While I am
living and styding in Faro, I have realized that Portugal is sooo different
from my country – Latvia!
While Iam
studying in University of Algarve, I noticed, that mostly everything happens of its own accord. It’s difficult
to see the structure and organization of work. Often everything happens chaotically.
There are moments when classes are canceled or time and place changed, but we
didn’t get any information about these changes and it is hard to understand
where and when we have to be. For
example, teacher made an appointment, but after that she did not appear. I
think it’s just obvious if students are informed of any changes and „updates”,
because for me (and I think for others
as well) schedule is important and I like to planning my time. And I think it’s
all about respect and we have to show it to each other, because both sides have
plans and we can't ignore them.
In Latvia „be on time” means be on time, but if we
have some changes or problems, we always inform and apologize about situation.
And we consider that if you are at work, then you have to be maximize productive
and only after work you can do other things, which are not related with work, but
during the work – NOOO! If you are at work, then you have to work! Also we have many companies, which has
blocked social networking sites such as www.facebook.com.
and employees can focus only on the job. But I
have impression that people in Portugal living with the motto „take it easy”
and I have feeling that they don’t know word
stress (but to be honest, sometimes I envy them :)
For me it’s
hard to accept these differences, at least right now... but I heard from my
latvian friends (who are living here), that after a while I will be the same as
they are, but it’s hard to imagine,
because stress is a part of my life (sad, but true :D)
But in
general I like to live here – every day is like a new journey with hot sun, nice
weather and friendly people! J
And don`t you think it`s rather inspiring than something to criticize? I´m used to live by the same way of living as you "work first, have fun later" and I figured out that I`m not happy living like that. I work too much and I`m way too stressed sometimes. :/ But Portuguese people? They all look so happy and unstressed. :-O So I want to learn Portuguese way of living and definitely adopt some habits. But it`s very interesting to hear that you don`t feel the same! :-O
ReplyDeleteIn Brazil it's not different, actually is even worst. But I think that the people that live in Brazil or Portugal are very used to this "problem" and because of this they dont think that this is a real problem. Except for the jobs meeting or someting more formal.
ReplyDeleteI think this is something that depends from person to person. I have lived here my whole life and, even though I think I am a relaxed person, I like to have everything done on time, I like to be on time, deliver assignments on time and so on. I'd much rather be early than late, but still I am never stressed. I feel like a lot of people here in Portugal like to stay calm and think "don't worry, we don't have to finish the assignment today, it's just for in a few weeks", but then they wait untill the last second and I really don't like that idea. This is, of course, from a student point of view, but I think there can be a happy medium between being stressy and being relaxed, at school or work .
ReplyDeleteNa Espanha e muito parecido com a cultura portuguesas, as veces incluso e muito mais relajada e impuntual pelo que ja e algo normal para min. Mas tambem ajo que e um ritmo de vida mais saudabel porque a gente disfruta da vida e nao vive so para trabalhar
ReplyDeleteAfter a while I´m starting to used to it. It took me 3 months to understand that coming in time is worthless. Mostly every lesson starts 30 minutes later than it suppose to. I hope it won´t confuse my time-management in Latvia. :D
ReplyDeleteIn the beggining I thought that it is something super strange - to be late, be so relaxed, live without stress, but right now, after 4 months, I can say, that I really like it! And a loooot! It is so strange, because in the first month, it was so annoying, that everytime I was on time, but others cannot be, I don't like to wait for things and for me it was something unusual. But right now I realized that life is so much easier and I was paying attention to things, which were not so important and I was stressful without any reason. Now Iam scared to go back to Latvia, because right now I am used to keep calm and chill, but in Latvia it is a bit different, so I don't know how it will be to live my previous life, because I noticed that I really prefer life without stress and just enjoy my life :)) So thank you Portugal, that you opened my mind and teached how to enjoy life without stress! :)
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