It seemed surreal for me at first when I was advised by the portuguese officer in Jakarta that my visa had been approved. I could not believe that I would finally be able to set foot on western European soil. Before this trip, I had a chance to visit Romania last year thanks to Act-Global CIL. My meeting with Sebastian Graca da Silva and Aini Graca da Silva last year has changed my life forever. It was the first time that I had travelled outside Indonesia. I believe that the training course I attended last year prepare me for my trip this time to Portugal. A few days before flying to Portugal, I was actually quite anxious about this trip because I would not be there for two weeks only but three months. Basically I was worried because I had never been there before so I did not know what I would epect from Portugal. But two days before leaving for Portugal, I met my friend from England and he convinced me that I would just be alright and that If I needed help, I could just call him. I bought some Indonesian instant food that could be used when I am in Portugal.
The day finally came. I did not sleep the day before because I was busy preparing for my stuff. My family saw me off at the Ngurah Rai airport. I met Dian there, another volunteer from Act Global. As I knew that this trip was going to be a long one, I had bought a lot of snacks for us. We first flew to Kuala Lumpur and from there our second flight took us to Guanzhou, China. We had a lay-over there for about 3 hours and then continued our journey to Paris, France. I was really looked forward to this flight to Paris because it was my dream to see Paris one day. When I arrived, Dian’s friend picked us up. As we had to wait there for 8 hours, we decided to have a flying visit to Paris. We took a subway to the city centre and the first destination was La cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris. I was standing in disbelief that I finally saw this spectaculer building. We went inside for a few minutes and then went on to La Louvre and from there we made our way to le Jardin des Tuileries. From this public garden, I was finally be able to see the world-famous La Tour Eiffel. Unfortuntely this excitement had to come to an end because we needed to catch our next flight to Lisbon. I promised myself that I would definitely come back to Paris during my trip in Europe.
It only took around 2 hours to reach Lisbon. As soon as we got our baggage, we left the airport and took a metro to the bus station. It had been for more than 24 hours but we still had not arrived in our destination. We finally arrived at the bus station and had to wait for one hour before the bus left for Braga. I was exhausted that I fell asleep during this three-hour-journey to our last destination. When we arrived, we were greeted by a man by the name of Ricardo Caldas, one of the staff of SYnergia.
The next day, we had breakfast and then went for a walk around the city centre before Ricardo took us to a restaurant near SYnergia office. After having lunch, we headed to the office of SYnergia across the road. From SYnergia office, we went to one of volunteer apartments which was very close from the office. We were welcomed by volunteers from Romania, Spain, Turkey, Austria and Hungary.
Two days after staying at the hostel, we finally moved to our permanent apartment where we could know more about other volunteers. We spent the rest of the week roaming around the town and some interesting points in Braga. Braga itself is a small yet an important town in terms of religion. Braga is to this day one of the country’s main religious centres, having the Holy Week Celebrations and the Sao Joao Festivals as the highlights in its liturgical and tourist calender. Braga Cathedral is actually the oldest in the country. You will find countless churches and Baroque palaces that are scattered all across Braga. If you are in Braga, it is worth visiting Bom Jesus do Monte. It is a sanctuary outside the city of Braga. To reach it, you can go by foot, car, bus or even. When you reach the top, you will be able to see the spectacular view of the town of Braga.
Jerry Conney Otey – EVS Participant from Indonesia