Apologies for the frankly terrible word play in the title, but todays post is about Braga, a town in Portugal i visited on saturday while pretending to be a translation student at Vigo University, and therefore entitled to join them on free trips out.
Its a fantastic town, I would reccomend a visit if you’re ever in Portugal, wait until its a bit sunnier though, as im sure you can see from the photo above the clouds came rolling over when I went, but it was still a really nice trip.
The whole experience made me think of one of the other teachers I know, who is out in France, near Paris yet hasn’t been out to any other places other than Paris since he arrived in September. I feel he is missing out somewhat on a great opportunity to explore a country and even a continent he may otherwise not be able to explore with such ease, as he is a US citizen and as such he cannot just pop over to the EU, whereas those from the UK can jump on a train, or bus in the case of Braga this past weekend.
I don’t understand my friends logic in not wanting to explore the region or the country as a whole. Throughout my life i’ve lived in many different countries and been very lucky in that i’ve had the opportunities to travel and explore many other countries in my short years, and while sometimes I felt that it was a coñazo, I wouldn’t change that for the world.
Don’t get me wrong, I often think that maybe a ‘normal’ life where I live in the same house for years and years and have a deep root network around would be nice, and in honesty sometimes I yearn to just settle down and live in one place and not travel anymore… However its brought home to me just how lucky i’ve been, and how lucky we are at the moment to be in such great countries with the world on the doorstep.
I would advise my friend in Paris to get off his ass and explore a bit, to grab the opportunity by the short and curlys while he has the chance, as once it’s gone, it may never return.
For those of you who are presented with the chance to travel and to explore, I can think of no great reason not to. I realise this is practically the polar opposite of how I felt and expressed myself at the start of this academic year, and it is with no small amount of humble pie that I must confess to having been dead wrong back then. While I do still long for a simple life in a small town or village somewhere and to lead what is known to me at least as a ‘normal’ life, there will be time for that. For now, I’ll be off. See you in Salamanca this weekend!
Oh, and one more time, mate! Get off your ass!
The Rain in Spain... 