Treasurable Days

I have two best friends. Two people of whom I love very, very much and very, very dearly. We've known each other for seven years and we're best friends. It means a lot to me.

Yesterday we went shopping in downtown Lisbon and it was one of the best days I've had in my life. I'm constantly repeating this thought to myself, and I feel so good about it. It was the first time us BFFs went shopping together (and with a friend of mine who was a delightful company as well) downtown, and it was something I've always wanted to do. I secretly imagined all my Fridays being like this. Going to lunch, going shopping and taking hours looking at CDs and books and what have you, going for fresh smoothies at Ben&Jerry's and having the obligatory photo session.

We saw a building and we said we'd live there together, right where those flowery verandas are and I pictured it immediately: the three of us would go off to our own University and at the end of the day we'd meet up in our cosy home, share our frustrations and our happiness, watch chick flicks and put up fashion shows in our own living room. And occasionally we'd get inside our old Mini Cooper and go wherever. That would be a wonderful life.

Neither of us are in the same school anymore, and it only just dawned me how much I need these girls in my life. Physically. Right there. I don't want to have to wait weeks to show them something I saw in a magazine or to simply hug them and tell them I love them. The only thing we can do is embrace what we have now and continue going strong with a beautiful friendship.

Vanessa and Beatriz, I love you.

- Ana

BEDA #14 - International Friends

Lets roll, dear Bloggers, it's the 14th BEDA blog. Two weeks, already? Wow.

I want to talk about the friendships we all - maybe not everyone - have very far away from our hometown. It can be in a different state, but I prefer to talk about people who live outside our own country.

A friend of mine from Belgium who was an exchange student here in Portugal came here and surprised me. She's leaving tomorrow though, which sucks. But I spent all day with her and it made me smile so much. I was able to post a photo on Dailybooth with her and I could tweet that I was with her. I felt so good to have a foreign friend.

I think this happens because I want to get to know people from different countries and know their culture and actually missseeing someone and having a very good time when I finally get to see them. I think it makes the friendship last in a certain way. If it's meeting a Nerdfighter, meeting someone while they're on holiday in your hometown or just someone you have known for a long time on the Internet - always guaranteeing that they're real and safe, of course - it'll make you smile and you get to actually see them and have fun with them. If you're lucky, you can go visit them in their hometown, even if it's just for a weekend.

This is why I absolutely think that this BEDA thing MJ started, and now the BEDA buddy, is exactly what people need: meet people from different countries, different cultures and make friends! I've swaped comments with some people here on the Ning which I think are absolutely amazing and I'd love to talk to them after BEDA is over. That's what needs to happen, BEDers! Make friends with BEDA. AND NOT ONLY IN APRIL. Let's call it... MFOBEDABTTTAAAW = Make Friends On Blog Every Day in April But Talk To Them After April As Well. That's probably too long. Anyway, you get the picture.

The basic message I want to get out there: Make friends. Trade emails. Meet them after awhile. And finally, put a smile on your face when they're with you on a Dailybooth photo :)

See you tomorrow, bloggers xx

- Lo

BEDA #4 - Three parts

Hello dear readers, welcome to my 3rd blog post of BEDA.

Today, this blog post comes in three parts.

Part 1 - InterRail

So, every Saturday I have a Microsoft software class (not that I actually need it, but in the end I get a Microsoft certified certificate which can give me lots of opportunities out here). We didn't do much today, so instead of leaving earlier I stayed to socialize with my teacher. I told her about my trip to Paris and she told me about things she did and places she went when she was a student in college. Here in Europe there are programmes provided by the European Union (EU) for students until they're 25 or 26 years old. You have different types of programmes, two of which I would love to do: the Erasmus and the InterRail. The Erasmus programme lets you spend 6 months to a year studying in any country that's part of the EU, and the InterRail is a programme which you can travel through every European country or just one. My teacher told me she'd done these two, and that she absolutely recommended it. She said it makes you grow up as a person, considering you're out there alone in the Erasmus programme or living like a dog/tourist in the InterRail program.
I've heard about these programs a while back and dream about actually participating with a bunch of my friends. I think it gives you a break from a monotonous life, always stuck in the same place, the same school, the same house, seeing the same people, taking the same public transportation and seeing the exact same view every single day. I think that's what bummed me out when I left Paris and arrived at Lisbon airport. I actually cried about it. I cried because I was leaving that amazing city, but also because in less than two weeks the monotonous life is going to rush back. The tests, the exams, everything I try to escape from in my daily life by writing or simply pretending I'm in some other place. I fear monotony, I fear being stuck here for the rest of my life. It's not the kind of teenage fear of being stuck in some place because they feel rejected, no. I have a loving family, loving friends, and I'm lucky to live in the city, close to the beach - the view is not that awful. Even so, people need to travel often, they need to see different things, breathe different airs, talk to different people.

Or maybe that's just me.

Part 2 - Kristina Horner's second BEDA blog post

Yesterday I read Kristina Horner's (Monday from the FiveAwesomeGirls) second BEDA blog post. She talked about her Internet Fans, and how the "Nerdfighter/Harry Potter/FiveAwesome community are some of the most amazing, wonderful people ever". I agree with this. I haven't met that many Nerdfighters, but I know that we're capable of lots of things, especially helping each other out or just participating in challenges.

Project 4 Awesome? Check. Kristina winning the Ford Fiesta Movement? Check. BEDA challenge? Check. Decreasing World Suck? Check - we try. Leaving a comment to make someone feel better because they're having a rough week? Check. Etc., etc.

I feel extremely irritated when someone laughs at me when I explain what a Nerdfighter is, how they laugh at me when I talk about the BlogTV shows with John and Hank Green and many others. Do you really think it's them? Puh-lease! Come on, people! Why not believe in a community that is made of awesome? Why do you automatically think: Internet friends = Bad. Meeting internet friends = Bad. Why do you always think of rapes and hacking bank accounts? There's more to the internet than that. There can be actual friendships, there can be actual relationships, there can be actual communities.

Give that a thought you Internet-community-hating... jerks.

- This leads me to Part 3 -

Part 3 - Maureen Johnson's third BEDA blog post

I have to say that I burst out laughing at Maureen Johnson's third BEDA blog post. Her "18 things to do whenever" are things that I most definitely want to do. I want to talk about these things:

#1 Blog every day in April? Check.
#3 Get a hat? I actually bought a blue beret last month, does that count?
#4 Read a book? Every day I read a little bit. Book reading is one of the most beautiful things to do <3>#5 Make a friend? Well, I try. This is why I think Maureen Johnson is awesome. She doesn't only publish books and start a BEDA challenge - she encourages us to make friends and to get something more out of this challenge than just writing :)
#6 Say something nice to someone? *read #5*
#8 Speak for an entire day in a fake accent? DONE. And very amusing xD
#9 Cultivate a completely imaginary relationship with someone famous? Trust me. DONE.
#11 Go into a store and pretend not to know how something works? That would be great if I wouldn't burst out laughing the minute I'd start talking.
#12 Spend one week completely offline? Done. It wasn't that much fun, it was awful, really. Internet addiction ftl.
#13 Plan to go somewhere? Done :) But want to do it again and again and again.
#14 Hit the shiny red button? This terrifies me.
#15 Write to you? Ok :)


Well, I think I did a good job. Maybe too much typing. But that's good! Right?

See you all tomorrow.

P.S. Fine, I admit it.