Couch Surfing

Yesterday night I went with one of my conversation partners to a "couch surfing" meeting. It is a not for profit website that makes it possible for people to travel around the world and get to know new people and cultures. It is a form of social globalization that I personally appreciate very much. The idea is that people form their profile and get recommendations, certified and can get together with local clubs to hear about people's experiences. I heard about it from an Albanian friend when I was still back home, but the whole thing was a bit overwhelming and so I never fully made my profile.

The way the meeting worked last night is that we all went to a bar that has a back room for large groups. Basically, a group of about twenty people from all over (Poland, US, Spain, Italy, Thailand) came together to chat. It was alright. I will go again next week though and stay a little longer. I left at 1030 which is far too early here. Next week though I will be arriving late though because...

I will start taking Portuguese classes at that time next week.
Today I took a  placement exam, without ever having done classes to learn it. I was hoping that my chatting with a Brazilian friend once in a while would have taught me a thing or two. Despite people being very skeptical about what kind of level I could possibly have after hearing background chatter, and maybe a word here or there, I made it through the test. Granted, almost every grammatical thing I saw on there I invented...and I am pretty sure I got almost everything wrong. However, in the writing portion I managed to get my point across and then, I showed off my stop and go verbal skills. The professor was actually impressed and I convinced her that putting me with the students who have studied for a year and a half would not be a bad idea. We will see how that goes....!