I beleive that Ilha Bela might just be Sao Paulo state’s best-kept secret – and it certainly has some hidden gems of its own. It is quiet, it is clean, it is safe and it is beautiful – yet there is almost no-one around. Why?
If you have the opportunity to go to the country of the language you want to speak, whether you are there for a few weeks or a few years, you can definitely improve your language abilities vastly, particularly your speaking abilities. After all, you are in a place full of people who possess the skill you want!
In my mind I keep replaying the day that I was on top of the float seeing everyone’s smiling, laughing faces and I wonder what these same people must be going through now.
In day-to-day life here, around me all I hear is people complaining. About traffic, about prices, wages, the government. And I guess that it is quite normal for people to naturally think on the dark side, especially when they don’t know anything else. But in my opinion, it shouldn’t be like this.
Lima is one of my favourite cities I have been to and you would be missing out if you didn’t go. Here’s why.
On the other hand, if you go to a place and attempt to understand people, attempt to connect deeply with others – feel your tongue moving in a different way as it tackles a new language, feel your face flush as you realise your starting to understand what people are saying, get what you want by negotiating with people, and make memories in a different language… your experience is going to be that much more rewarding.
South American cities are uniquely different from one another for their distinct vibes, architecture and culture. I see lots of blogs with travel guides for various places, but they don’t even begin to describe what it feels like to walk around in that place, what it smells like, how it is to be a foreigner in that place. If you are interested in that, look no further!
In my opinion, people often treat the topic of speaking a language with far too much casualty. For me, while I may have been able to understand and communicate with everyday topics, if I couldn’t discuss a zombie apocalypse or explain how I was feeling and why in Spanish, I couldn’t speak Spanish.