Northeast Trip

Prepare yourself: this is a long one.

To begin, this trip was by far one of the best trips of my life. I don’t know what it was about the trip; the people, the atmosphere, the places….. It all just was perfect. I cannot stress enough how incredibly thankful I am to my parents for allowing me to have this life-changing opportunity that is exchange, and also allowing me to go on this amazing trip!

I guess I will begin at the start of the trip: Belo Horizonte. I am very lucky to be living so close to Belo Horizonte. Not only is it one of the largest cities in Brasil, but it also is the start for the Northeast trip, so I didn’t have to pay for an airplane! Woohoo! Only a $12 bus ticket. When I got to the hotel, I was really surprised at just how many exchange students there were. 87! Meu deus do céu! We spent 2 days there in BH just talking with each other, getting to know each other, and learning the rules of the trip. The good thing was that we all got along, and we were all able to become quick friends.

After 17 hours of driving, staying overnight in Victoria da Conquista, and another 10 hours in the bus, we arrived in the city of Lençóis. In that small, very touristic and beautiful town, we were going to stay at a beautiful 5 star hotel and visit the region that is Chapada Diamantina. The first day, we went on a little hike up to a beautiful waterfall, swam a little, and then walked down to some more natural pools that were so beautiful! The next day, we went to a beautiful cave that we had to hike down to, and later to an area that has the clearest waters I have ever seen! It was like looking in glass! I paid a little extra there to do two extra excursions: Snorkel tour and Zip line! First I did three rounds down the zip line. They strapped you in, and you had to run off this board and jump right off a cliff! It was amazing! At the end, I was greeted by the water, which was usually an unpleasant landing (face first and doing flips all over the place). Nonetheless, it was so much fun! After that, I did the snorkeling in the caves, where we got a flashlight and had to follow the guide’s voice, because the cave was absolutely pitch black! You couldn’t see a thing! The water was still clear, though, and you could see down more than 30 feet with your flashlight.  Later that night, we had an incredible capoeira show and got to sit around the pool and talk. Our third day in Lençóis, we went to see why the region of Chapada Diamantina is called “The Brazilian Grand Canyon.” We took a 4km hike up a mountain, and we were left with some of the most gorgeous views I have ever seen. Not going to lie, it was a little scary, though, because one bad step and you fell down a sheer cliff. Maybe I’m not so good with heights haha. After that, we went to a “natural waterslide,” that was really pretty and fun! Added bonus, I found a pair of sunglasses in the bottom of an area right before the waterfall. Score! Unfortunately, my camera broke just after this trip L I don’t even know why…. I didn’t drop it, no one sat on it, the screen just got messed up, and the camera burned you if you touched it while it was on. Good thing I had my phone. Although it doesn’t take the best pictures, it was better than nothing!

Morro do Pai Inacio

Natural Waterslide

The Americans

Crystal Clear Waters

Our next destination was Maceió. Wow. Maybe it was just that it was the first Brazilian beach I have ever seen, but it was so beautiful! We spent the entire day on the beach. Our second day there, we went to another beach, only that we had to go there by boat! It was more secluded, and more beautiful, in my opinion. In that beach, we also had the opportunity to go on a dune buggy ride, which was great! At one point, my group’s driver accidentally had his wheels in the water, and we almost flipped!  It was awesome. Later that night, we had an amazing party all to ourselves, and danced and just had a great time.

2nd Beach

1st Beach

1st Beach

1st Beach

2nd Beach

2nd Beach

After Maceió, we went to the beautiful city of Salvador: one of the two cities I wanted to visit before I left Brasil. It was stunning. Every building had a different color, and the city was filled with so much culture, history and music! The first day, we spent time in this big market, and later went up this elevator that separated the city between high and low. Once we went up it, we had free time to roam around the rainbow of buildings and see beautiful churches. Later, we went to one of the most interesting shows I have ever seen. It was about the religion of Candomblé, which the African slaves created, that is a mixture of African religions. I definitely want to research that religion, because all of the gods and goddesses were so interesting and so cultural. It also included capoeira, which all of the girls liked because the guys were extremely ripped and doing flips and stuff. They all got their pictures with them afterwards haha. The next day, we went to Praia do Forte to see the sea turtle project exhibit, and do some shopping. It had a lot of cool stuff, but it was a little pricy.

Close enough to snow

Praia do Forte

Famous Elevator

So much color!

Porto Seguro was our next destination, where we were greeted by bad weather. That didn’t stop us from going to the beach, though. We are exchange students. Porto Seguro is home to the famous Axé Moi, which is a giant party area right on the beach. We spent a lot of the day on the beach, and later went to the place where the Portuguese settlers originally landed in Brasil. It was really great. At night, we went to another party, where we danced and just had a lot of fun.

Beautiful buildings where Brazil was discovered

After Porto Seguro, we went to Guadapari for just one night, and later trekked on to the ever-so-famous Rio de Janeiro. I can see why it is so popular; it was the prettiest city I have ever seen. The city was massive, but also had beautiful green mountains within the city and amazing beaches. Our hotel was right by Copacabana beach, so we spent a lot of free time there taking pictures, and looking at all of the shops. We also had the opportunity to go to the Christ the Redeemer statue. Unfortunately, the weather was overcast, so it we were unable to see the “marvelous view of the city,” and also it was difficult to take photos. Even though the weather was not optimum, it was still so impressive to be so close to a statue that you can see from the streets watching down on you. It really is amazing. We also went to Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain) to see the incredible view. This time, it wasn’t overcast, so we really got to see just how incredibly stunning Rio is. To get to the top, we had to take two cable cars, which were so fun, and allowed us to see the city while traveling up.

Actual size of Streets in the Favela

Copacabana Beach!

Christ the Redeemer!

Pão de Açúcar.... absolutely stunning

Pão de Açúcar

Pão de Açúcar

Favela

Everyone stealing cable and electricity in Favela

Our next stop was Angra dos Reis, which is an area of 365 different gorgeous islands and also a very rich area. We were very lucky to have a beautiful sunny day that day, where we went traveling around those amazing islands on a boat: tanning, talking, and swimming in the beautiful beaches. When we arrived at our hotel, we had an emotional time where almost everyone was crying, and exchanging pins. After everyone stopped crying and feeling sad, we got to the luau dance, which was actually less dancing, and more just spending time with one another. After 20 days, we became so close; like a family. We stayed up until 3:30, and had to wake up 2 hours later to go back to our cities. When saying goodbye, everyone started crying again, and remembering all of the amazing times we had together on this AMAZING trip. It truly was incredible. I know for a fact that we all became life-long friends, and that I have a home all around the world. Exchange is more than just a year in another country; you get to meet life-long friends from all around the world, and travel your entire life just catching up with each other. I cannot stress enough just how amazing exchange is. I miss all of my new family, but I know that I will see them again, whether it be in Brasil or another country. 

View from my hotel room

Shot at 5:30 in the morning

Day on the boat!

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!

Cachoeira (Part 2)

...... and I will continue! After swimming in the refreshingly cold water/ tanning our pasty foreign bodies for a few hours, we decided to go back on the dirt road to another location on top of a mountain! We drove up to a mountain, and had to walk the last part of it to get to the top, where we found a gorgeous church and breathtaking views!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   And that completes my amazing day!