I actually arrived on Saturday after many lay overs in the airport, including a day in Miami. I arrived though with out much problem, was greeted by the ISA coordinators and taken off to the hotel where we started our first night in Floripa. Once at the hotel, I met the other students that would be studying with me, and we went out for our first Brazilian meal. Here in Brazil it is normal (especially for lunch) to have a massive meal, normally one goes to an all you can eat or a buffet that you put what you want on your plate and pay by the kilo. Our first dinner was at a all you can eat buffet, but the lunch the following day was the kilo set up. Once we returned back to our hotel we just settled in for the night, as the next day we had a busy day full of orientation and learning many things from what our homestay was going to be like, to what to expect the first week, to basic things like how to get around the city and island. Once we finally finished with orientation we all headed off to met our host families and find out where we were staying. I am staying with a family of 4, there is the mom and dad and then a daughter who is 17 and a younger son who just turned 2. So far after 3 days I must say they are great! They have been so helpful and have even gone with me on the bus to make sure I knew where I was going. Its also great as they speak almost no English, which is helping me with the language acquisition and even have taught me much about Floripa and the Brasilian culture. After meeting them and finally getting all settled in the next day followed with language placement tests, which I placed into the class for Spanish Speakers. After that was done it was time to start our first, which was about Ethnicity and Society of Brasil. Once that was finished I met my host dad and we headed back to the house. That leads us to today. Which was the day for my tourism class, as well as getting some things such as my bus pass out of the way. After all of that was done I walked around the centro to get to know the city a little better then headed back home for dinner.
So far everything is going great here! I am truly enjoying it, especially the way of life how things are at a much slower speed and I have more time to look around and truly take in all that I see. My portuguese obviously needs work on, but I am confident it will continue to come along, especially since now I understand a fair amount of what is said to me, its more the responding I must work on.
Some differences I have encountered:
Here everyone is from so many different backgrounds and different cultures and there is no problem with racist issues or for me it was a shock especially in the airport as I would look around and everyone looked so different I could just point out if someone was from the USA or Europe, as normally when traveling abroad just by the way one dresses or presents themselves it is possible to decided where they originate, but not here, which I enjoy greatly. That is one of the major differences I have noticed, other minor ones is the one dealing with sizes in meals, how houses with gates are right next to houses without, and if they have a gate then that means there is more money, not just the really rich, but even the middle class. Also although cars are common to use, buses are the main source of transportation.
I am continuing to learn as much as possible, both about the language, culture, and the country, and when something new comes up I will be sharing.
Until Then
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