Back to School

Sorry for the super long delay in writing this post but I've been pretty busy. Anyway, Carnaval was a blast! Hard to believe it's already over. Florianopolis has some beautiful beaches and our hostel was a really cool place to stay. It's owned by a couple of really sweet girls who DJ at a club in town, so we got some VIP access one night. The music selection was one of the funniest things I've ever heard--including Spice Girls and Hanson? A few Aussies and Swedes were staying at the hostel too so we made some interesting new friends. It was so nice to wake up whenever, head to the beach, drink some caipirinhas, jump some waves, walk around, people watch (ooh so many thongs), and head back to get ready for the night. The Florianopolis Sambodromo was really fun, but, not surprisingly, the parade was not as impressive as São Paulo's. The Centro had some street parties going on, and we were bumping into and meeting tons of random people from all over. Unfortunately, I got extremely sunburned one day at the beach and have been recovering for the past two weeks. Sunscreen doesn't cut it here I guess. Hopefully I'll figure it out, because we have two trips to Paraty and Rio coming up and I cannot afford another burn like that one. Regardless, getting psyched for Paraty and Rio! This time it'll be the entire CIEE group traveling together as opposed to me and a few of my friends, so should be interesting. Also, George is coming to visit next week! Yaaayy! I can't wait to show him around. He has threatened to say nothing but "AMURRICA!" the entire time, so hopefully we won't get arrested or mugged.

Last Saturday I finally made it to the flea market in Praça Benedito Calixto, and it was awesome. Tons of antique silver, photographs, records, leather goods, old postcards, clothes, knives, sunglasses, jewelry, you name it. I could have spent all day there. Plus there's apparently some really great ethnic food in the middle of the square I need to try next time. I've made a running list of things I need to do around the city and it's pretty long so I better get cracking. One of my friends and I have pledged to get out more and explore the city, and we're starting this week with MASP and Avenida Paulista. My list also includes 39 different bars/baladas. It's a tough job but someone's gotta do it.

My first few classes have gone pretty well. I can generally understand everything going on. Four hours of one class is a lot, though, and feels even longer during a night class when you can hear hundreds of people partying on the street behind PUC. On top of that, I'm trying to concentrate in another language. Thank God I only have one night class. I've just tried to read my first assigned reading, and it's also extremely challenging. The workload wouldn't be that much in English, but it takes so much longer when I have to consult my Portuguese dictionary at least once every other sentence. I'm sure it'll get easier, but jeez. The Evolution of of Political Citizenship in Brazil? Not quite ready for this vocab.

My new language teacher, Laïs, seems great. We only have language class twice a week now, and culture class once a week with Wilson. No classes on Fridays! First time in my whole life.

Just discovered a couple of events coming to São Paulo I'm super excited about. Cirque du Soleil is performing Quidam throughout March, and I've heard it's amazing. I loved Alegria when I was little, so I'm interested to see how this one compares. Also, the world's largest rave is coming to São Paulo on April 17th! It's called Sensation, usually gathers about 40,000 people, really famous DJs, and everyone wears white. Never been to a rave, but I'm in Brazil, and this is as big as they come, and I like to party, so why not?

Also, my mom and Ellen are coming to São Paulo at the end of March! They're going to whisk me away to Manaus and then Rio right before Easter. Can't really believe it's happening... the Amazon and Ipanema in the same week... I think my life will be complete. I can already tell the next few months are going to go by way too quickly.

Oh! And my buddy Dillon's coming to SP this Thursday with some UVa students on some kind of service trip for 10 days. He thinks he'll have time to meet up, so could be an SJS reunion in the mix. So many visitors! Must. Remember. Go. To. Class.