Basque experience in Austria - #40HT

After our city tour in Graz, we're going to meet our Couchsurfer host. That's what happened. I told you guys, I lost the first battle with my cousin's friend when we decided to travel by bus from Linz to Gras, but this time I had my first victory traveling with her. Gladly we were accepted for Basque girl that opened her doors for us.

My interactions with Cris were always with conversations that would define how we would travel and experience it. Once she was travel beginner, I needed to talk a lot before convince her that my ideas were good ones. Once you're traveling with a partner the decisions need to be made with agreements, otherwise this trip won't be good for one of the parts.

I'm really used to travel by myself, but I really appreciate to travel with someone else as well. I'm really easy going and if my partner is a little bit too, I'm really sure that it's going to be a good trip. It's all about connections and the felling how your partner is going. Of course if there is a good match with both of them, the trip is going to be even better!

This week I was talking with a guest from Germany and she was sharing me an experience of a friend of her that traveled in South America with a horse. The main point that touched me is how this guy need to know his horse well to provide a great trip for him and for the horse as well. It's not a way how to travel, a transport, the horse was definitely his partner and they need to know each other really well for providing the best trip for both them.

I didn't know Cris that much, but once we're already traveling for the past 4 days, I could feel her pace and I was always trying to see how see was feeling. Trying to make the trip as much as enjoyable for me, keeping my plan and my strategy of travel, but at the same time trying to make she enjoys it as much as me.

In fact our first and unique Couchsurfing experience with the two of us was pleasured. When we arrived in the Basque’s girl place, we could speak the three of us in Spanish, making the three of us interact and understand each other well.

Our Spanish was more like a Portuñol, a Portuguese mixed with Spanish words, trying to put an accent that maybe could look like Spanish. I wasn't fluent that time, for us it was our best shot, but gladly it worked.

We didn't go out, just had some food, beer and talks. In the moment that Cris was tired, my host and I just used English to communicate, this way we could have smart talks with other.

It's crazy the way that I can express myself depending of the language that I'm speaking. In English for instance I can have a level of conversation that even in my native language I can't do it sometimes. I'm not saying that my English is better than my Portuguese, but some subjects like society, politics and psychology currently I just use to talk with English speakers.

I'm in Europe since one year and half and in these past months most of my interaction were with foreign and not a lot of Brazilians.

Anyway I was really thankful for my chill night with Laura, I could learn and understand a lot about the Basque culture and saying to her how amazing was my experience in Ordizia, city that my best friend lives now. It's village close from San Sebastian, founded 800 years ago with just 10 thousand people living there that I've been twice in the "Reyes Magos" (Three Wise Men day). These two experiences were pretty good moments that I had in Europe. It's the day that everyone is outside and this village with 10 thousand people, just become crawled and hundreds people are partying in the street and bars.

The Basque history and culture is so much interesting and I definitely define not Spanish. If you have the chance to travel, go to Basque Country and maybe visit Andalusia afterwards, these contrasts of experiences is really interesting. Both of them have my heart, from Granada to Ordizia. These two cities are my favorites ones in Spain until now. Not because of the city, but the way how I experienced both of them.

At the ending I just went to sleep with Cris, in my host's compact and really cool apartment, we separated two pieces of couch in the living room to have a good night of sleep.

Eskerrik asko Laura!