Age: 21
Major: Public Relations
Year: 2017
Zodiac Sign: Cancer
Hometown: Santo André (SP)
Why Public Relations and Cásper Líbero? [Laughs] This is the question everyone always ask me and I have to stop and think about it to get an answer. My process of choosing was quite random. It was nearly September/October of 2012 when I was in the last year of high school, and my composition teacher arrived in classroom with a mini newspaper in hands and started telling us about a College with only humanity courses and a very different selective process, because in the test, there were questions about contemporary books and movies and… wow! I was very surprised! At that moment, I fell in love with the concept of that college – not to mention that this college is located above one of my favorite movie theaters.
Relative to the course, after I tried to enter in Cásper having Journalism as my choice in 2012 – yes, Journalism – and failed, I decided to go to the college prep course to think more about my professional choice. Then, in the end of May of 2013, reading the “Student Guide”, I found the Public Relations course and thought it was a good options. So, I went. [Laughs]
Tell us a little bit about your work at the French Consulate. Actually, I work in the commercial area of the Consulate and in an agency called Business France. Its responsibility is to promote french companies here in Brazil. I work with the Press Officer, then my function consists in, mainly, translate and write releases, create mailing, follow up, clipping – traditional activities of the Press Office area. However, I am also the social media of our Twitter and Blog.
And during these last months, you’ve been to France, right? Was it your first time there? What did you do? Where did you go? Yeah! I spent two months and a half in Paris [from November of 2015 to January of 2016] and it was the first time I traveled for a long period all by myself. It was also the first time I have been in France. In addition, it was the first time I’ve lived alone – many first times! [Laughs]
Well, since I’ve been in Paris for such long time, I had the opportunity to do many things – and you can believe I did not even know half of the city and all it can offer me. I visited maaaany museums, really! There was a moment when I wasn’t even able to stand up for more than one hour. Besides that, I discovered a lot of parks, mini stores, restaurants, churches. Wow, now thinking about it, I really got the chance to know so many churches and, surprise, we are talking about the most laic place in the world! [Laughs]
What did you like the most? It’s very difficult to choose what I liked in there the most. I really loved to meet the people I met, because I actually went there to study and improve my French. I usually studied four hours a day with people from all over the world: China, Sweden, Oman, Poland, Thailand… It was incredible to realize we had such different origins, and yet we were able to communicate between ourselves with the same language. This is amazing!
Do you have any tips for us, future tourists? The whole city is wonderful! The most important thing I can recommend for people to do in Paris is: get to know the city by walking! Everything is close and very signalized. You’ll surprise yourself with what you can find in your way. Another worthy tip and almost no one knows: it is possible to get to the top of the Arch of Triumph and the view is amazing, especially during the sunset.
What did this trip provide you the best? From the personal level, as for the professional? This is a tough question. This trip made me grow as a person… I learned to be responsible about my schedules, to have independence, to organize my stuff, to deal with my own insecurity, vulnerabilities – I tripped on a subway ladder and had my knee cut about three centimeters. All these experiences affected me in some way and contributed to my life, in personal and professional levels.
Now, a little of the political Gabi. Since when have you noticed yourself involved in the feminism militancy and its questionings? I began to be interested in feminism just a little before I got to go to college. In 2012, I had a Sociology teacher that was militant and usually promoted some discussions about these themes during class. Those were the moments that I first made contact with feminism. A little later, in 2013, with the June manifestations all over Brazil, the politics were an important part of our lives again. I think these two facts were very relevant, but what made all the differences was to go to college and finish a two year and a half abusive relationship. So all these facts made all the difference and made me even more interested in feminist theory.
Do you have any knowledge on the feminism in French? In which ways the Brazilian can take good examples from the French movement? I admit I did not have a very close contact with the contemporary feminism militancy in France. My teacher liked to talk about politics and describe herself as a feminist… but the point is that she belongs to the 60s-70s feminism, so what I was able to study is a little outdated. [Laughs] Besides that, I usually try to make, inevitably, many comparisons between our political-social systems and I was shocked when I realized how the Western Europe in general has a bad position on these questions. It was obvious to me that not all the colonization process has been overcome yet! Even nowadays, the European still think they are the center of everything and have an enormous difficulty on exercising empathy. It is not the case that I did not have this vision before, mainly with all the “anti-Islam” discussion! I could create a dissertation on this theme… [Laughs] To sum-up: I do think it’s the European people who could take good examples from their former colonies.