I have decided to make a blog as
myself have been reading blogs about other people who have lived or are living
abroad and I have found it really helpful. I am hoping by starting a blog here it
could also help me reflect my time here as well as maybe helping other people
who are considering living abroad themselves. When people hear about living
abroad, they often here only the positive aspects such as the amazing views,
beautiful wildlife and a once in a lifetime opportunity, but my aim is to
discuss the full scope of what its like to move to another country including
both the ups and downs.
I like to consider myself a very
organised person and I spent months preparing for this placement. Despite this
no amount of preparation and organisation can prepare you for the emotional aspects
of moving abroad. For starters it took over 24 hours almost to arrive at my
destination. When I got here due to an unfortunately due to bad traffic caused
by a car accident I was left at the airport for an hour in a foreign country,
this was nobody’s fault, but I had almost gone 24 hour with no sleep, I was
tired, scared, really thirsty as the my body had yet to adjust to the humidity
here and also very emotional. This immediately put me in a negative frame of
mind and all I wanted was to go home.
The first 48 hours here was the hardest,
with still suffering from jet lag I also quickly released that no matter how
many books or programmes I used to learn the language over the summer, it would
never be enough to actually have full conversations with people here. Feeling
very down I felt I had no one to speak to and I felt more lonely and homesick
than I have ever felt before. On a positive
note upon my arrival I quickly learnt that internet here would be a lot more accessible
than I thought. This was extremely good especially on my first few days here
where I was so close to considering a flight back home.
Internet is something which can
easily be taken for granted and I was so lucky to have access to it. I was able
to keep in contact with my family and friends. The support from family and
friends I have received whilst being here has been overwhelming and amazing. I
never expected this many people to be so concerned about my welfare and be so
supportive, even though I may have been difficult at times. People told me when
moving abroad it will change me as a person and even though I have only been
here for 3 weeks I already feel that change. From this experience I already appreciate
my family and friends so much more and I no that even though were apart now its
going definitely going to bring us closer together.
Every simple task you can do at
home is a big hurdle to overcome here for example going to the shops to get the
food shopping is a scary experience. I was lucky that on my first week here I
made friends with another researcher here, I was so lucky to have met her as
she helped my settle in so much easier, she showed me the shops and showed me a
couple of the nature trails. Seeing the nature trails was just what I needed, I
got to see the fantastic biodiversity that Brazil has to offer and reminded me
the reason I wanted to come in the first place. Since being here the highlights
have been seeing the amazing wildlife. When I was at home I talked about how
lucky id be if I saw a sloth the whole time I was here and I managed to see one
on the first week, I have also seen baby rescued armadillos and opossums and I
helped re-released a porcupine alongside seeing wild primates. Although the researcher I met is no longer here
I am continuing trying to make friends with other people here.
I also quickly learnt that the
culture here is completely different to at home and I trying to adjust. I
language barrier is the main problem but I am taking lessons here to try and
overcome them and my teacher is very supportive. Also noticeably people here
are a lot more polite than at home, strangers talk to each other like they have
known each other for years. The food here tastes a lot different and people
cook a lot of scratch. This has been a major hurdle for me whilst being here,
being vegetarian there’s less option for me here and I am a terrible cook but I’m
trying to learn and be more inventive.
At the moment in time there’s no work for me
here which has made things harder as I have a lot of spare time, I am too
worried to stray too far, so I’m spending a lot of time on the internet and
trying to learn the language as its one of the only things to do at the moment.
Thankfully the other student from my university arrives on Wednesday which is
good as I can start to discuss research projects and begin having more
structure to my weeks which hopefully will make things easier. Overall even though its really hard being away
from home, days here are improving and I know that in the end its going to
bring huge benefits for my career. I have overcome every challenge in my life
so far and this is another huge challenge I am going to complete.
