(3) Lovely Athens and its good winds

I was in Athens, Greece, participating in the 7th English as a Lingua Franca International Conference (ELF7), with several friends and colleagues from all continents, when I received an e-mail from the Fulbright committee saying that I my project had been passed to the last phase, which was the interview. According to the message, I had to be ready two days later at a certain hour, Brasília time, as someone from Fulbright would call me and conduct the interview. After stating I was very happy, I said I was in Europe, 5 hours ahead of the Brasília time zone. And the thing is the exact day they wanted to talk to me, I would be in transit going to Lisbon, and three days later back to Brazil. Well, it then came to my mind to ask them to be interviewed by phone at my hotel room downtown Lisbon. I was elated they agreed. So, I rushed to the conference feeling elated. The next four days were wonderful. We enjoyed Athens and some of the Sardonic islands, including Hydra. Besides our international friends, the Brazilian group which comprised Telma Gimenez (UEL), Michelle El-Kadri (UEL), Luciana Cabrini (UEM), Lucielen Porfirio (UNEB-Alagoinhas), and myself as the only male in the gang, had a lot of fun. Inside, I was overhappy, but the best was yet to come on the same day my TAP Portugal plane touched down at Portela Airport, coming from Frankfurt, Germany. My adventure was beginning to materialize. Thanks, Greece!