MyEyes

As you may know, I have recently participated in a photographic contest. I ended up as one of the finalists and got featured in Porto Fashion People photo exposition.

The photo that got me into the exposition was the one featuring my good friend Sara Arrais, who by the way is a very talented person with an amazing blog: http://www.kalimera-concept.com/

However, this wasn't the only photo I sent to the jury. Although it was my favourite one, there are some other pictures that are worth sharing, including some I took off my beautiful friend Mafalda Bispo.
Take a look :)

The land that saw my parents born, the land where my genes come from.
For me, it's the most beautiful place on Earth.
Welcome to Trás-os-Montes.

Me and the mountains

The sunset

My beautiful grandmother

The fruits

My father planting a tree

The sheep

The shepherd

The river

The night sky

I can give you immense reasons why my country is so beautiful, but today I will only give two: Lisbon and Porto.

They are not only the biggest and the most important cities in the country, but they have an enormous beauty. I know it may sound weird, but they are truly Portuguese cities. What I mean is they capture the true spirit of Portugal and the Portuguese.

I think the photos can speak for them selfs.

Lisbon

Porto

My Dad

There is none I look up the most than my dad. I know this is cliché, but he is definitely the best father in the world. Everything I do is to make him proud, to be the daughter he raised me to be.

We are terribly similar, not only in our features but also in our way of thinking and our behaviour. We constantly enter in healthy discussions to see who is the most right about a certain subject. We definitely drive my mom crazy, which has a huge patience for the both of us.

Every time I look at him, I can see myself in the mirror, I see everything I want to accomplish in life and the kind of parent I want to be to my future kids. I know I am what I am due to all the effort and sacrifices that he and my mom made for me. I hope to never disappoint them and always be their little pride.

Love you dad, happy father's day.

"I think everyone can be better than they are, but there are also people that have more than they deserve. I know that I don't have a higher education because my parents never had the possibilities to finance me and my brothers' studies. That is why I have raised you to be better than me."

"It's so good to have the family by your side. Being apart from your family creates an empty space inside of you. Being apart from you during 1 year and a half was the most difficult time of my life."

"I can't say that I love my job, but it's something that I am proud of because I worked hard to get where I am. I have decided to be a policeman to provide the best that I could for my family."

"My father was a man ahead of his time, but he never had the opportunity to show his potential. Everyone respected my father and was his friend. I always look up to my dad, it's sad that you never met him."

Being a scientist was never my dream as a kid, however nowadays I cannot see myself doing anything else. Science is my life and is something that I truly love. I have decided to write this text to show the difficulties and also the advantages of being a scientist. I hope some scientists can relate and people outside this field can better comprehend our work.

One of the biggest issues of being a scientist is that mostly no one understands what you do and what is the finality of your work. The reality is that we work with such specific things that other people don’t understand or don’t care to. I think this is in part our fault since we cannot put in simple terms what we do.

Another thing that people don’t generally understand is that a PhD or a higher graduation, providing it’s financed, is a job. People keep asking me: “Are you going to study even more? But do you even earn money?” The truth is, in our field we can never stop studying because science is not a stage thing. Another question is “Do you really see yourself work all day in a lab?” Whenever my answer is yes, I see people’s eyes saying “That one is crazy”. I am not made to stand in front of a desk all day and do the same thing every day like a machine.

Being a scientist is not a normal job. You may have entry type, but you don’t have exit one. No one pays you more because you had to finish an experience and you had to stay until 10 pm. No one pays you more because you had to go to the lab during the weekend because the machine that you needed is always occupied. No one pays you more if you don’t have time to have a lunch hour.

As a scientist you live of scholarships or founds, except people that follow a more industrial field. It’s not easy to get a scholarship, especially in Portugal where the demand is high but the availability low. Fortunately I got the opportunity of getting one. I was so happy to finally come back to Portugal and being able to do the thing that I love the most in my country. When I came back everyone asked why, why would I come back if there are more opportunities in other countries? The answer is that it is a big pleasure for me to contribute to the scientific development of my own country.

However, to get this scholarship, I had to work hard. I worked so much during my thesis and even did volunteer work in a lab afterwards, just so that I could have more experience. People criticized me because I did volunteer in a lab, now they criticize because I have a scholarship. People said I was lowering myself accepting a job without payment and now they say the value of my scholarship is too high. I don’t regret anything and it’s a pleasure to be paid to do what I like the most.

Being a scientist is not easy but is the most rewarding thing for me. I am able to discover new things and that is what I love the most about my job. The unknown is what drives me.

Mafalda

She is the prove that friends are the family we choose. After discovering we had the same university godfather, we become "cousins" and inseparable friends.

She is also the living prove that models/ pageant girls are not only beautiful but also intelligent. She has always done this kind of works while studying at the university, and she was always successful in both fields. She has traveled the world with her modeling but also with her promising scientific career. I admire what she has accomplished in life.

"I have always thought that life is not worth it if we do what we are expected to."

"I have been doing modeling jobs since 17. There were few who supported me. They thought I was going to get lost in that world. That only gave me strength to continue. Not satisfied, I have decided to participate in the Miss Portugal. I was one of the finalists."

"I got the opportunity to go to South Corea for a pageant. I had to study for an exam during the flight and I have passed it. I still had to put up with the professor's laughter when I told her I was a Miss."

"There were people who called me crazy. If I was normal, life wouldn't be funny."

"When you do something you like, nothing is impossible."

Nuno

If you know this guy, you will agree with my following statement: He is the weirdest person I have ever met!

The most unexpected things come out of his mouth and he always looks like he doesn't care about the world around him. He can be the most social and antisocial person, by talking with everyone on the street but never calling anyone. Despite all that, he is a great friend and, most importantly, a great and creative mind.

I miss the time I would knock on his window to invite him for coffee. Now, we have both got out of college and rarely see each other. But I am happy and fortunate to know if I call him, he will be there for me and will do everything to make me laugh.

He can be the weirdest, but he is also the kindest person that I know.

"I am hobo chic.
For the play I am rehearsing for, I will be a homeless person. So I didn't shower for a week and begged for money on the streets. A guy actually confused me for his dealer."