our classroom has fun pictures that we draw on the wall!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
pausa!
Sunday, April 8, 2012
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)