Estudo na Europa

Tonight I found this poem in my papers from college, which was an assignment in my Portuguese 315 course. I wrote about the my feelings about being in Europe and studying European art: a sense of disconnect between loving the things in were really old and feeling like Western cultural elements were familiar, yet also unfamiliar due to my displacement as an American. This is what I wrote:

Estudo na Europa

Amo a aquitectura aqui

Faz anos que eu estudei

As catedrais

Os quadros

Mas algo 'tá faltando

Meu país é novo

Os prédios são mais limpos

Menos séculos de pó

E guerra

O ar é mais doce

E fresco

Meu coração está dividido

Mas sei onde eu pertenço

À terra prometida

À terra nova

À terra da minha vida

I Study in Europe

I love the architecture here

It's been years since I studied

The cathedrals

The paintings

But something is missing

My country is young

The buildings are cleaner

Less centuries of dirt

And war

The air is sweeter 

And fresh

My heart is divided

But I know where I belong

The promised land

The "New World"

The land of my life