STUDYING ABROAD IN BRASIL

Oi, eu sou a Alex e sou uma estudante da University of Missouri - Kansas City (Estados Unidos). Estou estudando na Universidade do Sul em Florianópolis, Santa Catarina. Estudo Administração e Português aqui. Este blog é onde vou escrever sobre coisas legais que eu faço, coisas sobre o Brasil que eu gosto e desgosto, e sobre as pessoas que encontro. Também, porque minha família está lendo este blog, vou escrever primariamente em inglês. Mas se qualquer Brasileiro(a) quer falar da alguma coisa no meu blog, pode me mandar uma mensagem. A gente pode falar em Português!

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The World Cup Is Just Weeks Away. Here's Why Brazilians Aren't As Excited As You Are.

In soccer-obsessed Brazil, the world's biggest sporting event is about a lot more than just soccer....

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So wrapped up in his phone that he didn't realize I was licking his ear...  0_o 

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Bus strikes - something incredibly inconvenient and somewhat frequent in Brasil.  It's kind of interesting how it's done - basically the workers schedule a strike with the company and everyone knows about it a day or two in advance. That way, alternative ways of transportation can be found.  The only problem is that because we live so far from school that when there is a bus strike, we really can't go to school...  The picture on the top left is a row of buses stopped in the middle of the street and people walking by. The one of the right is a group of people trying to block the remaining buses from entering the terminal. 

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Learning things the stupid/hard way - something that doesn't change no matter where you are.  I had boiled some water earlier in the evening for tea, and a few hours later wanted to check and see if it was hot. To check this, rather than doing anything remotely smart, I poured the water on the back of my hand.  The answer to my question? Yes, it was indeed hot. Very hot. Hot enough to melt my skin away 

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Definitely want to make note of our office space we have at UNISUL. ISA has an office here with computers, couches, a TV, and most importantly - many a bean bag.  We spend a lot of time here in between classes (sleeping, eating, or talking with our advisers).  In this picture, Colin and I are killing 3 hours on a Wednesday between Doing Business in Brasil and Entrepreneurship.

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Totally forgot to post pictures from my rafting trip! In the same weekend we went to Aguas Mornas, we also took a rafting trip. It was such a cool experience. We all showed up at the rafting location, got life jackets and a little bit of training, and then split into groups.  It was such a cool experience, definitely one of my favorite weekends that I had during all of my time in Brasil.  After we reached the end of the route we headed to our resort where we spent the next two nights. 

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For my International Econ and Doing Business in Brasil classes we took a field trip to Rancho Queimado, a super small town about 1.5 hours outside of Floripa.  Located here is an elementary school that is the first school in South America to be solar-powered. The really cool thing about this is that Baltazar, my Econ professor, is the one who spear-headed the whole project. Going to this school where he had created such an amazing thing - giving electricity to a building that otherwise wouldn't have had it - was so cool.  When we arrived, the children of the school had prepared a choir show for us as well as a traditional Brazilian/German dance. It was really precious.  After this, many speeches were given by teachers and the principal, thanking my professor and my university for everything they did to help them.  After, there was a short intermission before lunch where we were able to see things produced locally (strawberries and guarana). Then we headed to one of the most delicious meals of my life.  We all walked to a little "town hall" about 15 minutes away from the school. They had prepared a massive meal using all products grown locally. While we were eating at picnic-style tables, a HUGE hail storm started. It was super random and last for about 10 minutes.  After the rain and hail stopped, we all started on our way home. Due to the fact that we were in a super tiny town, there were only two roads leading in or out of the city. Both had been closed because of mudslides in the rain. It took about 3 or 4 hours to finally get home. But it was still a cool trip - seeing how my university is promoting sustainability is a really inspiring thing. 

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Today I was chatting with one of the heads of my program, and he made a remark about me being "fluent in Portguese..."

       Things like this make me so proud of how much I have learned in the last  year. 

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So down the street from my apartment there is a snooker place where we all go and attempt to play American pool.  While we had a nice time playing pool but in reality spent the majority of the evening taking pictures and being obnoxious :P The top picture on the left is me, Kristen, and her boyfriend that came to visit her from the U.S. He spent a little over a week here, getting to see our way of life: vida boa. 

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Yet another photo set of Mike and me. I love these pictures - they showcase perfectly how much we laugh together. It's nice to know that every day someone will bring me to tears from laughter.  He is known for being the King of Selfies amongst the Americans here...a habit that he has slowly roped me into. 

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I finally got tired of eating like shit while I'm here. Those who know me can attest - I am horrible in the kitchen. I have no desire to cook, to learn to cook, or to attempt to really make my own food. But the way I have been eating here is preetttty horrid.  To combat this, I have been taking tips from my pro-cooking, vegetarian roommate.  This is a omnivorous-adaptation to one of the things she makes/my first real attempt. 

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Last Thursday 1007, the same club we went to for Brian's birthday, was hosting a party where we would get in for a fairly large discount if we arrived before a certain time.  We all got there around 12:30..considering it was a Thursday, the fact that the club was pretty empty shouldn't have been surprising.  Two beers for one meant that we all sat on the top level where there are plenty of chairs and tables to start a little game of Never Have I Ever.  A group of very flamboyent Brazilians next to us heard our English and got really excited. The boys all joined in the game and started playing with us.  After awhile, more Americans from our program showed up and we all went to the dance floor for awhile.  The night was finished with Moe D and I spending about an hour and a half talking with basically the only other large group of people at the club. At this point, most of the others had already left. He and I took a cab home.  While Moe was pretty silent, I spent the way home talking with our driver. I love talking to taxi drivers - mostly because they are normally super friendly and enjoy a good conversation. We were listening to Justin Timberlake, and I actually spent some time translating the music for him. It was a cool ride. 

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Mass

Last night we went to Mass here in Santa Cruz do Sul for Easter.  It wasn´t too different from when I have gone with my grandparents in the U.S. for Christmas, but at the same time listening to it in Portuguese was definitely different.  It was really funny because when Bah, his brother, his brother´s girlfriend, and I arrived, we were a tad light. At this point, all of the lights were off and there was some candle ceremony going on in the middle of the church. As we were walking in, we stepped onto what appeared to be a rug on the floor. Turns out, it was just a large, dark, rectangular tile. As we all four twisted back and forth to dry our feet on the "rug" loud squeaking noises ensued and echoed throughout the church. It was impossible not to laugh.  During the service, Bah started to look at all the bracelets on my arm. After finding one that suited his liking, he took it off me, put it on himself, and faced forward again like nothing happened.  I guess that´s how you take things from your friends that you want haha.   

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I arrived in Porto Alegre Friday morning after waiting a ridiculous amount of time in the bus station.. it was such a welcoming relief to be here again with Bah.  I love Floripa, the people I´ve met, and the other Americans that live close to me, but being here with him and then traveling to Santa Cruz to be with his family was exactly what I needed right now.  You never really know how stressed you feel until you´re away from it all - until you have a chance to just relax and get rid of it all from your mind. After everything that has been going on in Floripa (all of money being stolen from my account, not having a debit card, Moe´s phone, some assholes in the program, being sick) it is exactly what I needed to be here with someone that isn´t just my friend but also my family.  When we got off the bus in Santa Cruz and got in the car with his dad, I felt such a feeling of relief. I sat in the back seat smiling like an idiot all the way from the bus station until his parents´ house, just because all the stress that was gone.  I love this picture, because it really describes the difference between my life with them and when I am in Floripa. Here, I am in a comfortable place where I feel at home, with a mom that loves being a home-maker and taking care of me, with a dad that likes to tell silly jokes, and with a brother that likes to joke with me and talk about life problems.  I am so lucky to have them here, because they make being away from my home so much easier. This Easter lacked nothing in the ways of family or community for me. It was a great day spent at Bah´s grandpa´s filled with food, talking, and togetherness. 

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One of the many reasons that I love my roommate: my first egg for Easter!  After spending the whole day sick, laying in bed trying not to die, my roommate came home and gave me one of her many presents that she´s constantly buying for me.  I love her 

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When I walk out of the classroom to get a drink, this is the view that greets me  :D

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After leaving the club, we stopped at a hotdog stand and all ate massive hotdogs filled with corn, potatoes, ketchup, mustard, mayo, and tons more things that I definitely shouldn´t have been eating.  We happened to get into a taxi with one of the coolest drivers ever, an extremely kind man that not only tolerated our drunkeness but actually embraced it haha.  There was one point that we asked him to turn up the radio a little bit - to this request he played the music as loud as possible. When stopped at a red light next to another taxi, BriBri shouted "VAI VAI VAI" to start a race between our taxi and the other: he went full speed.