Don't trust Internet/cable companies I would like to share a quick story with you. I was searching for an Internet company to supply my new home. I had two options, company A and company B. After estimating the price of services in company A and B, I decided that A was my best option based on the speed/price trade-off. I phoned the company A, and I was surprised to see that they weren't receiving any new clients cause they were already "full of customers" where I live. Unusual, but OK. They asked me if I would like to enter their "waiting list". Yes, of course. However, I was anxious to solve the problem as fast as possible, since Internet access is almost on the base of the Maslow's Pyramid of needs. So, I phoned company B. Long story short, I hired their service for a lower price than I was expecting, and as much as company A's. Great deal! However, some minutes after closing the deal with company B, A phoned me telling me that a "free spot" was available where I live, and that they didn't know if they could hold it for me any longer. I instantly felt the buyer's remorse, and explained to the caller that I had just closed a deal with B. He tried to persuade me saying that they were the best in the market and I could cancel the previous deal. I noticed, then, that he was trying to sell me a worse Internet service than I have seen it in their website, and then, I refused. Interestingly, after 10 minutes, I received a call from the "quality control of B". The caller asked some questions about the service that I had hired from them, and finally, told me that although they had sold me a service with X download speed, the actual speed would be X/10 for the same price. I was outraged! He was apologetic saying that if I didn't like these terms I could cancel the service. I ordered him to cancel the service right away. He then told me he couldn't do it cause he was from the quality control section, and if I wanted to cancel it I had to call to a number myself. I hung up the phone incredulous. But, then I noticed that the call came from the same city of company A's last call. I had to confirm my suspicions. I called company B checking about the incident, they said that there was nothing wrong with the service that I hired, and that the Internet speed would remain X. Guess what? I was almost cheated by company A. It turned out that everything was fine, my Internet speed was definitely what I hired from B. Lesson learned, keep your two eyes open when dealing with Internet/cable companies.

Fire alarm accident That story happened two years ago when I was at home with my 3 other roommates in Montreal. It was at night and I was watching a movie, the other two were studying for their exams and the last one was cooking a chicken. At least that was what he was supposed to do. He put a chicken in the oven and went to his room listening to some music. So, as you might guessed, he forgot that chicken, and the house fire alarm rang. As none of us, all coming from Brazil, didn’t have to deal with any fire alarm set up in our houses (yes, it’s true. I don’t know why though), we didn’t know what to do. The buzz was horrible. The guy who did the mess-up was hopeless when he saw a lever by the front door and had the amazing idea to pull down it. Now, the fire alarm of building was firing, much louder than the last one! This story wind up with me calling the landlord and trying to explain him what happened. After a few sentences of explanation in english, he realized what happened, freaked out, switched to french right away and start yelling some swear-words....

Fall Season When I arrived in Montreal, it was fall season. What a great season! The weather was so pleasant, at least for me, with temperatures below 20 degrees Celsius. Of course, people were using jackets during the day, something that is quite unusual in Brazil. Since I have just lived in Brasília (Brazil’s capital) and Rio de Janeiro (not the capital lol) I got used with hot temperatures through all the year. Actually in those places people don’t know when the seasons change because it doesn’t change the weather at all, temperatures continue in the range of 20 and 35/40 degrees pretty much. Because of that I went to Canada not knowing how the weather would drastically changed during my journey… One of my first bad experiences relating to weather in Canada was when I went to Quebec city, a charming city near Montreal, usually with temperatures below from the latter. My mistake was to overlook the importance of good coat and not check the weather forecast. In Montreal the day before, everything was perfect, I was wearing a ‘Brazilian jacket’ and I felt very comfortable walking outside. So I and some friends traveled to Quebec, me using the same jacket, and we went to know the city afterwards. Near the Saint Lawrence River (one of the main sights of the city) I felt badly cold. Not that the temperatures was too low, it was roughly 15 degrees, but the wind was blowing relentlessly. Adding my lack of preparation and that wind, I was freezing...

How I went to Montreal It sounds great the idea to learn a language while you’re traveling in another country, but how could I do it without any money saved. I would have to plan that trip for the next couple of years, so I started working as intern. However, after a few months working, I assessed that to make the trip happen, I would have to work for at least one year to spend one month and half abroad (yeah, on top of not being well paid as an intern, in Brazil the conversion rate between real and dollar is so high). But I was lucky that Brazilian government started an exchange program with a lot of countries as partners: USA, Canada, Portugal, Spain, France, UK (pretty much the whole Europe), South Korea, Japan, and others. What a great opportunity! One of demands for eligibility in the program was to have a good grade on one of those standards exams, TOEFL, IELTS, … When deciding which country to choose, I came up with a bold plan for my fluency. I decided to go to Montreal, where I could both learn English and French. After all, I would spend 10 months and I would like to kill two birds with one stone. I did the demanded tests and I was approved! I chose to study in a French University there and in my spare time my idea was to practice English with natives. The idea of living in another country is something that excites me even today, something that I want to do again in the future...

Brief Introduction Hi italki partners! My name is Iuri. This text is part of a plan to write about random subjects during 30 days. Before I begin, I have to tell you that this a conscious effort to improve my writing skills. While learning a language, writing is one of the most difficult tasks to do, at least for me. When reading or listening you have an instant feedback that can motivates you to move forward. While speaking too, if your teacher, for example, makes corrections you will know how is it going. With writing though, the process is different. You first write a whole text, so someone can help you with it. Of course, you have to wait until your teacher can read it and take notes, it’s not as instant as the others. To help with this problem, I am going to take advantage of the marvel of technology. That’s why I’m writing in the italki notebook, hoping you guys to help me. Beyond the dynamic feedback due to this great community, there are other advantages when writing here. First, some mistakes not noticed by someone can get noticed by others, so the process is more accurate. Secondly, it makes me feel so excited that anyone can look at it and come up with great suggestions, so you learn as much as other people comment about the text and/or give you feedback. And thirdly, there are so many experts here from all over the world. Since it’s just the beginning, I’m going to tell you a little bit about my background in languages. Three years ago, I could hardly say a word in English. Even though I had been studying English for 3 years. My method was not practical by any means. Too much focus in grammar, translation and reading. Listening seemed to be impossible. Not to mention speaking which I was afraid of making mistakes when talking to foreigners. As a result I was not able to communicate well and my abilities were very limited. Then I realized that I had to change how I approach my learning, to make my learning feel more real. I sought for information over the Internet and began to be more aware how important listening and speaking were (believe it or not it took me 3 years to realize that). At that time I put my mind that it would be great to go abroad to learn a foreign language. This whole process was the tipping point to find a great way to learn a language. I’m not telling that to learn a language you must go to another country, not at all, I’m just telling that this event turned out to be a landmark in my studies. But that’s a story for the next text...