Penny for my Thoughts?

So yesterday was just one of those days. I woke up, and it was my “last day” in Joburg. Not literally, but it was the last day I would be able to do things, since Mon-Fri I’m at the office from 8-5 and I’m leaving to the OpiKoppi music festival after work on Friday, then straight from there to Cape Town on Saturday, then back on Thursday and I leave on Friday (the 13th… tan tan tan taaaan).

Phew.

Anyways, I woke up in a weird mood, and started trying to figure out what to do on my last day. I looked at some museums, but half were closed on Sunday, as was the tour of the South African Brewery. So I did what I always do when I’m in this mood – drove outside Joburg to the Hartbeespoort Dam to chill by myself and check out the view.

Well, I ended up not really finding the dam, but I found this awesome park where I spent the afternoon & watched the sunset (I know, romantic thing to do by yourself, but it was gorgeous anyways).

It got me thinking though. Not that I haven’t already been thinking about this since my parents moved to Brazil, but I started REALLY thinking. I have 9 months to decide where I’m going to live after I graduate. Actually, in 9 months I would ideally already know where I’m moving to, since I’m graduating in May.

The obvious choice is Brazil. It’s where I’m from; it’s where my family is, and where my best friend is. I’ve always dreamed of finally finishing school and settling down in Brazil. There are amazing advertising agencies there, and even if I don’t live in Rio I would only be a “ponte aerea” away. [By the way, a Ponte Aerea is what they call the flight from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro, because it’s so close it’s like a bridge in the sky- and it’s really cheap too] After all, I had already decided I was going to live in Brazil before my parents carried me off to Miami.

But they carried me off. And things changed. The US holds amazing opportunities- the biggest advertising accounts, the most innovation in the industry, and a great currency. And of course, I have amazing friends there as well, who I miss like hell by the way. I’ve spoken English my whole life, it would be weird to start advertising in Portuguese all of the sudden. And where would I watch college football and NBA? Will I ever be able to take my blonde kids (it will happen) to FSU games if I don’t live in the states? Will I miss out on all the Heat games with the dream team?

And now here comes South Africa to make my decision even harder. A place that started off as a crazy plan for a fun summer abroad to watch the World Cup has now won me over. TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris isn’t only the number 1 creative agency in the world right now, but they’ve also become my home away from home. From people making mean jokes about how Brazil choked during the WC, to people wearing Brazil jerseys, to meetings with clients and brainstorming sessions, to the open bar every Friday at 4, to lots of coffee and research… you get the point, I could go on forever. And South Africa isn’t only TBWA: it’s the friends I’ve made, all the “jawls” [slang for parties]and crazy nights, the road trip to Durban, and everything Cape Town will be next week. And it isn’t even only South Africa: Victoria Falls was amazing; and it’s only one of the places I wanted to go to. I still want to go to Mozambique, and Madagascar, and everywhere else around here. If I don’t move here, when will I be able to come back? I don’t even want to leave in the first place.


So I thought, and thought and thought while watching that amazing sunset. Who knows where I’m going. All I know is moving looks like it’s going to be a lot harder now that I have to decide for myself instead of just moving with my parents.


On a lighter note, I updated my Howzit?! Post to include some new slangs I’ve picked up. Enjoy!