pausa!

our classroom has fun pictures that we draw on the wall! 

Right now I am in a "pausa" a small break in the middle of my spanish class. we are working a lot these days. things really picked up after the break, which is really nice because truthfully i really was almost not working. because of my classes, i spend my time doing grammar worksheets, listening to music, and watching movies. today i have a test, a quiz and a response paper due! crazy work! 

tudu bem? tudu bem!

brazil:

i feel in love with brazil. it is a city on the ocean (a wonderful nod to cape town) but this time instead of being cradled by just mountains, it is the beautiful jungle. THE JUNGLE. oh my word it was incredible. eloquence has escaped me in describing the city because the greatness of it has made me revert to my elementary instincts. while there i drank açai juice at least twice a day. i ate steaks, went to the beach, listened to samba and spent time with 7 other lovely ladies. to think that 8 girls could go on a trip together and not want to kill every single other one before the end of the trip is incredible. we stayed for 4 nights in copacabana in a gorgeous penthouse apartment that i dont know how we snagged. it was rooftop and 3 blocks away from the beach. we had an outdoor shower. i WILL live n a house with an outdoor shower. its not a question. it is something i prioritize i'm pretty sure. on our first day in the city we started the day off right with fresh fruits and juice, a bit of morning work to free up the rest of the vacation and headed over the see Cristo Redentor, the large jesus statue that guards the city which we lovingly refer to now as "Big Jesus". Whilst waiting for the train up the mountain, we ate corn on the streets and made friends with a local woman at a grocery store/ bakery while enjoying fresh coconut water and pão de queijo: delicious yuca bread filled with cheese. we did more sight seeing and ended up going out to the area Lapa, a nightlight district like ive never seen before. they sell drinks on the streets, kabobs of meat sizzling at stands, music blaring and then you go into these clubs and are engulfed by samba music. trumpets, percussion, clapping, stomping, hips, sweat: it was all so much to take in. after dancing like the unabashed white girls we are, some locals taught us to dance the samba in a dialect we made up that is a combination of spanish, english, and portuguese. i am not saying that i can dance the samba, but i know how it should look. needless to say the rest of our trip to rio was incredible.
after being there for 4 days we took a bus to the beach town of buzios. again, i had my heart stolen by this gorgeous city on the water. it was touristy as anything but i dont even care. it was wonderful. we stayed in a hostel on the water, i got up every morning and went for runs on the beach with my friend gaby, directly followed by dips in the ocean and açai, then more fruit and a short bus ride to a white sand beach and crystal clear ocean with waves and corn on the beach. ugh, recounting it makes me salivate. i'm pretty sure as long as i am in or around the water, everything else could be terrible and i would still be happy. any beach is just the best place in the whole world.

emily prepping for a breakfast of real champions 

view from cristo redentor

big jesus

a casual brazilian lunch. they said it was portioned for 2...

giving buzios some lovin

rio rio rio

this was the view from my hostel steps... 

we asked for a picture con muchas muchas carne

sugar loaf: the beautiful monolith that towers over the coast of rio

some of the ladies

chinchin con meat

me and sabina on beautiful rio steps

fail jump shot a big jesus 

*i am still developing my film. the photo credit goes to gaby sena

its been a while

so it is not like last semester when i was constantly updating, but my absence should read as "im having a great time"....

went to tea when seanie was here!

i hang out at fun graffiti bars with my friends

there is so much corn on the beach! how could i not love it!

this is all pre my trip to brazil of which i will comment more on in just a bit:

pre brazil updates: 

never before in my life have i had so much free time while still feeling productive. i feel like the luckiest girl in the whole entire world. i am taking interesting classes. i have classes that start at 11 and end every day at 5. i go to the movies during the week. i do all my homework whilst sitting at beautiful cafés that pepper the city. it is actually incredible. i have an incredible and genuine group of friends that i wish to know for much longer than this program extends to. of course i have some complaints but they are minor ie in the style of teaching in some of my classes: im just not used to it. and it is strange to be in classes where clearly not all the students have done the work or just dont say a single word when the teacher poses questions to the class. but i dont care that much. the topics of my classes are interesting and almost always engaging. 

i have not traveled outside the city as much as i would have thought i would but its okay because i am growing very comfortable and familiar with buenos aires. the city itself is incredible and asks to be explored. i keep finding new cafés, new graffiti walls and book stores to enjoy. the city is so conducive to this sort of lifestyle. 

basically killin it

because i am lazy and i don't want to type this stuff out again, here is an excerpt from an e-mail i just sent to mi padre:

...

besides that i had my first test in 9 months today! it was for intensive elementary spanish and i spent close to 12 hours studying for it... i think i over did it, but i cant help it #reedkidproblems and now i can tell you just about every object you would find in an office or classroom and tell the time. i'm basically killin it over here :) 

i tried to tell my host mother than im giving up dulce de leche for lent (basically cuz i dont want another "africa body" as i so fondly call it) which will be hard because that stuff is basically like a carmel-ly liquid deliciousness of a topping the argentines dollop and drip on any sustenance that will accept it - its like salt and ketchup for americans but more of a sugar rush to the melon - she wouldn't have any of it and gave me the tiniest cracker with dulce on it tonight after dinner. her name is silvia and she's adorable and cute. i really love living here. 

I went to the beaches of Cariló this weekend with my new NYU friends. It was a 4 and half hour bus ride which is nothing because the buses here are like first class American Airlines. The seats recline back to a comfortable sleeping position and a friendly hostess checks on you to make sure you are comfortable and if you have enough snacks. i'm taking buses everywhere. anyway the vacay was what id like to call "bitches do the beach". We got there, went grocery shopping for pizza/pasta fixings and more delicious fruit and veggies that would put straubs to shame. We then used said fruit to make champagne clerico (http://www.chow.com/recipes/10326-clerico-sangria-blanco) which we proceeded to drink whilst watching sex and the city for hours as rain soaked our day 1. not to worry tho, we made a bomb pizza, had an early night and woke up at noon to the sun shining and the beach calling our name. We were there for three days and did almost nothing but tan, concoct delicious meals, eat champagne soaked fruit, plan a clueless inspired theme party for later this week and i even wrote a college essay or two. twas very nice to say the very least. 

...

it ends here because the internet does not need to know all about my life and what i write to the fam.

i recently came by an old point and shoot kodak camera which is why the pics are lacking, but hopefully it is worth more than i got it for and by that i mean i hope it works. if it does i will post new photos soon, but here is a strange taste of my life here...

you might think this is a joke, but we got to draw pictures of our classmates and decorate them to hang out our elementary spanish class. this is a classmate's rendering of my good friend brooke (brooke is very beautiful in real life). #wedrawpicturesinmyspanishclass and i love it

beaucoup de choix of snacks on the bus to Cariló

if i didn't have to go to school (which is great too) i wouldn't have left

BUENOS AIRES

im off again!

i really should have posted earlier, but with all the craziness that is trying to move into someone elses house in another city in another country on another continent than the one i'm used to, things get hectic. 

but here are some teasers into what my life has been like so far:

this is my rooom!

a colorful barrio

san telmo street fair

the graffiti here is amazing #casualtagandworksofart

san telmo street fair

im so home!

home home home home home home home home home home home home home home home home home

coming back... its strange. but i was ready for it. i can drink from the tap, sleep not under a mosquito net, i still take malarone (whatever), have dairy! its good. ill be home for just over a month before venturing off to buenos aires for the semester. i better start learning spanish yesterday. oh happy holiday fun!

safari fun and loving rwanda

mama's on safari!

surprise visit to maasai village

elephants!

we did safari right this time 

mbuzi mawe camp site! go here!

cute little rwandan babies in a tree

gorilla trekking! see the silverback!

beautiful rwanda

hot spring unofficial tour guide

beautiful garden at lake kivu at the border to congo 

i love it here!