ADIC, Belo Horizonte, Congonhas

Hello! The last week and and half, I was in Belo Horizonte for another Inbound conference. It was really great! The first three days were at a catholic school in BH where the ADIC Interact conference was being held. We all slept together in classrooms, and spent the days together with brazilians. It was really great! Some highlights included painting childerens' drawings in the courtyard, a few great dances, and a paint fight! It would be too long to explain everything that happened, so here are just a few pictures!

The rest of the week, we were in BH just having meetings and what-not. The meetings were a little dull, but I still loved being with all of my exchange student family. Everyone is just so awesome, and everyone gets along. On Thursday, I had the opportunity to go to Congonhas, which is a city about 90 km south of BH. It is home to a really beautiful church and courtyard that was designed by a man who only had one hand! It was beautiful!! 

While I was there, I was interviewed and on TV! It was for some conservation of the art of Minas Gerais thing, and I was really nervous so my Portuguese was really bad. Its only for like 2 seconds at the end of this clip, but it was still fun! http://www.almg.gov.br/acompanhe/tv_assembleia/videos/index.html?idVideo=804234

On Sunday, I got sick. So thats a bummer, but I am getting better and all I have now is an annoying cough! Woohoo! I'll be all better for my trip IN 4 DAYS! I'm soooooooo excited!!!! My next blog post will be about some of my adventures during my trip! :D  

I hope you all have a happy thanksgiving, and that everything is going great in work/school!

Keeping you updated....

Hi everybody! This week was really busy for me! On Wednesday, Marlee's real Australian mom arrived in Brasil, so I have been with her and Marlee showing her around the city, taking her to the good açaí places, etc... When we went to Pico do Amor, I learned that we have little burrowing owls that live up there, and they were so cute!

Also, I bought a really cool Brazilian instrument: the cavaquinho. Its like a ukulele. Kind of. All I know is that both the ukulele and cavaquinho evolved from an instrument from Portugal called the machete. I guess that was like the mother instrument and these are like its kids. Anyway, its really pretty and it sounds amazing. Now I just need to learn how to play it, without help in English. I only have one picture of me with it and it is extremely strange. To be fair to me, my host brother walked in on me taking a selfie with my cavaquinho, so I was startled and I only had one shot. You take what you can get, I guess hahaha.

Also, as an added bonus, I snapped a picture on my way to school today. It was raining all night last night, and all morning, and it just cleared up enough for me to walk to school at 6:30am. Though tired, I was still physically able to enjoy the beauty, and snap a decent shot.

So that was basically my week! Next week, I have school until Thursday, and then it is summer break until February! Its gonna be amazing! I also have an upcoming conference in Belo Horizonte, where I will meet up with all of the exchange students. Anytime all of the exchange students get together, things get crazy fun, and I cant wait. 

Today also marks 3 months since I have arrived in Brasil. I am 1/4 of the way done with my exchange. Time is literally flying by!

I hope everyone is enjoying the chilly weather back in Wisconsin! Here, every day is getting hotter and I am a little afraid I might evaporate. At least my pasty white United State's body is getting tanned/red!