[side note] Last night I went to Trivia Night at the Black Swan (a restaurant in Lagoa which is owned by a British man so the whole restaurant is in English and serves traditional British food and Brazilian food, so the trivia night is in english) It was really interesting the questions were REALLY hard. I only got like 4 out of 50 right. One of them was what country does Disney's Beauty in the Beast take place in, FRANCE (of coarse) I was the only one in the whole bar who knew the answer hahaha. After we went to a little hole in the wall bar (and I mean hole in the wall, it literally has two chairs inside) called amarehello and they serve this passion fruit cachaca drink for $R2 that is made with moonshine cachaca (home made) so it is very very strong. Then we all headed to forro on the praia joaquina (beach house where they have a bar and huge dance area) with about 50 people from the little bar (we were all out on the side walk because only like 10 people can fit into the bar haha. Forro was so much fun! Forro is a traditional country side type of dance, where couples dance together with spinning and swinging steps.
Looking back on my experience in Brazil, I have learned so much, experienced so much, and will have amazing memories for the rest of my life. I am sad to say that my study abroad experience is almost over, and also sad to say good bye to this amazing island and country. It is sad because I really don't know when I will be back, I would love to come back for the world cup next summer, but only time will tell. I have met so many amazing people and am really really going to miss them. Because we were all in a new and different place together, we all became really close. But now I have friends all over the U.S. and from all over the world! I have also learned so much about myself, I took this time here to really reflect on myself and work on personal growth, I read two books while I was here, one called "Habits: why we do what we do" and "The Best Year of Your Life" both of which really helped me to better myself and really to understand myself and make goals for my future for my career, personal life, and much more. I am very excited to go home back to San Diego to see my friends and family forth most. But also for the little things, like my car, having a schedule with things to do, pursuing my career, my bed, my iphone, my gym, Target... When you live in a different country you realize how convenient the U.S. just from the efficiency, to the way the traffic and streets work, to people being on time, or with all the stores everywhere where you can buy anything you need at any time.
Because of this experience I have realized that I would like to live in different parts of the world, but I think there are some critical things I need to have in order to feel comfortable and happy in these places. One I need to have a car, relying on public transportation or other people 100% of the time is stressful and hinders my ability to really experience a place because I am so limited to what I can do and when. Also I need to have my own place to stay, or at least my own room, that I can make my own space, decorate it and make it feel like a home. Third I need to have a purpose, I almost died of boredom here on multiple accounts because I did not have a clear purpose here, school was ridiculously easy, and on rainy days I would literally have nothing to do, at all. I need to have a full time job that I can focus on and work towards to keep my mind busy, I like to feel like I am making progress with something not just standing still waiting. Forth I need to have a real cell phone that I can use to get ahold of people no matter where I am, it is very hard to coordinate things when you cannot get a hold of anyone. And finally I need to know the language, at least a little, because nothing makes you feel like an outsider more than not being able to talk to anyone, it gets very lonely very fast, not to mention you feel left out and depressed when you can't socialize, joke, laugh, and express yourself with others. I feel if I have all those things I would thoroughly enjoy living in another country, but without those things I feel like I am in constant limbo and never really settle in and feel at home. It is really important to develop a routine in a new place because it make it feel more like a home and more structured and safe. And it is next to impossible to develop a routine with out some of the critical things I talked about above. I also realized how much I love being active, so another thing I need to do when ever I go somewhere new is join a gym immediately and find active things to do in the area like hiking. As soon as I joined a gym here and started hiking multiple times a week here, I immediately felt better, less stressed and anxious, better about my self, better moods, and more at home, and simply happier. I also realized how much I love the sunshine, I took it for granted in San Diego, because 75 and sunny 350 days out of the year is the norm for me, but being here in florianopolis where during the rainy season it will rain for 10 days strait, I really realized how much it effects my mood, and how much a crave sunshine.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Last Saturday in Brazil (for now :D )
June 22, 2013
Today was my last Saturday in Brazil (well for now at least). ISA has a brazilianBBQ or churrasco at the apartments in lagoa where we BBQed all day and watched the Brazil vs. Italy soccer game (sadly Italy lost, but in all honesty I wasn't watching the game really any ways lol). The food was delicious, it was standard churrasco food which consists of lost of meat, salad, bread and we added our own little twist and included guacamole because let's face it, everything tastes better with some guac! It was a BEAUTIFUL day! (it had been rainy and cold for the whole week before, and then all of a sudden saturday it was 75, clear skys, and gorgeous outside).
I made home made cookies (chocolate chip, M&M, and peanut butter chocolate chip) and they were all eaten before the BBQ even started :) thanks to mom's amazing recipe hehehe
After the BBQ everyone get ready and headed out to the UNISUL party at a venue on the north of the island (here college don't have frat or sororities, but they have major parties, where a major will through a ticketed party, this one happened to be open bar where it is $R30 = $15 and you get entrance into the party and open bar all night, yeah a great deal we know, that's why we are regulars at these parties, and they are a blast because they are all college kids). It was a awesome night, one of the books actually, but I won't bore you with those details ;)
Festa Junina
In the month of June Brazil celebrates something called Festa Junina (the festival of June) which is very similar to a harvest festival (because June is in the fall for them). The tradition originates from the farming areas of brazil, where the people would thank saint john and two other saints each weekend in June for their harvests (that is why the festival is also sometimes called Sao Juao "saint john" in portuguese). Now it is celebrated through out the whole country. It is common for schools to have festa junina parties for the kids where they dress up in very colorful outfits like "country folk" with braids, missing teeth, and patch-work patterned clothing.
It is common to draw on uni-brows, black teeth, and freckles. The girls usually always wear their hair in pig-tails and the boys always wear the straw hats.
ISA had a festa junina party for us and Dina drew rosy cheeks and freckles on me :)
The festival also usually includes colorful flags made of paper. These flags can be found through out the whole city during the month of June used to decorate shops and squares in the spirit of the festivals. There are public festivals at churches, public squares, and night clubs, but most are private where families and friends come together for the traditional party, which consists of different traditional foods, country music like sertanega, games for the kids, and a wedding! It is common for people to get married at these festa junina parties as something like a "shot gun wedding" where the bride and groom need to get married fast and cheap for one reason of the other. This is a cheap way to get married because these parties are commonly pot lucks so everyone is supposed to bring a dessert or entree item, so the bride and groom don't have to pay for much. Some of the tradition food served at these parties are different desserts made of peanuts (they taste like the inside of reese), pamonha (it is like the corn part of a tamale but it is sweet, kind of like a doughy corn bread that comes served in the corn husk like a tamale),
cakes made of aipim (the root that they use to make flour here [celia made this for me, it was delicous especially with a cup of coffee] this is a website that explains some different types of flour made in brazil and it's history: http://www.brasilbar.com/blog/archives/mandioca-flour-replaced-wheat-flour-in-brazil),
this is the aipim root before it is cooked, you can boil it and eat it like a potato or you can fry it and eat it like a french-fry (see below) p.s. they are way better than french-fries because they are denser and more savory.
cakes made from pinhåo which is a brazilian nut you steam and then pop out of the shell (it tastes very nutty and kind of plain, I haven't tried the cakes or breads made from them but I have heard they are delicious).
Also empandåo de frango o carne are very common too (those are common any where any time in brazil, its a staple of their diet [which i completely understand because they are amazing])
Below are pictures from the ISA little Festa Junina party, we had the desserts made from peanuts, chocolates with marshmallow paste in them called "peitos pretos" which literally means black ladies boodies no joke, lol we died laughing when we heard the name.
Costao do Santinho Resort and Spa Feild Trip
June 13th, 2013
Today I went on a field trip with my ethics class to a BEAUTIFUL resort on the north of the island called Costao do Santinho Resort and Spa. If I had the money I would definitely spend a weekend or a whole week if I could at this resort. It is so beautiful, I think it would be an amazing opportunity to intern for this resort at some point, however the distance from the resort to where I live made is unrealistic. But this was the first resort I have seen that looked like the type of resort I have seen in the U.S.A. We went to the resort to look at the indigenous ruins that are found on the resorts property, but I (of coarse) was infatuated with the hotel itself, thinking about all the ways I could market this stunning location! (I mean look at the pictures, its paradise) p.s. mom this is totally the place for you, if you ever come to Brazil this is where you need to stay! :D
That next weekend I went on a hike that starts at the resort and goes to a secluded island on the other side of the mountain, then loops back to the backside of the hotel through a forest and sand dunes, it was awesome, I wish I could have hiked it again, I really loved it.
Today I went on a field trip with my ethics class to a BEAUTIFUL resort on the north of the island called Costao do Santinho Resort and Spa. If I had the money I would definitely spend a weekend or a whole week if I could at this resort. It is so beautiful, I think it would be an amazing opportunity to intern for this resort at some point, however the distance from the resort to where I live made is unrealistic. But this was the first resort I have seen that looked like the type of resort I have seen in the U.S.A. We went to the resort to look at the indigenous ruins that are found on the resorts property, but I (of coarse) was infatuated with the hotel itself, thinking about all the ways I could market this stunning location! (I mean look at the pictures, its paradise) p.s. mom this is totally the place for you, if you ever come to Brazil this is where you need to stay! :D
That next weekend I went on a hike that starts at the resort and goes to a secluded island on the other side of the mountain, then loops back to the backside of the hotel through a forest and sand dunes, it was awesome, I wish I could have hiked it again, I really loved it.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Weekend Adventure to Curitiba and Foz de Iguaçu
May 30, 2013 (Thursday) Corpus Christi Holiday = no class yayaya!
Today I am off on a weekend adventure I have been looking forward to since the beginning of my trip here in Brazil, Curitiba and Foz de Iguaçu!!!! I woke up at 6:00am and headed to the long distance bus terminal with one backpack and a purse ready to embark on this crazy adventure. Twelve people from ISA and I got on a bus that took 4 hours to get to Curitiba. When we arrived we walked to our hotel called Ibis Budget, it took us about an hour and a half to check in, it was absolutely ridiculous, if it took me that long to check a group in at the Andaz I would be fired immediately... but Brazil is not known for it's efficiency... (have I told you about how grocery stores do not keep large amount of change in their registers, so if you pay for something with a hundred for example, it takes 20 minutes for them to call the manager and get change, and it holds up the whole line,,, it's crazy). After that we grabbed a quick bite to eat then were off to see the Museum Oscar Niemeyer. The man who designed this museum also designed the city of Brasilia (that I had visited earlier in the trip), so it was really interesting to see more of his style of architecture. There were some really cool exhibits in the museum as well, for example one was all about art that tricks your eye, so there are buildings that don't match up and make it look one way, but if you stare at it longer you realize don't make any sense and couldn't really stand up that way, they were really cool. The museum has one part that is shaped like a giant eye, so the museum is also known as the eye museum to locals. After the museum we all went to dinner at a delicious Mexican food restaurant (mexican food is not really popular here, it is more like a special occasion place for Brazilians, but us Americans love it so much we hunt out the restaurants no matter what city we are in, and eat at them all the time :D ).
May 31, 2013 (Friday)
Today we woke up early, grabbed some breakfast at the hotel and were off to see the city of Curitiba! The city is one of the nicest I have been in here in Brazil. It is very developed and cleaner than most, it is also known for having a pretty cool night life. In my opinion it reminds me a lot of Europe with the cobblestone streets, catholic churches, and architecture of some of the buildings. We did a walking/bus tour of the city on a bus system called Jardineira Buses. Our first stop was the Jardim Botanico (the botanical gardens) which was beautiful, it was a large park area surrounded by the city, with gardens similar to a very small version of the french gardens at the Chateau de Versailles (much much smaller though). There was a glass building at the top of the hill over looking the gardens that housed many different types of plants native to Brazil. Next we headed to the Universidade Libre do Meio Ambiente, which was this hidden pond surrounded by cliffs and rain forest that you can only get to through a secret wooden path that start on this random street in the middle of the city. It was an amazing hidden gem in the middle of the city, very unexpected. Then we headed to the Opera de Arame, which is the glass opera house, this opera house is surrounded by a small lake and is very pretty. Here we also tried tapioca, which is a treat that is made out of flour called mandoca which is made from a root native to Brazil. They take this flour and sprinkle it onto a hot pan or grittle then you add what ever ingrediants you want, we chose to have morango (strawberries) and leite condensado (condensed milk) which was AMAZING! it tasted like the best strawberry short cake I have ever had! (the flour is a little salty, with the sweet, it was heaven), some people also like savory ones with cheese and ham for example, I tried a bite of that one too and it was very tasty. We also had some pamonha, which is a pastry that is made from corn, it is like the corn part of a tamale but made sweet with sugar and served hot with condensed milk and cinnimon on top,,, holy cow it's amazing..... Delicious with a coffee (and how Brazilians are thinner than American's I will never know.. haha no I'm kidding, most only eat this things rarely as a treat). After we headed to the bus terminal to get on our over night bus to Iguaçu!
June 1, 2013 (Saturday)
After our 8 hour bus ride from Curitiba to Iguaçu we arrived at around 5:30am and headed to our hostel. This was the first time I had ever stayed in a hostel! The hostel was called Bambu, and when we arrived I was pleasantly surprised, it looked pretty cool with a pool and outside area with a bar for people to hang out. But the bar tender had apparently had too much fun the night before because when we arrived people were still walking around drinking and he was passed out on the couches in the main living area. About an hour after we got there (while people were showering and getting ready for the rest of the day) the bar tender randomly woke up and puked all over the floor, and what shocked me the most was that the lady on duty working at the hostel did not even clean it up, she just tossed a rag over the large part of the vomit and walked away, that made me scared to sleep in the beds there, because if someone puked in a bed what did they do, cover it with a sheet and walk away... EW!! After everyone had freshened up from the bus ride, we headed out to the bird park. At the bird park it started to rain really hard, dumping rain is probably a more accurate description. So we decided to change around our ajenda for the day and go see the Itaipu Damn and save the water falls for the next day when it was supposed to have better weather. The Itaipu Damn was awesome, we toured around the damn after watching a movie describing how it produces enough electricity to power the entire country of Paraguay and 17% of Brazil. The bus tour took us over the damn and into the Argentinian side, it was a spectacular view (even with it pouring and thunder-storming out, we just wore plastic panchos). The damn is one of the 7 modern wonders of the world, so it was cool to be able to drive over it. After we headed to a place where the 3 borders of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil all meet, where two rivers merge. It is called the 3 frontiers. Then we headed back to the hostel to freshen-up before we headed to dinner at a churrascaria which is a classic brazilian bbq restaurant (like rei do gado in san diego). It was delicious. That night I put a sheet over the bed at the hostel, and slept on my towel fully clothes with a shirt covering the pillow and my hood on, you can never be too careful when staying in a place where apparently vomit on the ground is not big deal...
June 2, 2013
We woke up early ate a classic brazilian breakfast (fruit and coffee) then headed to a Buddhist temple in Iguaçu. The temple was really neat, I had never been to a temple before and when we got there all the monks were in the temple singing and playing instruments and praying, so it was really peaceful and tranquil to listen to them and walk around the grounds. There were many statues of Buda and what I can only assume were other symbolic people that I have no idea what their names are or what they represent ( I want to learn more about the religion because it seems very interesting) but they looked really cool. Then we headed to Foz de Iguaçu!!!!!!! The best part of the trip by far. The falls were breath-taking! And huge! There had to be hundreds of waterfalls, and we were really lucky because we could see all of them due to the fact it had just rained so hard so the water was really flowing. We hiked along the water falls getting an amazing view the whole way, then we stopped and had lunch on top of one of the falls then hiked past some more down into the base of the river where we got onto a boat and DROVE THROUGH THE WATER FALLS! So I was able to shower in one of the seven natural wonders of the world! It was unreal! Absolutely one of the coolest things I have ever done! After that exhilarating experience we headed back to the bus terminal and got on our 12 hour over night bus ride back to Floripa and had to go to class the next morning right when we pulled into the bus station, it was pretty hectic, but totally worth it! AMAZING trip!
Today I am off on a weekend adventure I have been looking forward to since the beginning of my trip here in Brazil, Curitiba and Foz de Iguaçu!!!! I woke up at 6:00am and headed to the long distance bus terminal with one backpack and a purse ready to embark on this crazy adventure. Twelve people from ISA and I got on a bus that took 4 hours to get to Curitiba. When we arrived we walked to our hotel called Ibis Budget, it took us about an hour and a half to check in, it was absolutely ridiculous, if it took me that long to check a group in at the Andaz I would be fired immediately... but Brazil is not known for it's efficiency... (have I told you about how grocery stores do not keep large amount of change in their registers, so if you pay for something with a hundred for example, it takes 20 minutes for them to call the manager and get change, and it holds up the whole line,,, it's crazy). After that we grabbed a quick bite to eat then were off to see the Museum Oscar Niemeyer. The man who designed this museum also designed the city of Brasilia (that I had visited earlier in the trip), so it was really interesting to see more of his style of architecture. There were some really cool exhibits in the museum as well, for example one was all about art that tricks your eye, so there are buildings that don't match up and make it look one way, but if you stare at it longer you realize don't make any sense and couldn't really stand up that way, they were really cool. The museum has one part that is shaped like a giant eye, so the museum is also known as the eye museum to locals. After the museum we all went to dinner at a delicious Mexican food restaurant (mexican food is not really popular here, it is more like a special occasion place for Brazilians, but us Americans love it so much we hunt out the restaurants no matter what city we are in, and eat at them all the time :D ).
The eye !
look at this picture for a minute...
At the mexican food restaurant when we realized how much food we accidentally ordered... lost in translation
May 31, 2013 (Friday)
Today we woke up early, grabbed some breakfast at the hotel and were off to see the city of Curitiba! The city is one of the nicest I have been in here in Brazil. It is very developed and cleaner than most, it is also known for having a pretty cool night life. In my opinion it reminds me a lot of Europe with the cobblestone streets, catholic churches, and architecture of some of the buildings. We did a walking/bus tour of the city on a bus system called Jardineira Buses. Our first stop was the Jardim Botanico (the botanical gardens) which was beautiful, it was a large park area surrounded by the city, with gardens similar to a very small version of the french gardens at the Chateau de Versailles (much much smaller though). There was a glass building at the top of the hill over looking the gardens that housed many different types of plants native to Brazil. Next we headed to the Universidade Libre do Meio Ambiente, which was this hidden pond surrounded by cliffs and rain forest that you can only get to through a secret wooden path that start on this random street in the middle of the city. It was an amazing hidden gem in the middle of the city, very unexpected. Then we headed to the Opera de Arame, which is the glass opera house, this opera house is surrounded by a small lake and is very pretty. Here we also tried tapioca, which is a treat that is made out of flour called mandoca which is made from a root native to Brazil. They take this flour and sprinkle it onto a hot pan or grittle then you add what ever ingrediants you want, we chose to have morango (strawberries) and leite condensado (condensed milk) which was AMAZING! it tasted like the best strawberry short cake I have ever had! (the flour is a little salty, with the sweet, it was heaven), some people also like savory ones with cheese and ham for example, I tried a bite of that one too and it was very tasty. We also had some pamonha, which is a pastry that is made from corn, it is like the corn part of a tamale but made sweet with sugar and served hot with condensed milk and cinnimon on top,,, holy cow it's amazing..... Delicious with a coffee (and how Brazilians are thinner than American's I will never know.. haha no I'm kidding, most only eat this things rarely as a treat). After we headed to the bus terminal to get on our over night bus to Iguaçu!
looks european right..?
Botanical Gardens
The secret passage to get to the Universidade Libre do Meio Ambiente
The glass opera house
Making delicious Tapioca!!
June 1, 2013 (Saturday)
After our 8 hour bus ride from Curitiba to Iguaçu we arrived at around 5:30am and headed to our hostel. This was the first time I had ever stayed in a hostel! The hostel was called Bambu, and when we arrived I was pleasantly surprised, it looked pretty cool with a pool and outside area with a bar for people to hang out. But the bar tender had apparently had too much fun the night before because when we arrived people were still walking around drinking and he was passed out on the couches in the main living area. About an hour after we got there (while people were showering and getting ready for the rest of the day) the bar tender randomly woke up and puked all over the floor, and what shocked me the most was that the lady on duty working at the hostel did not even clean it up, she just tossed a rag over the large part of the vomit and walked away, that made me scared to sleep in the beds there, because if someone puked in a bed what did they do, cover it with a sheet and walk away... EW!! After everyone had freshened up from the bus ride, we headed out to the bird park. At the bird park it started to rain really hard, dumping rain is probably a more accurate description. So we decided to change around our ajenda for the day and go see the Itaipu Damn and save the water falls for the next day when it was supposed to have better weather. The Itaipu Damn was awesome, we toured around the damn after watching a movie describing how it produces enough electricity to power the entire country of Paraguay and 17% of Brazil. The bus tour took us over the damn and into the Argentinian side, it was a spectacular view (even with it pouring and thunder-storming out, we just wore plastic panchos). The damn is one of the 7 modern wonders of the world, so it was cool to be able to drive over it. After we headed to a place where the 3 borders of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil all meet, where two rivers merge. It is called the 3 frontiers. Then we headed back to the hostel to freshen-up before we headed to dinner at a churrascaria which is a classic brazilian bbq restaurant (like rei do gado in san diego). It was delicious. That night I put a sheet over the bed at the hostel, and slept on my towel fully clothes with a shirt covering the pillow and my hood on, you can never be too careful when staying in a place where apparently vomit on the ground is not big deal...
arriving at the hostel at 5:30am,,, thats the drunk bar tender on the right on the couch
an awesome backpacking backpack! I want to get a brazilian patch and put it on mine like this one! and in the future put patches from all the countries I travel to on it!
All the different people who have stayed at this hostel!
I was the first from San Diego! I put the pin in :D
And this is how you clean up vomit here at the wonderful Bambu Hostel... wow.
Bird Park
Rocking the panchos
The place where paraguay, brazil, and argentina meet
One of the seven modern wonders of the world, the itaipu damn
June 2, 2013
We woke up early ate a classic brazilian breakfast (fruit and coffee) then headed to a Buddhist temple in Iguaçu. The temple was really neat, I had never been to a temple before and when we got there all the monks were in the temple singing and playing instruments and praying, so it was really peaceful and tranquil to listen to them and walk around the grounds. There were many statues of Buda and what I can only assume were other symbolic people that I have no idea what their names are or what they represent ( I want to learn more about the religion because it seems very interesting) but they looked really cool. Then we headed to Foz de Iguaçu!!!!!!! The best part of the trip by far. The falls were breath-taking! And huge! There had to be hundreds of waterfalls, and we were really lucky because we could see all of them due to the fact it had just rained so hard so the water was really flowing. We hiked along the water falls getting an amazing view the whole way, then we stopped and had lunch on top of one of the falls then hiked past some more down into the base of the river where we got onto a boat and DROVE THROUGH THE WATER FALLS! So I was able to shower in one of the seven natural wonders of the world! It was unreal! Absolutely one of the coolest things I have ever done! After that exhilarating experience we headed back to the bus terminal and got on our 12 hour over night bus ride back to Floripa and had to go to class the next morning right when we pulled into the bus station, it was pretty hectic, but totally worth it! AMAZING trip!
These little crazy creatures will steal you lunch if you don't watch out, Crystal was walking around with her lunch in a plastic grocery bag and it ran up to her and grabbed the bag and ripped it with its claws. Then when the food fell out it took it and ran into the bushes, clearly it wasn't this little guy's first rodeo, he's got the attack and everything planned out.
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