The fifth stage of the 2015 “Ari Tun” Program ended with participants crying as they bid each other farewell and the one phrase that they constantly repeated: “We will definitely come back”. Although the participants were from different countries, this didn’t bother them from getting to know each other well and even falling in love. One thing is clear-the gene of an Armenia was in them.

One of the bearers of that gene is Ani Grigoryan, the only participant from Portugal. Ani hadn’t been to Armenia since she was three, but had heard and thought a lot about the homeland and had seen the nature and sites worth seeing in Armenia on the internet. “However, I felt different here. It went from being abstract to subjective. Every stone and flower seems close to my heart. I approach them, touch them and can’t believe that I’m on my native land,” Ani says.

Besides participating in the Armenian language, song and dance courses, Ani and her friends have also managed to go sightseeing in Armenia over the past couple of days. “Those visits were very important for us because we not only recognized the homeland through books, Armenian songs and dances, but also saw everything with our eyes and felt it. I visited Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex twice. I was touched because there is a supernatural force there. You get mixed feelings. You feel the suffering, but at the same time you feel proud and patriotic,” the Portuguese-Armenian participant said.

Ani says Armenia’s museums, the wealth of the Institute of Ancient Manuscripts after Mesrop Mashtots (Matenadaran) and the fun days at the camp in Tsaghkadzor were irreplaceable. “I made a lot of friends. They’re all from different countries, and it’s interesting to hear about their daily lives and their respective Armenian communities. The Armenian community of Portugal is very small. There are few Armenians, meaning there is less communication. With this visit, I somehow assuaged the longing that I had for everything Armenian,” says Ani. Although she speaks Armenian very beautifully and literally and has a rich vocabulary, she didn’t forget to mention that the Armenian language courses had helped her a lot.

Ani says that the small Armenian community of Portugal has a cultural center that is famous across Portugal. “We Armenians see each other at Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which is the only Armenian organization in Lisbon. Almost every week, there are concerts, exhibitions and different kinds of events. The Portuguese even say that the Gulbenkian Foundation is their country’s Ministry of Culture,” Ani Grigoryan added. However, what concerns her is the fact that there is no Armenian Embassy in Portugal and that she and the other members of the community have to address the Armenian Embassy in Spain.

The Armenian community of Portugal very actively marked the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide. “We organized a demonstration, bringing together all the Armenians. The Portuguese also joined us. They would come and try to help us with whatever they could. However, adoption of the Armenian Genocide is not an issue on their agenda. They have general interests with Turkey and are part of NATO together, but they know and are interested in the Genocide,” Ani says.

Ani, who studies in the Department of International Relations of the Faculty of Political Science, has a lot of Turkish classmates, but she can’t seem to get along with them. “If they want to transfer something to me, they do it through someone. They don’t want to communicate with me, and I know the reason why,” says the only participant of the “Ari Tun” Program from Portugal.

Ani has thought about returning a lot. What especially captured her were the architecture of Yerevan and the night life. “I wouldn’t imagine that life in Yerevan was active like this. Youth and adults come out, walk around the city and enjoy the wonderful weather until late night.”Everything is very beautiful,” Ani mentions. Her dream is to come to the homeland, if not to stay, but at least to study.

Through the “Ari Tun” Program, Ani also visited the American University of Armenia. She found out that there were summer courses and wanted to participate in them. “But the bad thing is that Armenian universities don’t have partnerships with Portuguese universities. I would like to see such partnerships,” Ani noted. She has talked about and presented Armenia so much at her university that everyone already knows her culture and nationality. Ani has purchased gifts for her lecturers and will be giving them as soon as she returns.

Amalya Karapetyan

4^th year student of the Faculty of Journalism of Yerevan State University