It has been more than one month since the last update in my blog...and the reason why that happen is the same reason why i am writing in English, over the last month (June) i have been in Avignon, in the university of Avignon doing a Project, a European project, and that was one of the most amazing experiences in my life.
I stayed there for two weeks, and during those two weeks i met other people from Czech, Poland, Finland, Hungary, Greece, Italy that were also involved in the project,we were all students from different courses but we were all there to do the same project. Knowing all of those people made a real difference in my life, we are very limited in Portugal, i already knew that before but know i am sure.
And at this point i`m only writing to say my experience during those two weeks and what were the biggest differences in my life after that.
First of all i didn`t had anything electronic with myself during those two weeks, i lost my cellphone, the internet at the hotel was always going down every 30 minutes, and at the university the internet was good but we didn`t stayed there more than the necessary time, that was the first big change, i was disconnected from the world and that helped me a lot to understand why i was being so stupid, i will explain better in a while.
Second was the people, i went from portugal with Barbara, Célia e Rita, and i met wonderful people (here`s a picture off all the people involved, except Loius Basco that couldn`t came that day).
Third it was the difference of the University, we had real classes, were there was no computer in the classroom, no Power point slide, no screen to watch, just two teachers and a blackboard that had a funny thing, i would open and close the sides ( i`m sorry for saying "had a funny thing", but i had never seined that).
I could write a whole book about all that time, in fact i think i will, but for now i`m only going to write the really basic things...
What were the changes?
For two weeks i was a very happy guy, i had nothing to worry about because all my electronic things were "off line", and it made me realize how stupid i am, i have so many things that i don`t need, i wanted so many things that i wouldn`t need, examples? Here are some:
i have an hi5; facebook; twitter; google docs; google note; messenger; slideshow; del.icio.us; remember the milk; Amplify; blogger; youtube; screentoaster; Jing; Blip; Digg; wordpress as tools for my every day life (and these are just the last ones that i use, i have so many things that my bookmarks are filled with pages of login, in fact i have so many that i had to use the autofill forms addon from firefox to help me memorize all the passwords).
And now i think, are whole those good things? Does the amount of materials, and the quality of them, count for anything?
And i`m sorry to say that NO!
And i`m even more sorry to say that i have been fooled by the system to thing like that, i read a lot of thins in my google reader, in fact i had about 1500 bookmarks to read after two weeks without going on my google reader account, that was the starting point of my anger and my idea that i have been reading a lot of things that don`t actually matter...in fact they may matter but there are far more important things, let me explain.
I`m sick of talking in 140 characters (twitter), of following a lot of thins that in the end are not what i wanted (google reader), of bookmarking things that i will never read again (del.ico.us), of cutting peaces from the sides that in one month don`t make any sense to me (amplify), of keeping videos that i will watch again (youtube), and keeping musics that i could listen off line (blip), of recording tutorials that don`t worth the effort (Screentoaster) and i could do on like this...(this was why i putted that picture at first), i`m sick of all this dependence of tecnhnology when all that really matters is outside of it!
My point is that i have been stupid, a really STUPID
person, and that my decision is to enjoy the life outside of the
screen, outside of my house walls, and in the grass, watching the
sunset, being at some coffee and just drink and talk, knowing different
stories, different people, different cultures, different places...these were my two weeks in avignon, i did all of this and much more, but the bottom line is that it acted like a switch that made me return to my roots, it made me return to the time when all that matter was just enjoying life and learning from it, and i won`t lose that again, that joy of discovering!
I will just end this referring to an author that i like a lot (clifford stoll), and a phrase from his book ("hi-tech eretic") and also with a request:
So here`s my request, stop learning social networking skills, or at least learn first things about your place, your neighbors, socialize with them off line and not on-line, teach and learn from them, trade feelings and toughs face to face and then, only then, you could spend some time on-line with others, and i mean "others" because of the people that follow us in the internet don`t know you, they don`t care about you, only your posts, your knowledge of something, and when you`re down, they won`t help you, or at least they won`t be side by side with you, holding your hand and looking into your eyes and saying "Don`t worry, things will be better, i will be right here with you".
