The World in Porto Alegre

This post is for our local readers.

You know, to get to know our precious world, you don’t need to spend a lot of money, quit your job and go live on the other side of the world (like I did). Instead, you can go to places where people like us hang out! We are always glad to make local friends, because this is a way to adapt and dig deeper into the culture.

I am going to share some ideas with you on how to do that:

Facebook group “Estrangeiros / Foreigners in Porto Alegre”
A meeting point for foreigners in Porto Alegre, as it says. I have noticed it’s a more mature group of people. Many of them/us have a career and a family here. The meeting point is an Irish pub called “Shamrock”, mostly on Wednesdays, as I understand. I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting up with this group, but I will go and see what’s up in the near future. I am sure of it.

CouchSurfing.com
Get to know a new country by lending a person your couch! This way, the person gets to see real local life, meet your friends and at the same time tell you everything they have learned about the world. I once did a trip of 3 weeks just using CouchSurfing and I absolutely loved it! There are never too many friends in too many places in the world.

AIESEC
The slogan says it’s an “international platform to discover and develop your leadership potential”. It’s the world’s largest student driven organization with units that cover the whole planet. Besides that part, it has a unique global culture that spreads through its members who are constantly being exchanged between the countries. At any given moment, there are several young global citizens living in Porto Alegre, eager to share their culture and experiences in the wide world. This is the place where my international life got started somewhere back in the beginning of 2007. If you are a student or a college graduate under 30 years old, check Aiesec site.

Getting to know foreigners is not just something fun. It’s a process of self-development where you get the chance of understanding yourself better than ever before. You will learn who you are as a person, as a citizen of your community and as a citizen of the world.

I still remember vividly my first long conversations about cultures and realizing how small is this planet, how interconnected we all are and how influenced by the same problems and questions in life. It makes one’s heart immeasurably wider and the life incredibly richer!