After 9 hours and a half of a turbulent flight, with the right to fainting episodes and medical requests on board, the last step before we could say that we were officially on Portuguese grounds was still missing: go through immigration. Even so, Bê was already thrilled to see, during the landing, places she had not seen for eight years when she did an interchange in Portugal through Univates, a Brazilian University.
The huge queue to the border officers, where the interviews take place, was moving quite fast. The immigration staff was certainly in a good mood that day. hahaha As the line got smaller and smaller, our tension increased. What would they ask us? Were we with all the documentation? Passports in hand? Come on, happy faces!
We had a (real) speech prepared: we were going to visit the “Portuguese family”, who welcomed Bê during the time of the interchange. And Bê also wanted to show me places that had marked her life, such as Leiria, Peniche and the Algarve.
We had finally at the booth, where we were attended by a gentleman who appeared to be very kind.
– Bundiiia! (good morning!) – said the policeman, in the unmistakable Portuguese accent.
Everything flowed very well. The policeman asked us where we came from, what we were going to do in Portugal and if it was our first time in the country. Everything answered “according to the script,” until the question came up:
– Úc viéram fzer em Prtugal? (what will you do in Portugal?)
Bê answered “tourism” and I, “studies”, because I understood that he meant the other time Bê came!
Fright!
But we managed to get around the situation. After a few more questions about where Bê had made the interchange, what sítios (sites) we planned to visit, what we do in Brazil, we finally got the long awaited stamp on the our passports!
We were officially in Portuguese territory!