Big Man on Campus - Moravian College

prelude
Larger-than-life Ideas
MORAVIAN COLLEGE MAGAZINE WINTER 2007
My Lisbon Lessons
Peter Cunha ’07 explores Portugal and his past
I believe you have to stay busy. You always have to be involved in
something whole-heartedly, always evolving, always advancing. For
college kids, that means an internship in the summer. The Career
Center at Moravian has convinced me that experience is necessary if
I want to progress successfully to the next level of my life. A previ-
ous internship advanced my understanding of journalism. This time,
I wanted an experience relating to my other major, international
business. And I wanted to see if I really could survive on my own in
another country.
My internship was six weeks at the Luso-American Foundation
(FLAD, Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento), in Lisbon.
FLAD was founded in 1986 by the Portuguese government to help pro-
mote relations between the United States and Portugal. The two nations
share a diplomatic alliance that’s
one of the oldest—if not the old-
est—in American history. This was
the first time that someone outside
of my family invested so much in me
in more than just a financial way.
I worked in Lisbon in the Es-
trella neighborhood. <strong>Man</strong>y interna-
tional embassies are located there, including the U.S. embassy, which
is just across the street. Our building was one of the first built in the
area after the 1755 earthquake that destroyed a large part of Lisbon.
My office had an unbelievable view of the Tejo River. One of my proj-
ects, an analysis of American students studying abroad in Portugal,
resulted in the largest document I’ve ever produced—78 double-
spaced pages. It took a lot of research and analysis, but working for
people I admired and respected made it enjoyable.
I’m the son of immigrants who left Portugal in 1968. The week-
ends were great for discovering my ancestral stomping grounds
firsthand. I went to my folks’ home town. We still have family there.
I saw my paternal grandparents’ graves, my dad’s crib, and I did
some genealogical research. I visited the house where my dad grew
up, and the neighborhood he lived in before he left for America. The
area’s still very rural. It’s easy to imagine my roots because the way
of life there hasn’t changed much. I found out that my dad’s house,
now occupied by my aunt, has been in the family for six generations.
Most Americans know the nationality of their ancestors, and a few
lucky ones know where in that nation—in what town or region—their
Left: Peter Cunha at Lisbon’s Parque Eduardo Setimo.
right: Rooftops of Lisbon, World Cup euphoria, Peter and co-workers.
>
family originated. But I know exactly where my ancestors lived some
four hundred years ago. To find out that you’re part of something that
extends so far back in time is a new discovery about yourself.
I’m a soccer nut, and when the World Cup tournament is going
on, so is everyone in Portugal. I experienced the World Cup in a soc-
cer-crazy nation, one that went far in the tourney at that. Portugal’s
fourth-place finish that summer was its best in 40 years, and I was
there for the final five matches. It was the best. When the team won
against Holland and England, everyone headed to the monument
to Marques de Pombal* in the city’s center. I was stationed down
the street, and after every victory I’d march down there and cheer
with the rest of Lisbon’s population. People waving flags, rigging up
their cars so that their automobiles look like caravels—15th-century
explorers’ ships—with the Portuguese
flag as a sail . . . it was a phenomenon
that just doesn’t exist in the States as
far as soccer is concerned.
After being transplanted for those
six weeks, I learned skills that can’t
be transmitted in any other way.
Working in a foreign nation teaches
you to function successfully within another culture, something I feel
many Americans don’t understand. You can read about social differ-
ences in a textbook, but you have to practice them or that knowledge
is useless. My generation is going to have to deal with concepts like
globalization and the European Union. After this internship, I’m very
familiar with these notions.
And I learned a lot about me that I didn’t know before. I grew up
with very little knowledge of my great Portuguese heritage. Getting
thrown into it headfirst made me come out with a new appreciation
of names like Vasco da Gama, Fernando Pessoa, Luis Camoes. I came
to appreciate an element of my personality that helps me understand
who I am. Since I was little, I’ve always been looking at pictures in
textbooks or watching movies and wishing that one day I could go
there and see those places. I’ve always had this interest in what’s out
there. Maybe that’s just the Portuguese in me: the blood of the explorers
still going strong. W
Prelude features stories of Moravian College community members in their own words.
Send your submissions or suggestions to: rickc@moravian.edu.
* The statesman noted for his leadership after the 1775 earthquake. –eds.
WINTER 2007 MORAVIAN COLLEGE MAGAZINE