Transition between quitting my Mom at the little Dole
airport and arriving at Porto without knowing a single word of portuguese is
surprisingly not that disorienting. I was waiting for travelling for such a
long time that in this new country, while freshly arrived, i m feeling strangely
in my element but in the same time amazed by everything.
Portugal is actually a surprising mix in between the
occidental european culture and christian hispanic traditions. That makes the
living exotic but not completely unfriendly to someone who comes from France
like me. Here are some exemples of how these diferent cultures succeed in
mixing with each other ;
Did you actually know that in Portugal most of the TV
programs and movies are displayed in the original version and then subtitled in
portuguese ? It may be the reason why quite much of the young portuguese
people i’ve met speak a better english than mine :,D !
They are also quite a lot of foreign supermarkets for the
foreigners to find their favourite brands (ben&Jerry icecream !).
Indeed the country reunites in the same time a phenomene of immigration of europeans
and emigration of portuguese people who come-back to their country time to
time.
About french and portuguese bus/train system they are
very much the same, I’m afraid. French people won t be disorienting onto this
point either. Let’s say the local policy is ; high-speed transport… for
passengers who aren’t in a hurry. A standard bus can arrive 5 minutes earlier so
the ponctual passenger will miss his bus, or ten minutes later so the passenger
who came earlier will have to wait as much as if he had missed the bus !
Let’s enjoy all these new, exotic, funny things !!
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