Video blog! Arrial do Cabo, School, Horseback riding

Hi guys!

I decided to do a video blog this week, because I have been super busy with school and friends and everything. Let me know if you guys like it!

*I'm sorry about my failing english skills. It's really embarassing, actually.

Beautiful mountains on the road

Arrived at sunset, so I took some pictures 

Freezing waters of Praia Grande

Walked up a mountain to watch the sunset

Another beautiful sunset

That really pretty beach I loved! (hard to get to)

Beautiful waters of Arraial do Cabo :)

My sexy Brazilian sunga I bought ;)

Prainha

Kari and I on our way to Búzios

Sunset in Búzios

Street in the tourist city of Búzios

Colombian café where I bought "the coffee"

Boat trip :)

Gruta Azul

Horseback riding (I got my hair cut since then, DONT WORRY)

View while Horseback riding

Me with my USA flag on Praia do Forte in Cabo Frio

Mountain view on way back home 

Christmas, New Years, etc...

Hey guys! Sorry it has been a while.... I've been busy! So lets start this one with right when I got back from the Northeast Trip.

Right after the Northeast trip, it took a day or so to adjust to a regular sleeping schedule again and then I was back to normal Brazilian life! Christmas Eve, Marlee and I went last-minute Christmas shopping, and we wrapped all of our gifts "the normal way." In Brasil, Santa Clause brings everyone things in a giant sack, with all of the stuff in its original store bags and nothing wrapped. Santa was very nice to me this year, and I got 3 shirts! Christmas Eve and Christmas, we all sat down at a nicely-set table and had family meals. Another different thing (that maybe was just my family): they didn't make the food, they bought it. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. It was delicious! We had chicken parmigiana and some fish thing, and it was really good! Also, Christmas day, I made my wild Wisconsin rice, and everyone seemed to like it! To finish off a great meal, we had some homemade Cheesecake! Later that night, I went out with Marlee to a Christmas party with some friends, which was really nice to see everyone again after such a long trip.

Cheesecake

Dinner Table

My Wild Rice

New Years Eve was really fun! For one thing, it was my first time going out to a REAL party, and another thing, it was in Brasil. I went to another party, only this one was with a lot of people dancing and loud music. We all danced up until literally 10 seconds before midnight when we finally looked at the Brazilian equivalent of "The Ball Drop" (just fireworks) on TV. After that, we just continued partying and having a blast! I was out until 7am the next day! I loved it hahaha.

January 8th, I switched host families! My first host family was extended a little longer (a month longer) because of the trip, but I was ok with it! I had a really great experience in their house, and I am super thankful to have lived there, but changing families is an important part of exchange. I went from living in a house to people coming and going, and me not knowing who even lived there, to a small apartment with only my host mom and dad. I really am enjoying it here, though. They are both SUPER nice, and really funny! I really feel close with them already, and I look forward to the time I have with them. One thing I noticed while changing families: I have accumulated A LOT of stuff, and I don't even know how!!! I guess that's a perk (or disadvantage) of living abroad.

Just a few days later occurred one of the hardest days I have had here in Brasil: Marlee had to go back to Australia. In Australia, their exchange year is January-January, so she completed her year here. Over the 5 months that I knew her, she became one of the best friends I have ever had, and my sister. Without her, Brazil would have been a totally different experience. My first couple weeks, she introduced me to so many people, and explained everything I needed to know about Brazil, and Itabira. The day she left, it just felt like the city isn't the same anymore. I still miss her and think about her often. I know that the day she left will NOT be the last day I see her, because we will meet up (hopefully someday soon) in Australia, the States, or maybe even somewhere else in the world.

Since then, I have continued living normal everyday Brazilian life. I speak Portuguese, go out with friends, go to parties, and also spend time with my new family. I really love living in Brazil, and I am super excited to share it with my American family when we all come here again.

Regular night out!

Out to a horse ranch with my host dad

View from outside my new room :)

Riding a horse for the first time at my host family's
 family house in the country!

Little waterfall we went to by my host family's
house in the country

Random fruit that we picked off of a tree
at a churrasco.. I dont know what it was
but I liked it!

Tomorrow morning at 4am, we leave for Arraial do Cabo; a really pretty ocean-side city in the state of Rio de Janeiro that my family will be vacationing in. I'm super excited :) Based on the pictures, the water is GORGEOUSLY crystal clear, and I am just dreaming of swimming and snorkeling every day there. It's going to be absolute paradise :)

Until after my trip, everyone! I hope you guys are all surviving the cold, and enjoying yourselves as much as I am every day :) Beijos!

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!