the country yesterday, and managed to out run a tractor (for a little while at least, the farmers are pretty funny and enjoy racing me).

Enough about running, for now. School is becoming a bit easier as I am able to understand much more of what my teachers are saying. My comprehension is actually respectable at this point, and speaking is becoming easier. I am not fluent, but I have made a lot of progress since I arrived. I have not really encountered any substantial difficulties with a "language barrier", but I do struggle a bit to express ideas sometimes.

We went on a field trip last week. We visited the city of Porto, which is about an hour's drive south of Viana. To kick off the activities, we visited a museum that is intended to give an idea about the life style of upper-class Portuguese in the 1800's. Then, we visited a library and went to a Science Museum. We partook in an overnight Crime-Scene-Investigation activity, but it was not as interesting as the name suggests. The next day we finished up our "investigation" (solution: the son killed the abusive father and the mother tried to cover for him), then went to one of the largest malls in Portugal. Portuguese people seem to be very proud of, and love spending time at malls. Its a rather odd phenomenon. They call them "shoppings". Anyways, the mall was maybe the size of North Star and similar (other than the fact that a lot of the brands are different). I am not a big fan of malls, or commercialism in general, but I loved the food court. They have the usual disgusting fast food chains along with some very good restaurants that serve Portuguese food. I opted for the latter and enjoyed some good Portuguese-style BBQ (hence the title of this post). Its just meat without the sauce, various sides and a fried banana (they are really good).

I have been getting more accustomed to life here, but I really must step up my effort to take pictures so that you guys can see aspects of Portuguese culture that are more interesting than a lack of school buses.

"Boa Noite."

Upbeat Update

2010-01-25T13:39:00.000-08:00

The weekend went well, and I am now well into my second week with my host family. On Sunday we at lunch with my host mom's sister's family. We then went as a group to the city of Ponte de Lima (literally: the Lima Bridge, the Lima is a river in Northern Portugal). It was a very pretty city, but apparently it is prone to flooding. They have commemorated the depth of various floods with little placks marking how high the water reached. When we got home I skyped with family and friends for the first time. The first picture is of the ancient bridge, built by the Romans I believe. The second is me and my host family, along with my host cousin (she is the shortest one second from the right). I am a little taller than the rest of my family.

My second week at school is going well. In P.E. on Monday we swam. My running fitness did not help me swim well, at all. I have taken a few tests and they have been difficult, due to the fact that they are in Portuguese and I arrived in the middle of the trimester. I have been getting along well with my classmates and have befriended one who also happens to be new at the school (he moved here two weeks ago from another part of Portugal). Early in the week, my P.E. teacher informed me that there was to be a race on the 28th of January and asked if I wanted to participate. I eagerly agreed to run. The race was very enjoyable, and I managed to win handily. Apparantly, I qualified to participate in a District race next week. If I do well there, I can go to Nationals. I am excited to see how this turns out.

Running in general is going very well. My host family is very tolerant of my desire to run. I have a very good route that takes me up to the Santa Luzia Church (follow the link to see what it looks like). From the Church I can see the whole town, as well as the beach, ocean, Lima River and, in the evening, the sunset.

My Portuguese is coming along very well. I can understand, speak and write more each day. I can really tell that my comprehension is much better than it was just two weeks ago. I can communicate with my host family pretty easily now.

It is hard to believe I have already been gone for two weeks. The five months are going to be over before I know it.

The Trip

2010-01-20T06:06:00.000-08:00

I have arrived in Portugal, met and began my life with my host family and started school since the last time I wrote on my Blog.

The camps in New York and Portugal were a little dull at times. The leaders/teachers tended to repeat a lot of information we already knew. On the other hand, I had the opportunity to meet some really nice people who are also in Portugal with AFS and going through experiences similar to mine.
My host family is very nice. They speak little english, try their best to help me learn Portuguese and live about 10 miles outside of Viana do Castelo. My host sisters are easy to get along with and enjoy playing UNO (that was one of the gifts I gave them). My host mom works downtown in Viana do Castelo and my host father works in another town nearby.
My favorite part so far is the food! It is good, especially the pastries. There are countless cafes all around town with insanely good, and cheap (less than $1) pastries. Even the cafeteria (cantina) food is good. For lunch (about $2) you get bread, soup, a main course, a side and dessert. Its not nasty pre-fabricated, recently thawed out food like in the U.S. cafeterias.
On to the topic of starting school. I was really nervous about starting school on the first day. I was worried it would be difficult to communicate, make friends and find my way around. I sat with a group of people at lunch that invited me to tag along to get ice cream with the extra time during lunch.

Quick Explanation of How School Works (at least at my school) in Portugal:
You have a set schedule for every day of the week, and you get out of school at varying times of the day. On thursday and friday (quinta feira and sexta feira in Portuguese) I get out a little after one. On the other hand, I have classes until 6:15 on Tuesday. I start class at 8:30 every day. I get more than an hour for lunch on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Monday I get about 45 minutes. On Thursday and Friday I do not have a set lunch because I get out a little after one. I attend all my classes with people that are in the same track and term as me. I am doing Science and Technology. Therefore, the same 20 or 30 people are in all of my classes.

Back to the narrative- Those people were very helpful. After lunch I started my science classes and made friends with most of my term mates. They are all very easy to get along with, invite me along with them during snack breaks and help me find my way around school. During the 10-15 minute breaks you can get coffee or pastries at the in-School "Bar" or go to one of the cafes near the school for a snack. I love the pastries here!
So far there has been no homework, and I am very happy about that. It is difficult to understand what is going on in most of my classes. Spanish and math are the exceptions because in Spanish class only Spanish is spoken and math is pretty universal (plus I am way ahead of them as the teacher said).
One teacher is going to tutor me in Portuguese, which is going to start in about 10 minutes. I am afraid that is all for now, but more details and pictures are coming soon.
Tchau!

Really Ready

2010-01-12T20:01:00.001-08:00

My last day in San Antonio has been fun, hectic, a little sad and exciting. I am looking forward to getting to New York and meeting all of the other exchange students. From New York I fly to London, and I finally arrive in Lisbon on Friday.

I have my host family, and I spoke with my host father briefly today (on the phone). They seem very nice, and athletic. Hopefully they will allow me to run while I am there, I think my chances are good.

I'm sad to leave San Antonio, but excited at the same time. I have a suspicion that I will feel the same when leaving Portugal. It seems so far away, but that day will be here sooner than I think.

Ongoing Obligations

2009-12-15T16:02:00.000-08:00

Ola! Como vai?

I have been making progress on learning Portuguese. While I am far from fluent, my reading ability and writing are not bad. I will work to improve my comprehension of dialogue and speaking over Christmas Break. With my departure just around the corner, the looming necessity of learning a new language once I arrive is becoming a mild concern.

At this point, I really wonder what my host family will be like, where I will end up (I am eagerly awaiting this information), what school I will go to (I am slightly less eagerly awaiting this information) and what life in Portugal will be like in general. The anticipation is building, but (as I have heard from AFS returnees) the moment when the plane leaves San Antonio is when the understanding of what I am getting myself into will really dawn upon me.

Taking care of all of my current school obligations is my biggest priority at the moment, but once that plane takes off, it will almost sever my ties with San Antonio. Other than email, maybe the occasional skype conversation and letters, I will be detached from life in SA, and ISA. At times this seems a little daunting, but I know I will adjust, and have an amazing experience in Portugal.

Premier Post

2009-08-15T08:19:00.000-07:00

My AFS experience actually started more than half a year ago, with my mom's proposal that I go abroad. The idea sounded agreeable, but I took a leisurely and uninvolved approach to my AFS experience. I originally intended to go to Argentina for a Summer Community Service Program, but as the time to depart drew near, and we had a final orientation in San Antonio, it became apparent to me that I was not taking full advantage of my opportunity to go abroad. After some quick but serious contemplation, and a great deal of help from Ms. Stacy Coleman at AFS as well as Marc Patsiner, I was able to make the transition from a month-long program to a semester-long program. I am incredibly grateful that I can go abroad for a semester because I feel it will be a much more rewarding experience than the Summer Program I intended to do.

The draw of an AFS Program, for me, is the ability to experience something completely different from what I am used to, and to profoundly understand a culture other than my own. Personally, I am drawn to new and diverse experiences (often culinary, but not always) and I hardly ever turn down the opportunity to try something new. The opportunities provided by and AFS experience seem to go very well with this aspect of my personality.

Its very difficult to describe what I hope to gain from the experience, I would really like to learn another language, but other than that, I have no specific goals or hopes at the moment. In a way, language constitutes one of the biggest obstacles I will face if I get to go to Portugal (my first choice of country), but it will also be one of the most rewarding and long lasting benefits of my experience.

As the time of departure draws nearer (January to Febuary depending on the country), I will no doubt be writing more and reflecting on the challenges, both personal and logistical, that I will face and my growing anticipation.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I feel that I should thank the Scholarship Committee at AFS for awarding me a Global Leaders Merit Scholarship! I appreciate it very much and I know I will do the most I can to give back to AFS and I will benefit a great deal from my experience abroad.