About living and stuff

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It has been a while since last time I wrote something about this crazy year, and for various reasons, depending on which period we are talking about. At first, when I was on vacation, I simply would not know what to write about and even if I knew I would not be able to because that is not how my inspiration works. I need agitation to get ideas, and I need lack of time to get will enough to write. What leads me to the second reason: as soon as the vacation was over, everything started happening so fast that I couldn't at all stop and write. But now things are relatively calm and that's why I am here again.

Last week took place here the ESN Introduction Week, where the new international students that arrived for the next academic year are introduced to this little piece of heaven called Groningen. Who organizes it is the ESN (Erasmus Student Network) of Groningen, but as there are a lot of new students - this year we had 1200 (!), and it is said that this makes Groningen the city with the biggest introduction week of all Europe (!!) - they need help. And I, whose superpower is admittedly being totally INCAPABLE of not being around the things happening, enlisted myself to help.

The activities are planned basicly to know the city, play some sports and learn new things, but the main focus is to get to know people. The students are split in groups, and each group has two guides. In my case, I and Alex were the guides of the group #62. The week personifies (to "personify" it would have to be a person, what I should have used in this case?) the spirit of the exchange: to live fully. But, of course, that could mean anything, and that is why I am going to elongate myself on this subject.

For many times I tried to start a text trying to explain what has changed in my perception of what is "the best", of what is "preferable" when we are talking about living. Never denying a party or staying home to watch a movie? Even now, in this paragraph, which when arrives to your mind will be in the final version, I can say now that is being really difficult to write too.

It is hard to write because is not a simple matter. And whoever says it is, is lying. It is not simply a question of "being prepared for the future" vs. "enjoying the moment", how it was in grandma's time. It is not "responsible" vs. "irresponsible" either, or maybe it is a little...

It is more like allowing yourself to be spontaneous, of choosing whatever path will unleash more emotion and memory, of doing whatever you most want. It is a complete waste living a day that will not be remembered, and we still do that most of the time anyway. So maybe the right question is "what makes a day memorable?"

When I first came here, I thougt I would travel the entire Europe, that I would know all of the touristic points of the world, eat all traditional dishes and take selfies in front of every major statue. But the reality is different, the money is not endless, and one thing that I noticed in a trip I did to Belgium with some friends is that the important part of the phrase "a trip I did to Belgium with some friends" is not "a trip I did to Belgium" and actually is "with some friends". Every important moment I can remember I just can do so because of who were with me, and not because of where I was. And the traditional food anywhere in Europe, so far as I know, is kebab.

That doesn't mean that being with friends in Belgium is not better than being with friends at home, it depends... and oh, how this is so deliciously complicated.

I did not start this text intending to give any conclusions to this matter, and probably will take a huge amount of time until I figure something out. And after that I will still change my mind some times.

The fact is, whatever is the idea, last week personifies it (yes, it is strange to use personify here, but we've been through that already). I knew a lot of people, people nice a lot, got surprised by how the variety in a group contributes largely to the cohesion and success of the group (and someday I will write about that... I have my own matheological on that, and I strongly think they should create something like a sociodynamics, just like eletrodynamics, hidrodynamics, etc., and if someone know something about that, please let me know), took some different workshops, played some sports I didn't even knew what were about before. The week were for the new students, but I as a guide enjoyed it very much.

What I can say of positive is that discovering what I am trying to discover is difficult, but everything points out that once discovered, is easy to live by that. And is not necessary money, it doesn't have to be in some very different place. The world is full of interesting things, and lots of them are near us, wherever we are.

Unles you are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. In this particular case, there is nothing interesting in a radius of many kilometers.

It is possible to find all kinds of crazy people in the world. In the picture, Group #62.

Our badass team of Lacrosse. We also played Floorball and Squash, none of which I knew a heck about; however, after five minutes into playing Squash, we were all talking business and discussig the Stock Market. Next step is to make business while playing golf.

Tot ziens!