Today, December 8th, marks the 3-month anniversary of my arrival in America: three intense months of work, some travel and some fun, some art and filmmaking (not as much or not as good as I would want any of it to be, if we’re being honest) but mostly, three months of ongoing adaptation to a place where I don’t feel quite at home yet, but I’m hoping it will get there. People say 3 months is not enough time – and they are most likely right. My current motto: enjoy everything as much as possible, keep an open mind for things coming your way and just work as hard as you can.

There’s very little to say so far (or rather, there is a lot, but I’ll spare you the boring details that most likely would better pertain to deep, profound 3am conversations). Life here is far from perfect – just like it would be anywhere in the world -, but good people certainly help make it better. And for that reason, this is mostly a post to say how grateful I am for having met some very lovely people these past 3 months, who have certainly made the grad school experience much more rewarding and worthwhile. I am growing and learning and fighting every day, and their help and support have made the experience so much lighter.

December has arrived, so has the cold season, and all the assignments and stressful projects are almost over (or at least they will be put on hold for a couple of weeks). Winter break is almost here (just 4 more days! just 4 more days!), and so is another short trip up north to get away from everything (more on that in about a week or so!). After that, I will be embarking on yet another even longer trip – this one will be to go back home for Christmas and to recharge batteries in Lisbon for about two weeks.

Here’s to another year and a half (if not more, who knows?) of wonderful experiences with people who definitely make it all worthwhile.

– Inês.