A Rua Rosa

by Nycole Pereira (Brazil)

I didn't expect to find Portugal

The best surprises happen when you accept the signs of destiny and allow yourself to be taken by it. There are certain certainties that are intricate in my being, since always, one of them is the endless instigation for adventure and knowledge. It is as if, without the permanent desire to travel and have new experiences, I would not be me, I would be someone else. So deep, I don't remember when it started, I just know it's like that. It was not very difficult to find a cheap ticket to Portugal, it was just unexpected, some events during the week discredited me that anything interesting could happen in my life in the coming months. Despite this, despite me, it happened, and it was such a happy surprise that it came in the name of a promotion. That day I could only cry with happiness, without believing in the promises of the future for me. An almost free ticket to visit two countries I always dreamed of. The next few days were a mix of ‘‘ my God I’m going to Europe ’’ with ‘’ my God with what money am I going to Europe? ’’. But everything went well and flying over the beautiful city of Lisbon, I saw the Tagus River, and I went into a deep sentimentality and reflection looking at that landscape. I never expected, however, that one of the most beautiful connections of my life, would happen on a pink street, on the first day of travel. After a long period of walking around the city, we stopped at a closed cafe, in what appeared to be a very bohemian street, to admire that beautiful floor, however, tired and thinking about sleeping through the night. Some conversations come and go, combining the night's sleep, when I come across an ad, it was another sign, and it told me exactly with these words and in free translation: you need to be here tonight! It was the announcement of a random party, in which I had no interest, but I accepted the message, I needed to go back to that street, at night. And I came back. The night went by, without many relevant events, a disappointment. What did I do wrong? I had accepted the signal, but nothing happened. At that moment, we decided to leave. Leaving the bar, as the confused ones come out of a maze after a few drinks, we run into a group of Russians, overly excited, who have been contagious. Particularly, I didn't see much of a future in this relationship, but that was when someone caught my attention by greeting me. He was behind me with a delicate smile and looking at me with some caution. We presented. And he started talking about Siberia, showed me videos, wanted to see mine too and so time went on, without my realizing it. As you already know, I am very bad at perceiving the signs of life, and I only understood that that boy was interested in me, when in a beautiful gesture, I won a rose and an even more beautiful compliment. From that moment on, I looked at my travel friend and said: I will allow myself to live intensely what I have to live here. That is my mission. The sleep passed, the energy returned full and we spent the night in a mixture of romance and jokes not very well told in English. He didn't talk much, showed more, took care of me and challenged me to live without fear, even in another country. And we lived, we went to Spain, we danced and made friends there, and oddly enough, it had only been 3 days since my arrival. The awareness that our time was limited, made us have even more breath to remember at all times. And that time came, even without accepting it, we needed to separate. In those moments, I feel like I can't say much, my words run away and what remains in me is the face of the plea: we will not end here. The farewell took place in a very beautiful corner, with some leaves on the floor, tight hugs and a beating heart. It was no longer hot, now it was unbearably cold, to see him go. What makes me more reflective in those moments, is that I received another sign of destiny to write this today, and this time I decided to accept it.