With the heart on the other side of the world.

If you could choose anywhere to live, where would it be? Most people I know would probably say “Somewhere else than here. Maybe the States or Germany. Australia is a nice place too!”. Well, if I could choose, I have to be honest: I would never choose anywhere but my city, my country, my home. 

                         

 I am from a medium sized city in Brazil called Londrina. It has around 500 000 inhabitants and the closest city you would probably know is São Paulo, that is something like 5 hours by car. We have loads of bad things there: we have a high crime rate, there is lots of traffic sometimes and you can find some streets in really bad conditions. But the nice things really outweigh the bad ones. It is an extremely beautiful city, one of the most beautiful I have ever been to, and you know that when you live in a place since your birth, you don’t really notice this kind of things. We have nice and good-looking people, an awesome lake and, ok, we have traffic, but I think that for a city with over 500 000 people (way more if you count the ones that come from other cities everyday to work) the traffic is not that bad. It is only problematic in rush hours.



The Cathedral.





The "Traveller Monument"



The "Calcadão" - Market place-



Bus Station designed by Oscar Niemayer.



The Apucaraninha Falls



It is a university city, with 14 universities, so there are lots of young people. This culminates in lots and lots of pubs, discos and parties. If you want a place to party, go to Londrina. We have museums and theatres. Actually, Londrina hosts FILO (Festival Internacional de Londrina – free translation: Londrina’s International Festival) that brings theatre groups from all over the world. Until some years ago we also hosted the biggest costume party in the world, Metamorfose. 

 


Yes, that's me in my favourite of the many clubs we have.

 



It is like a open-air theater.





This is the Theater before it was destroyed by a fire. Now the prefecture is building a new one.

I absolutely adore my city. I would never leave if I had the option, but unfortunately, the course I want to do in University only opens in my city two years after I finish High School so I am probably moving to my state’s capital in two years. But I want to be back to my city as soon as possible. 



The Historical Museum. It was a train station before.





We have a huge University, one of the most important in the region.



I know that when I leave Finland from my exchange I’ll be happy to come back to a place where I feel so well, but I’ll be leaving a part of me here. I already love it here, and after one year, Kaarina will be my home just like Londrina. I’ll be leaving part of my heart on the other side of the world.