USA! Saint Joseph - MI
Autor: Tiago Melito | Publicado: 2013-01-29T20:05:00-08:00













Snow in Saint Joe!


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Hello everybody...look, it's snowing!

What? Wait...what is going on here? Why is this guy writing in english now? In addition to that, the blog should be only about Europe!

Ok ok, you have the right to ask those questions, but the thing is I made another trip abroad and I thought that would be nice to bring the blog back to life with more experiences.
Since I created the blog I had the will of writing it in english, portuguese is beautiful but not an universal language unfortunately and as we are talking about international traveling this information is going to be much more valuable to the hitchhikers around. Also because the stage is the USA now and nothing more faithful to the travel report than to write it using the native language, right?


It's really good to be traveling abroad again, since I got back from Croatia the feeling of being far away from your "Home, Sweet Home", out of the comfort zone was vanishing little by little.
Of course traveling locally in your country is amazing, but it still seems comfortable and you don't need to go after your limits most part of the time. In summary, this traveling feeling probably is that singular one that makes travelers alive, their energy to life.
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Enough philosophical thoughts, let's roll!




C'zars.





I came to the US to work for one month, not as an intern anymore so the obligations are way different now, not so good because of the limited time but positive because you can go deeper in their culture and behaviors, daily.


After getting to the hotel I started to write down the impressions I got and looking to my notes now I remember.
First is how big this country is, I arrived in NY and to get to MI after a connection flight I could easily compare it to Brazil. This is one interesting thing, north americans have a major need of space and you perceive that when talking to them, driving around and even going shopping. People keep a certain distance all the time and are more private. In comparison to the Latin countries it is the opposite.

Also talking about space, things here are made big to fill this huge area! This is something I can classify as a negative point, packages, meals, everything is king size and it is also funny because when I commented it with my brazilian friend who has lived here for more than 1 year he said it was fine to him, so you can easily get used to big portions of everything without knowing your body doesn't need that much energy. And linked to that, the material used to pack everything is oversized and would be the dream of the cost reduction teams of Brazil. In this subject we are a model to be followed, recycling tons and tons of reusable waste.











Beach (?).





Talking about the positive points, one thing that impressed me is the way they treat the consumer, always in first place. If you are not satisfied with the service or product, you can change or return it with no bureaucracy at all, things that in Brazil would be even considered a costumer abuse. Regarding services they are also specialists in what they do, from the pizza guy to the CEO of a company, and that is possibly to their constant search to be the best.

Security is something incredible too. I know my first impressions are from a small city and in the countryside of US, but also when I traveled to bigger cities this feeling didn't disappear. I felt safe in any place I would go, same feeling I had in most part of Europe. So there is a long way for us to get to this level, lot of investment in education mainly, no empty heads to the evil feed. :)

Finally, to close the impressions, one very good key learning I got from them is a solid base on confidence, doing the right thing no matter what. People must start to understand that when someone is taking advantage in something the other is loosing in a certain way, to one win other have to loose. So let's make the things more balanced, simple like that!
Well, and what about the weather?
I've never seen snow until I got here and it was a great sensation. (I'm already having a hard time to express some feelings in not my native language, kind of curious.)
It is something we will never see if don't travel to countries out of tropical zones, so do travel! I personally would give more importance to the weather if I lived in a place with more distinct seasons, your routine changes together and you can enjoy a summer breeze or a soup during winter in a way you couldn't imagine.

Talking about the city itself, it is small and there is not so many things to do. You can eat in tons of places, that's for sure...don't forget that north americans have something like a food culture. Besides the junkie food, they appreciate a lot all kinds of meat and potatos with vegetables, prepared in thousands of ways. :) In general I liked the steaks they prepare but after a while they start to become very similar.

Good place to eat the real red meat is Texas Coral and the most known Applebee's and Outback. To a happy hour there are some places near the lake Michigan, which by the way is the most famous sight to visit, very beautiful landscape.

Night life is very limited as there is no college in the city and people are more alike to stay at home, so you will find two places, the Boat House and the C'zars. C'zars has a very nice decoration, like a basement mixed with a pub and you will find all kinds of music there.

As Saint Joe is close to Chicago and fair enough close to NY it's one of the destinations that have to be checked in your list. The trains here are cheap and in next post I'll talk more about these traveling options!


Here are some pictures of Saint Joe! Enjoy! 




Silver Beach Pizza.




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Snow man or snow owl?




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Lighthouse.


 




The day I almost froze.





See you buddy.