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The Event That Changed My Life Essay

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There have been very few events throughout my lifetime that I feel have impacted or inspired me with such noteworthiness and that I know will change my outlook on the world and affect me forever. One of those events occurred when I traveled to Portugal, my parent’s homeland. From this excursion in 2007, I learned the importance of family, most importantly the distant kind. It provided me with a totally different perspective on the world and how large and extended one’s family can really be; even across cultures and continents. I felt so fortunate learning this lesson at a young age and growing to appreciate the ideals I was brought up with as a child. The family I have in Portugal has always been there; however, their faces have aged and …show more content…

Since the town I was in was in a very rural area of the country, on the northern most point, near the border of Spain, whatever meats, fruits and vegetables I ate were freshly grown or raised on local farms. I had a first-hand experience with this when I went to my grandmother’s very old friend’s house. While I was there, I saw my first freshly prepared chicken with the head, feathers,and feet removed in front of my eyes. Even though this seemed like a gory and almost disgusting thing to me at the time, I later found out, in the film Food Inc., that the ways animals are treated in this country are much worse than what I saw that day. Nonetheless, the freshness of ingredients in any cooking is always a plus, and this made better by being at the table with my family and friends. From having spent these few hours with my relatives in Portugal, I was able to come away knowing great tasting food and beautiful, and at times gory, memories. Quite honestly, I’ve never had better tasting chicken. The Portuguese culture, which I had already grown up with in the U.S., was a main part of the trip in and of itself. The magnificent architecture that I saw there, even though it was decaying with time, was very symbolic of the Portuguese heritage. For example, on many red clay terracotta roof tops there resided cupolas, and on those cupolas was the famed Gallo do Barcelos (English equivalent – Rooster of Barcelos), which

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