Hey,

another month’s over, the year 2016 is currently seeing its end on the horizon and as always, many things, on which I want to give you a — this time sadly quite short — summary, happened…

To start off: I felt very welcome coming into my new school/class and feel lucky to already have made many amazing friends over there. Plus, other than, but still related to that, my Portuguese learning process is going super-well, foremost, since I got extra Portuguese-for-foreigner-lessons in school now. Also, my school, namely the “Escola Secundária Homem Cristo”, provides free lessons in archery and badminton, which I gladly took.

Outside of school, I still had going on a silly bet, which came to existence in the last event of my chapter’s AFS. In its first part, I took the two involved girls with me to Muay Thai and… well… in exchange I went to try out Ballet, which must’ve been god damn hilarious for the people surrounding me. Some time later, with these girls once again, I went on a ride on a “Moliceiro”, a traditional boat from Aveiro, on the “Ria de Aveiro” — experiencing authentic Portuguese flair in its purest form.

Another memorable experience was our so baptised “international dinner”, which was about bringing together three fairly different cuisines. It found place in a teacher’s home, was super-enjoyable and also — after my hostfamily’s big Christmas dinner — my second chance to cook typical Austrian cuisine food.

Lastly and very recently, I went to Santa Maria da Feira anew — this time for visiting a wonderful year market plus seeing a somehow gorgeous, although a little bit exhausting, Cinderella musical. It all found place in and around a historic castle, which kind of totally edged it out.

To round this little post off, I just wanted to wish you a wonderful new year’s celebration! Make 2017 your year!

Julian