Making the Most of the Time You Have

As the first semester in Brasil is starting to come to an end, and my fellow students that are studying with me are getting ready to head back to the states I decided to dedicate a blog to suggestions for future study abroad students so that they can have the fullest of their time.

1. Probably one of the hardest things to accomplish, and I am fortunate to have learned it while I was in Italy, is to keep an open mind. When one first goes to an new country a lot of things you hear is, "oh this is stupid", "why do they do that?", instead though trying to look at why they might do a certain thing is better. And if you are not willing to accept the difference, or you dont want to take part in that culture aspect, thats fine, but try to at least respect the cultural difference.

2. Take every opportunity given to you. Even if that means you have to skip out on your favorite club/bar, that you have been to a dozen times to go to a Brasilian soccer game (or what ever the experience might be), thats fine. The club/bar will be there next week, but you might not get another opportunity to go to a game (or a churrasco, or what ever the opportunity might be).

3. If you can travel all around the country, or to different countries, while you are abroad, GREAT, DO IT! But if you can't thats fine too. Instead of sulking, go visit another city near by, get to know your area, hang out with locals. Ya you might not get to mark another country off your list, but you get to know the area, and you might discover some untapped beauty, or you really get to learn about the culture that you are in.

4. If given the opportunity to live a host family do it! Ya its nice to have an apartment and you do not have to follow rules, but host families are a great way to learn about the culture and to learn the language. They also can be your life support, if you become homesick. Also for the freedom, chances are they are very understanding, and give you the space you need.

5. A really big one that I learned while in Italy was NOT to expect ANYTHING! No matter what you do there will always be things that you imagine will happen, but if possible try not to expect to much and do not assume something will or will not happen. As chances are what you expect will not live up to the dream or will not turn out how one expects. Plus another positive to not expecting is when something happens out of the blue, it could end up being even greater than that expectation one had.


If you can try to do these few suggestions, in my personal opinion your study abroad will be one of the best times of your life! After all you will be home soon, so why not live it up and enjoy the time you have!

3 meses no Brasil!

Today marks 3 months that I have arrived here. Here is a recap of what I have been up to for the past month.

The first weekend I had an excursion with my program where we went to Agua Morros, which is a hot spring hotel. We spent the weekend there just relaxing, and eating our hearts out. The following week my class took a field trip to Fortaleza de São Joao da Ponta Grossa, which is a fort in the north of the island created by the Portuguese to stop the Spanish from using the channel between the continent and the island. After we visited the fortress we spend some time on the praia (beach) that is next to fort and then returned back to center. The following day me and one of the other student that is studying here with me went to a favela on the continent to start our day of volunteer work. There we are showing videos to the kids and afterwards we talk about what they learned, as they are movies that have life values in them. The first movie we showed was Pocahontas, and talked about how it doesn’t matter of someone’s color of skin, background, or even culture, we all are humans. Upon returning home I was invited to a futebol game of Flumenese and Vasco da Gama, which are two rival teams from Rio, who were playing in the stadium near my house.

The following weekend was full of events as well. Saturday I spent the day in Blumenau, which is a city on the continent of Brasil with a rich heritage of German decent, even until the 40’s (WII) there only spoke German there, and even today you can still here German from the locals. There we visited some museums that talked about their heritage. We also went to the Villa Germanica, which is where the World’s 2^nd biggest Oktoberfest is held every year. After we went to the Oktoberfest parade. It was quite an experience, as during the parade basically everyone that was participating in the parade was drinking, and the floats all had Tubs of beer for the participants. After seeing some of the parade I headed back with the other student who was not going to stay for the Oktoberfest festivities that were going to be held that night. That night I returned back to Floripa and went to festival with some of my friends that study at UFSC (which is the federal university here). I spent the Sunday just relaxing as from all the traveling I had done I was in need of day off.

On Monday we did not have school, since it was a holiday for professors. So instead me and two other students with my program went and took a trail called Costa Santinho, which starts on praia Santinho and ends on praia Moçambique. It was a beautiful trail, and we even saw some old inscribitions from natives that use to live on the island 1,000 years ago. On Wednesday since it was not such a nice day outside, me and one of the other students in my program hopped on some buses and just kind of took a tour of the island/surrounding area. On Friday began on my adventures to Blumenau again, this time though was to go and participate in the festivities of Oktoberfest. I stayed the weekend with one of my friend’s family, along with two other friends of mine. It was an experience as her family had strong German heritage, that when I first arrived at the house I was greeted in German. During the whole weekend we ended up going between Portuguese, German, and some English, I even learned some German words (though nothing to extensive). Because of her families heritage though I was able to use her mom’s German outfit since she was not going to Oktoberfest. At Oktoberfest it was quite interesting as the music was in Português, with a German kind of flare. Friday night there were more people that were from Blumenau, so it was common to see people dressed in typical German costumes. On Saturday night though it there was way more people and it was more people from other cities who were visiting for the festivities. On Sunday since we woke up early to head back to Floripa and it was a beautiful day out we decided to go to beach. Though we ended up getting ahold of a friend and going to a churrasco/pool get together.

Tuesday my class had another field trip. This time though was to an indigenous village that exists here in Santa Catarina. It was such an amazing experience, and it in a sense took me back to when I was in Ecuador, just how simple their life was, but how they were so open and friendly. Wednesday my family and I went out for pizza to celebrate my host mom’s birthday. It was so good, especially the pizza dulce (sweet pizza). For the weekend I went to a costume party that was hosted by a major at UFSC. Then I Sunday I went to Jurêre International with one of friends and her family. We ended up spending the whole day there just taking in some rays, sleeping, and enjoying the beautiful weather outside.

On Tuesday one of my classes, yet again had a field trip. This time we went to Portobelo Island, which was established in the 1990’s as a place that is for Ecotourism. Meaning that only a limited amount of people can visit the island everyday, and that everything they do there is to preserve the natural wildlife that exists on the island. The island itself was so breathtaking and it was quite incredible what they were doing with the island, and how they preserved it. The next day I spent the entire day at Jurêre, this time with some aunts that were visiting from the West part of Santa Catarina. When we finally returned home, after about 6 or so hours at the beach, my whole family went out for dinner to a restaurant called Boka’s.  There they are known for having good fried shrimp, which I cannot argue with, it was quite good. The next day after my class I met up with my aunts, and this time we went shopping for the entire day. It was quite fun, though seeing the prices on all the clothes was quite a shock, as it cost way more then it does in the USA. On Friday my family went out to celebrate one my aunts birthdays. We ended up going to an all you can eat pizzeria, again my favorite pizza was the pizza dulce. On Saturday night I ended up going to a birthday party celebration with my host mom and sister for one of my host dad’s aunt. Then Today (Sunday) I went to a classic futebol game between Avaí and Figueirense. It was such a great experience, the entire stadium was packed full, and the competiveness was interesting to see.

For the upcoming month, I have not planned anything in particular yet, we will see what comes up. As for my language acquisition, it is coming along quite well. There are still many things that I must learn, but I am able to get around without problems, and I can understand a good majority of conversations.

That is about all I have for now. Until next time.