Festa Surpresa!

Ok so first off UPDATE: I did NOT I repeat NOT eat dog meat -_- If you read my last blog I complained about how I went to a Chinese restaurant and ate dog meat. Yeah well, I found out today that it actually wasn't dog meat. Why must I be so gullible........ I was freaking out about that! ana vitoria...........  I believed it for like a whole day..... I even told people. O god. Well in other news today my friends and I threw a surprise birthday party for my 2 friends (but it was only a surprise for one person, the other already knew about it) It was tons of fun! But, it was also my last time seeing them :(. Which, made it kind a of sad. I will miss them :( Then later in the day I finished packing one bag! One more to go! But, the last one is like clothes and stuff. So, it will go by fast. Then I went to the club....... I don't really remember why I went it was really just to say goodbye to people kkkkk.

Lastly, tonight was my last Rotary meeting. They made me give a speech hahaha which, obviously would have gone a lot better if I knew ahead of time about it, but o well everyone said it was cute. I will miss the Rotary, and all of my friends at Rotary :( They were basically my first friends when I came here. I hate saying goodbye to people. I know one day that I will see them again! I am not too worried.

Liberdade/ despedida surpresa

WELL!!! Busy day. First off in the morning I went to Liberdade with friends from school, and it was TONS of fun! I love liberdade it is so pretty! But, one bad thing that happened was..... o god I don't even want to say it is so horrible...... ok here it goes...... we went to a Chinese restaurant, and my friends ordered this meat. So, I tried the meat never heard of it before, but it was good so I ate more. I ate a fairly good amount because it was good, and the sauce that came with it was amazing! So...... afterwards I asked my friend o what is this..... meat. And she says yeah it's meat..... dog meat. :O :O :O :O. I said no no no no way you are joking your joking, because they are ALWAYS joking around with me. And, everyone was saying no no really it is dog meat. And I was just like "I JUST ATE A DOG!!!!" O my god everyone was laughing soooo hard; while I just sat there in complete awn that I just ate dog! I was sooo freaked out! I just kept saying "I shouldn't have asked, I shouldn't have asked, why did you tell me what it is!" Eeeeeeee I still can't believe I ate it......... Don't hurt me or anything ok I didn't know! :( I wouldn't have eaten it if I would have known!

The rest of the afternoon was set for packing my bags. Which is (excuse my french) a pain in the ass. I HATE packing with a passion. Today I mostly just threw away stuff I don't need. Now after everything was taking out of my bags, now I just need to put it back in.

The and greatest part of the day was my friends from Rotary threw me a surprise going away party! I thought we were going to some rotary meeting or something; like they said we changed the place of the club and we were going to go visit it. But, we had to stop at my friends house quick. So, I walk into the house, and I am starting to get confused because all the lights are turned off, and then I see my friend Pedro in the window. Then I just kind of stopped for a minute because I was confused, and my friend pushed me in the door, and everyone was there! Tons of people from my Rotary were there!!! :D :D :D. It really was amazing!  I loved it soooooo much!!! :D I am going to miss everyone soooooo much!!! :( :( They signed a Brazilian flag for me too; so I can always remember them! <3 It was just a perfect day! <3

Birthday party!!

Today was the 18th birthday of one of my friends from school! The party was SOOOO much fun! First off, it was a costume party, sooo everyone was dressed in a costume! I went as Audrey Hepburn, from Breakfast at Tiffany's!!! It turned out really good actually!!!! It was really cute! I liked it! But the party was awesome! hahah almost everyone from my class was there, and he had a DJ at the party; so we danced the entire night! I danced for probably like 4 hours straight hahaha. But, it was worth it!!!! But, I am tired. It's 3 a.m. right now. Typical brazilian party you know ;). I will miss Brazilian parties :(. They really are amazing!  

Despedida

My friends from school had a going away party for me :(. We went to a Japanese restaurant (because I love Japanese food) hahaha. It was a lot of fun!!!!! I am going to miss them a lot! :( At least it wasn't the last time I get to see them!! I have things planned with them over this next week before I leave! :).

Museu Lingua Portuguesa

Today my friend and I went to the Museu Linga Portuguesa!!! (the portuguese language museum). It was sooo pretty, and cool!!!! It had a ton of paintings, and interactive things. It was all about like language, and Brazil. I went with my friend Jesslyn. We had the worse time finding each other though hahaha. The museum is in this station called Luz. And luz is a HUGE station. It was also my first time going to this station. So, we get there and we are trying to find each other, so she said meet by the piano; so I get to the piano........ and she's not there! There must be like two pianos or something! So, we finally just agreed to meet at the Museum; where we finally realized that there are like 4 stations inside this station. NO wonder we couldn't find each other hahaha. But, we did! and it was a TON of fun!  

Play Practice

So, like a month ago I went to my friends play of Grease, and I became friends with some of the people in the play. So, I wanted to see them again; so today I went to join their play practice! It was really nice seeing everyone again. I really wish I meet them earlier :(. I instantly connected with them. It sucks to become good friends with people then I leave in 2 weeks. Sigh o well.

Also, today me and Leticia went to the mall. So, we went to this cookie shop, and I was looking at the cookies, while Leticia was ordering. So, I go to stand behind her, and I wasn't listening to what she was saying; then all of a sudden the cashier says "O would you prefer I speak in English, I speak English" and she goes "Yes, please thank you sooo much"............. :O :O hahahah what!!!!! She's Brazilian!!!!!! I just started laughing!!! I was almost crying from laughing so hard. She's like "what" like everything is normal....... Then when I ordered I ordered in Portuguese.........., and I am American! hahahaha O my god it was funny. Then we went to the Pharmacy and did the same thing! Only I was in on it this time. Hahahah she was pretending to not know any Portuguese, or how to pronounce it. O god it was awesome. It's a good way to find out if they speak English. Surprisingly no one at the Pharmacy knows how to speak English.

Interlagos

Today I went to visit Interlagos. Interlagos is this race track in São Paulo. It is huge!! It isn't for like the NASCAR type of racing, it is more for the European races. It was really cool. When we went it wasn't like an actual race. It was a bunch of old cars, and they were doing this thing called regular race. Like all they did was bet to say they could do the track within 15 mins or something like this. Afterwards I went to Paulista with Bia, and Melissa. We originally went to find gringos, but we didn't find a lot :(. But, we also went to The Fault in our Stars. O MY GOD......... I cried soooo much!!!!! Sooo much! It is a really good movie, but it is sooo sad! At one point my friend looked at me and she was crying then I just started crying even more. Wow I really have to finish reading the book! I just don't have time :(. Afterwards Bia's family took us to a Korean restaurant (because her family is Korean hahahah) I LOVE Korean food now!!! It was sooo good!!! AHHHHH only 2 weeks left in Brazil!! :( :( :( Passou muito rapido!!! :( :(

Fifa Fan Fest

O my god best day ever!!!!!! Ok so first my friend and I went to 25 de Março to buy some presents and stuff. So, we meet at the metro station, and we saw these signs everywhere that said Fifa Fan Fest. Like I had heard a lot about this and wanted to go. And we had no idea it was next to 25 de Março. So, we said lets go shopping first then lets go check it out. So we went shopping where I bought a ton of things for really cheap <3 that's why I love this street! So, we ate, met lots of foreigners, and decided to go check out the Fan Fest. So, our plan was to get see if we could get a picture of it because we thought you had to pay to get inside. But!!!! We get to the front and we find out that it is free! The only weird part was I couldn't bring my umbrella inside (even though it was poring rain), but whatever there is still little news stand place that said they would hold my umbrella for 5 reais, so I left it there then we went back to the security. Yeah well this horn thing, that I had just bought at 25, apparently I couldn't take it in with me because it made noise, which is like the stupidest thing ever cause it is "fan fest" so I don't know what the problem with making noise is, but whatever so she threw it away, and a pen that I had in my bag, but whatever I don't care about the pen. It kind of sucked that she threw away the horn it was really cool :( O well I just really wanted to go inside. So, we get inside and we are just so excited, we can't believe that we just stumbled upon this. So, we are taking snapchats, and stuff; then all of this sudden this guy comes over and my friend screams HI ( I didn't know him lol), and he is like I saw your snapchat and I came looking for you (apparently he was an exchange student from her district), and he said takes us to the front and there are a ton of other exchange students. O my god guys it was just awesome!!! Afterwards, I was wet, tired, and cold, but I was SOOO happy that I was able to go to this event! (o btw fan fest is this stage where they have a huge TV, and you can watch the World Cup) I really want to go back to watch because we only went for like 45 mins. It was a game against Australia, and Holand.

Things like this is why I love being an exchange student, and having a travelers personality. You never know what your going to stumble across. I love finding random exciting things, that you never would have expected to find! <3



















   

USA!

Yayyyyy today was the game of the USA!!! It was against Ghana. I was sooo nervous. I wanted them to win sooo bad! Ghana is a tough they run soooo fast! But, we ended up winning 2-1!!! :D :D :D USA, USA, USA, USA!!!!! I was soo happy! Felt a little emotional while they sang the national anthem. I don't know why was just nice hear so many people singing it. Felt like I was back home. They said there was 20 thousand Americans at the stadium. Also, US made the first goal within 29 seconds of the game! I am a happy, and proud American! kkkkkkkk Even though in all honesty we are good just not as good as some of the other teams like Brasil, Germany, Spain. We won't win the cup, but I still like cheering for my own country! GO USA!!!

Copa do Mundo!!!!!

Ahhhhhhh finally it is the day I have been waiting for since I found out I was going to Brazil!!!! The opening of the World Cup was today!!!!! Best part was it was in São Paulo!!!! Ahhhhh o my god today was just amazing!!!! First off, it was like a national holiday so no one went to school or work. And EVERYONE was at home watching the game! Like there is this really busy street by my house, and there were hardly any cars. Also, we walked to a restaurant to eat lunch, and we could walk on the street because there were NO cars. Also, everyone was wearing Brazilian shirts, and oooo I was just so excited to watch the game! Then when the game finally was on I was all decked out, and ready to cheer for my second country BRASIL!!! <3 (honestly the opening performance of the cup was weak, and not too exciting, but obviously that didn't ruin my vibe too much kkkkkk) Literally I was sooo excited, I was yelling in portuguese, but so was everyone else lol. I guess that shows when you have really learned a language when that is the first thing that you yell out. But, the worst/ ironic part of the game was the first goal was Croatia, but it was made by a Brazilian (face palm) hahahaha poor guy. Opening game of the cup, in his home country, and he makes a goal for the other team. But, no worries that didn't slow Brasil down! We ended up winning 3-1!!!! 2 by Neymar, and 1 by Oscar. And Marcelo made the score for Croatia, so technically Brasil was the only team to make goals in the game lol. But, this was a very good game, it certainly was not boring. Let's see how many members of the team I can remember..... ok there's Neymar, Oscar, Hulk, David Luiz, Marcelo,  Paulinho, Fred,.........  yeah that's all I can remember at the moment I think there is a guy named T. Silva. Don't worry I will probably have everyone down after the World Cup is over. The only bad thing that happened was during the cup there were more protests going on all over Brasil. But, you know I guess all expected that would happen. But all in all an AMAZING day!!!! Never seen anything like this!! Afterward everyone were shooting of fireworks, and making noise with horns, and running down the street with flags. AHHHHH it was just amazing I will never forget this day!! <3 Can't wait till the next game against Mexico!!!

Americans em Brasil!

Guys the American soccer team is in São Paulo :D :D!!!!! They are staying in Paulista, which isn't too far from my house!! I go there all the time by metro!! Dude I really want to go to Paulista, and find them!!! (not in a creepy way). I just feel like both of us would be very happy to meet other Americans in Brazil! And maybe if I'm lucky, I will actually find them, talk to them, use my special charm, and then they will give me free tickets to a game!! :)............ yeah I know probably not going to happen, but a girl can dream can she. But, I actually really want to go to Paulista and see if I can find them! But, it is impossible with this greve. Like I think that it ended today, but I don't know if it is everything or just some parts of the metro. Also, who knows if it will actually last you know? Who know! :( My family is also kind of hesitant about me using the subway now too. "sigh" o well I'm still soooo excited for the World Cup!!! :)

O also little side note, ate something new today. It was like this flower thing, that Italians eat a lot, and it was AMAZING!!! I loved it soooo much! I don't remember who to right them name of it though :(, but it was good!!! :)

Copa/Festa de Junina

Well it is finally here!!! The world cup is almost here!!! Everything is crazy here!!! Cars have flags on their cars, and all the stores are full of decorations!!! It makes everything even more exciting!!! At my school we had a world cup day where we all dressed up with Brazil stuff, and it was sooo much fun!! We made a ton of noise too, like we had horns, and whistles; we were blowing them the entire time during the break. I thought the teachers were going to kill us kkkkkk. I am soo excited for Thursday to watch the first game! But, there is a slight problem with the world cup. There are tons of greves (don't remember name in english) and all the subways are closed! Not a single one has been working since Thursday, and today is Sunday! I can't leave the house, and if you do there is a ton of traffic!! It's crazy here right now!

Yesterday was Festa de Junina!!! It is this party that Brazilians celebrate. It has something to do with the country side of Brazil. It was sooo cute! All of the little kids had dresses on with little freckles on, and the boys had overalls, and mustaches! It was the cutest thing!! I want to bring my kids to it, so I can dress them up! Usually they have a ton of different food for this party, but since the world cup is almost here most schools just did parties for the world cup, and little things for Festa De Junina, so I didn't try much typical food for this holiday, but whatever I still had an amazing time!

Today I made Mac n Cheese for my friends family...... They loved it sooo much!!!! Seriously I thought Brazilians would hate Mac n Cheese but every person I have given it to has loved it!!! Then we made brigadeiros!!! Hmmmmmm my two favorite things in one day!!! Was a perfect day hahaha.

Also, my host mom's sister is visiting from Florida, and she has kids. I was so confused I had no idea what language to speak. With the older kids we talked in Portuguese, but the little boy kept changing from English, and Portuguese when he talked so I was so confused hahaha. I ended up just talking in English with him. But, he was adorable!!! hahaha

Presentation

So, today I went to Paulista with some exchange friends. We went out to eat at an Indian restaurant......... with two Indian's!!! And guess who had never eaten Indian food in her life..... me. So, I was like asking them what tastes good, what is that, is this good! hahahah what better way to eat Indian food for the first time then with actually Indians! After Paulista I had to leave early because I had my presentation at my Rotary Club that night. But, the catch is it was my last time seeing a really good friend of mine! :( She leaves Brazil and goes back to Mexico on Sunday, but there is no other time to meet up! :( So, after giving her a big hug, and telling each other we will visit each other in our home countries so that we could meet up again, I hopped on the metro; while taking deep breathes as so I would not start crying in front of everyone on the metro. Then after taking a shower I went to my Rotary Club to give my presentation. My presentation went perfectly!!!!! Everyone said they loved it, and they would laugh which is exactly what I wanted! I do better presentations where I make people laugh lol. But, afterwards everyone was saying such nice things like "we will miss you", "you have to come back", "you're the clubs American daughter now". They kept saying how nice I was, and how amazing of a exchange student I am. O man then I almost started crying again! It was a very fun day full of heartwarming memories, but at the same time it reminded me how much I will miss Brazil, and how quickly my year has gone! It has come..... the time where people start leaving, and people start saying their goodbyes :(  

Amazônia!!!

I just spent the last amazing 9 days in the Amazon!!!! It was literally the best trip of my life!!! It started off I had to sleep over at a person from Rotary's house, and also my friends house (because my family left for vacation). When I got there they gave me rootbeer from Milwaukee!!! I had not heard the sentence "do you want a rootbeer" in 8 months!!! I was so happy! Then I ended up only getting 1 hour of sleep cause we watched movies all night! but that's ok I was too excited to sleep!! My flight was early in the morning. When I got there I met some people from my district, but apparently they had different flights. So, I flew to Brasilia and met up with like 20 exchange students! When we got to Manaus we all went to subway, then went to the hotel to take a nice shower! That night we just talked about the trip, and the rules and stuff. They next day we toured the city of Manaus there wasn't much to see but it was a very pretty city! We then drove to Presidente Figueiredo. That night we went night trekking in the rainforest. We had to use flashlights in order to see! It was so muddy and wet! water was up to my knees! because we went swimming in a waterfall. We also went into a cave, and saw a TON of bats!! The next day was the start of the boat trip. We stayed 7 days on a boat in the Amazon. There were 4 boats. 3 sleeping boats and 1 eating boat. We all got into our assigned boats, and started our journey. The first day was nice we just relaxed and got used to the boat. That night we slept in Hammocks which would be our bed for the next 7 days. It actually was fairly comfy you find some interesting ways to lay after a couple hours hahaha. The next day we visited an Indian tribe. It was sooo cool with the little indian kids, and their clothes. It was interesting to see how they lived.

It's hard to separate which days we did what. hahaha. A lot of the time we took these motorized canoes a lot to see the area. We also went to this spot where two rivers met and they were both different colors! One was blue, and the other brown! It was so neat! We also went searching for alligators! The first group found one so I got a picture of it! But, my group didn't so I didn't get to hold one. But, it was ok! Everyone in the boat was just tired, and hungry, and we just wanted to go home we didn't even care if we found out lol.

The next day we went to a Casa da Farinha. Where we learned how to make tapioca. Which is this Brazilian food, and I have no idea how to explain but it is good! We then saw an Açai tree. And all of the guys on the trip wanted to climb the tree to get the açai, only one person made it though. Then I bought a knife!!!!! An amazon hunting knife with a piranha on it!! and right before we were leaving they found an anaconda!!!! I held it too!!!! It felt so weird! It was all muscle, and slimy; also when I was holding it, it started moving and it felt sooooo strange! When we got back we went swimming in the Rio de Negro. They said they was a slight possibility of getting sick but no one cared hahaha. We also went tubing on the river!!

In the morning we went fishing for Piranhas. I didn't catch any but people in my boat caught a lot. The piranhas teeth are huge!! We caught a red belly piranha, which was apparently really dangerous so we had to be careful when taking pictures. That afternoon we went to another indian tribe, but this one was more modern. They were so nice an welcoming. They made us a sign, and showed us their school. We also had a soccer game against them; which we obviously lost, but it was still tons of fun!!! I ended up being the "soccer mom", because I was watching peoples stuff while they played, and I took pictures with this huge camera for my friend. It was hilarious my friends still make fun of me for it. That night we had a party at the village because it was 3 peoples birthdays during the trip. It was soooo much fun!!!!

The next morning we went swimming with pink dolphins!!!!!!!!! It was an amazing experience!!!! How often do you get to swim with dolphins, and pink ones at that!!!!! They were beautiful! Then they had these HUGE fish inside the water that they were keeping, and we got to fish for them. I did it with my friend cause we knew we wouldn't be strong enough to do it alone. And the fish was soooo strong, and big!!!! It was amazing. Then in the afternoon we went searching for sloths, and we found one with a baby!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH I was SOOOOOO excited. I was so excited I almost started crying!! I have wanted to see a sloth for such a long time!!!! I even got to hold it!!! Its nails are sooo huge! but they are such friendly creatures! The people got them by just climbing the tree and getting them. They put them in the water then the other guy got the sloths from the water because they can't swim. Then we held them! ooooo but while they were passing the baby sloth to the other boat, and kid almost dropped it in between the boats in the water. Benny, benny, benny everyone was kind of mad, but we got over it cause you can't stay mad a benny for long lol. awww but the poor thing started crying, so we put it make on its mother. The sloths faces are sooooo funny, they just have this I don't give a crap face on all the time. They are sooo slow too hahah. awwwww sloths <3 <3 I love them!!!

The next day we went to the beach!!! It was sooo much fun! we played beach volleyball, which was north america against Europe, and it was just soooo funny!! Everyone throwing smack at each other. One European was like you are going to loss you columbian people! hahaha it was a fun time, but I got a little sunburnt. We didn't do much the rest of the day. We did make bracelets out of açai, which was a lot of fun!!!

The next day we went hiking in the forest with this jungle guy. Like literally he wasn't wearing shoes, and we had dry skin on his hand, and we just cut it off with his knife!! But the hiking was cool, but it sucked we were getting eating by bugs. We kept eating plants in the forest too. OOO we also saw the tree where gum comes from!! I tried it too. It was pretty good I thought. We then climbed a tree, it wasn't too high up but it was still fun! Afterwards we went to the house of the guy that showed us around in the forest. He made this jam from a fruit called cupuaçu. It was sooo good! I bought one to bring home to my family. That night was the night where we got to sleep in the forest. It was a ton of fun!!! We made a fire, and slept in our hammocks. I had a ton of fun! But, this was also our last night in the Amazon!

The next day in the morning we planted a tree, and headed back to Manaus. It was such a sad day!! I had made the best friends in these nine days! 2 from Denmark, one from new mexico, one from Mexico, and the other from Japan. I have not laughed this hard in these 9 days in my entire laugh!! I think I got a 6 pack after this trip! We were all so close and had an amazing time together! I don't even laugh this much with my friends back home! It is sad to think that this will probably be the last time we will even be in the same room together ever! Sure maybe we will see each other again, but not everyone together. :( My friend Tessa, Sara, Suemy, and I wanted to meet in Cancun sometime. We don't know when but sometime for spring break we will all go there since Suemy lives near Cancun. We all had little nicknames for each other too. I was confused, Tessa was elf, Sara was compulsive lair, and Suemy was hyperventalator. I will miss everybody soooo much!!! I cried as soon as a got home and realized that I won't be able to see them again for a couple years!!! My flight home I had four of my friends with my and we sat together on the plane. We laughed soooo hard, I thought they were going to kick us off, because it was night and people wanted to sleep and stuff, but we didn't care it was the last time we would be together we had to make the best of it. It was the best flight I had ever had!!! It was Suemy, Mikkel, Hide, and me. I will never forget that flight :(

By the way incase you were wondering the food on the boat was amazing!!! It was sooooo good!!! We ate a lot of fish, and pineapple in the Amazon is amazing!!!! It is soooo sweet!!!!

Well, that was my Amazon trip. A lot of these events didn't happen on the same day. Everything is mixed up in my head since we didn't look at what time it was for 9 days, and we had no wifi for nine days!! <3 I miss the Amazon trip soooo much!!!! It was one of the greatest things I had even done, and I will never forget it! I was sooo lucky I was able to experience it with amazing people too!!! Well back to reality I guess, it will be hard but life goes on. Also, only 2 more months in Brazil......... It has gone by sooo fast, and these last months will go by even faster. I will be home before you know it! Bitter sweet feeling...........

Well love you guys!!! Hope you liked my extremely long blog!!! :)


Hus
Kniv
Hej
(Danish)!!! :)




























































 

Easter

You will never believe what happened today. I was with Interact, and we went to a daycare to give chocolate to the kids. Well, someone asked me a question. I thought they said do you want to see the bunny, but apparently they said do you want to be the bunny. So yes, I ended up dressing up as the Easter Bunny and giving chocolate to the little kids. But, it was cute I had fun lol. Every time I walked into a room the kids would scream, and cry saying go away hahahha. I felt so bad. But, there was some kids that were so excited to see me!!!! They would just smile and laugh, and give me hugs. It was adorable <3, I had a fun time doing it hahaha.

Girl Scout Cookies

I gave some girl scout cookies to my friends at school today. Needless to say I don't have anymore left hahaha. They loved them, but honestly I can't blame them they are the best cookies in the world!!!

Foz do Iguaçu

So I went to an amazing place called Foz do Iguaçu! It is a huge waterfall in Brazil. First off I took a plane with other exchange students, and we had to walk onto the plane!!! It was my first time doing that so that was exciting!! But, I had to wake up at 4 in the morning. I meet up with one of my American friends at the airport too which was nice!! The first day we didn't do much it was just meeting tons of people. The second day we first went to a bird place with all of these really pretty birds. You could also go in an area and the birds would fly free. My friend had an idea to take a self with a toucan; so I thought it was really cool idea. But when I tried to do it the bird started like making this really weird sound and almost bit me so I ran away. It was quite impressive I was kneeling down, and I got up and ran backwards all within 2 seconds without falling. My friends made fun of me for this the rest of the day hahaha. Next we went to the falls. They were just beautiful. They were sooo big it makes Niagara seem like a joke. After taking a ton of pictures we sat down to eat, and there were these raccoon looking things all over the place. They were adorable, but while we were eating one jumped up on our table and starting eating out food. We ran away grabbing as much as we could; while all these tourists were laughing and taking pictures. The most annoying part was the tourists then gave the raccoons some of their fries, like we just got attacked by one your the reason they do this hahaha. Well with our food gone we decided to buy an ice cream since it was so hot outside. After we eat you had the option to pay for an extra thing at the foz. Half the people stayed half the people went. I stayed. We took a boat to the falls, and I got soaked!! It was soooo awesome!!! I was in the front too, and they took us literally underneath the waterfall. Like I saw the rock for a second or two. So awesome, it was so much better than Niagara falls.

The next day we went to a place called Itaipu. It is a huggggeeeee dam between Paraguay and Brazil. It was amazing. It generates clean energy for almost all of Paraguay, and a little bit of Brazil.  It was really amazing I liked it. Next, we went to Paraguay. O dear Paraguay is an interesting place. Was not a fan honestly hahaha. Everyone said that everything was so cheap, but I honestly did think so. I bought some things though. I bought a t-shirt for $20 dollars, some earings, and the world cup shirt for my brother because it was like $20 cheaper so I figured might as well buy it here. But, Paraguay was very dirty, and kind of sketchy. One guy was selling a taser on the street. Like a real taser it worked too he turned it on. He didn't shock anyone but still I just wanted to get the heck out of there. Later that night for dinner we went to this really cool dinner show. It was a show about Latin America; I liked it a lot. It was so funny when Mexico came up because there were like 15 Mexicans on the trip, and they all freaked out. It was hilarious.

The next day we went to Argentina. A lot of people weren't able to go because they didn't have the right documents. Out of 6 Americans only 2 went. Me, and a girl from Washington. I had to ride in this van because there wasn't enough room on the bus, and there were too few of people for another bus. In the van was me and 8 other people. Since there was less of us we got to the place faster then the bus, and we waiting for them for like 30-45 mins. It was fine though we ate some food, and I got Argentina currency, which is pesos. We went to the other side of the falls, and it was sooo much prettier then the Brazilian side!!! It was amazing! There was no way I could capture the beauty from my camera. Also, while in Argentina we saw monkeys. Like not in a zoo like wild monkeys!!!! It was amazing they were so cute!!! For lunch my friends and I went to a churrasco because everyone says Argentina has the best BBQ. It was good, but I am sure it could have been better since we were just in a park restaurant. We then went to a place where all of the countries met together. Like the countries don't touch each other because there is water separating each county, but it was still really cool! They have these post saying which country it is. We then went to a market and I bought these really good sweets from Argentina. It has a middle filled with chocolate,or doce de leite, or oreo, there are a ton of other flavors too. I first ate one with doce de leite, and I loved it so much!! I then bought an oreo one, mousse one, and a white chocolate one. I can't wait to eat them!!! Lastly, we went to this place called duty free. It is this really cool mall. You have to go through this security thing in the beginning, and you have to put your bag in this bag, and then they lock your bag. It prevents shop lifting, but things were cheap in this mall. I bought a pair of Victoria Secrets yoga pants for only $27!!!! I also bought really good perfume for $25, and peanut butter!!! We were so excited to find peanut butter. The other American ran out of the store and was like "Kayla there's peanut butter!!!", and I was like "where!?!?!", and she said "over there!", so I ran to find the peanut butter so I could eat it!!! hehehe. Then we did this really cool thing during dinner at the hotel. It was someones birthday on Friday (it was Thursday and our last day there) so, the Belo Brasil people bought a cake, and we all sang to her. People sang in other languages too! But, when the American sang everyone else knew it too :(. Only thing that sucks about being an english speaker is everyone also knows what you are saying. My friend and I found a solution to this problem. We just have to speak in pig latin. We literally did this sometimes just to be funny, but it was hilarious!!!

The next, and last day my flight was at 6:50, so we left the hotel at 5 in the morning. The good thing was a lot of my friends were on the same flight so I could see them longer. But when we landing, and got our bags we sadly had to say goodbye. It was sooo sad. At the time I didn't cry, but as I was walking to my taxi I started to cry. I will miss my friends so much! The thing that makes it so sad is you have became really close to these people in just a couple days, and now I most likely will never see them again. This is the hardest thing about being an exchange student. Saying goodbye to people really sucks :( :( :(. But, I make sure to keep in touch with them!

Well I am sorry this was so long, but here was my amazing adventure in Foz do Iguaçu. Até mais!!!!!














 

Carnaval!!!

Yes finally Carnaval has finally arrived!! I have been waiting for this moment since I found out I was going to Brazil. And it was just as amazing if not more than what I expected!!! First off, my family was able to get us VIP seating!!! So, I was on the ground level; so I was extremely close to the parade. If I reached my arm out I could have touched them lol. Also, on top of that we were right in front of the bateria which is the band. So there was also music and it was just amazing! It was a lot different from what I though. My host family told me we would probably only stay for 3 or 4 samba schools. So, I thought wow only this we will only be there for like an hour, but ok at least I get to go. But, no I was soooo wrong!!! Each samba school is an hour long! O but it is just a beautiful thing Carnaval! Everyone is sooo excited. At my school we had like a "dress up day" where the theme was carnaval, and people had like funky sunglasses, and shiny hats, even musical instruments. Also, my friend brought paint so we painted our arms and faces. It was sooo much fun I had a blast at school hahaha. O and best part is noooo school for 3 days!!! :P yayyyy I really love Carnaval <3

Calor!!!

O so I found out something interesting today. Yeah this year in São Paulo is the hottest year since the 1940's!!!!!! No wonder I am dying; this isn't normal!!!!!! Literally it has been 90 degrees all this week, and will be 90 degrees again next week, and who knows how long this streak will go on for!!! O and on top of that I am going to Rio de Janeiro, where it is even hotter!!! It is going to be like 100 degrees there!!! Aiiiiiiii!!!!!! But, I guess I would take this instead of -50 degrees in Wisconsin!!!!!.....but then again you at least get off of school for it I don't. Aaaaaa no I prefer this weather :) Doesn't mean I don't feel like I am burning on the sun!!!!! I take cold showers guys COLD!!! Also, I take showers just to cool off a little. Well let's see if I can get any sleep tonight Tchau!! XOXOX

Casa Nova

Hello! So, a lot has happened in the last couple days. First off I switched host families! I really like it here!! It is close to school again, so I am able to walk to school! O speaking of school I started it again! I missed all my friends; even though waking up at 6 in the morning sucks, in the end it is worth it! O and speaking of friends today after school we went to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I actually really liked it; it was a pretty good movie. But, get this guess how many people went......... 14!!!!!! My god it was insane, but soooo much fun!! In Brazil it is more common to do things with a huge group of people instead of just a couple. We couldn't even all fit in one row there are only 11 seats! It was fun though! But, I am very tired from walking around. It's not easy going to movies here hahaha. You have to take the subway, after you figure out how to get to the subway, then walk to the mall, and let's just say I am very tired; so I am going to bed nighty night!!!!

Comida Japonês

So I went with some friends today to a Japanese restaurant. I also took my friend from Japan there, cause you know I figured she would probably like some Japanese food lol. It is soooo good, I love Japanese food here because the fish is so fresh!!!!! But, I ate so much food! Then I was really full and they brought out this huge plate of sushi. I was like are you sure all of this is for us....... I was so full I could only eat like 2 pieces without exploding. But, was very good either way!

Praia

Well I just got back from the beach, and it was an amazing time!!!! I love the beach so much. I am very tan now too!!! Like almost black; sadly I will probably lose it all before I head back to Wisconsin :(. O well I took a picture as proof. While we were there we took a day and went to a town called Santos. It is a large city right on the beach. It was very pretty I liked it a lot. Also, while we were there one of Giulia's old friends' were there so I hung out with her a lot. O I went to this really good Japanese restaurant now I am really craving fried sushi!!!!!! O I have something to add it has nothing to do with the beach though........... Fruit here is insane. I don't know if I have even mentioned this but I love the fruit down here! All of these different kinds of fruits I had never even tried, or heard of in Wisconsin. Now there is a good and bad side to this. The good is the juice is absolutely amazing and fresh I had never tasted anything like it before. Now let me tell you a little story on why it is bad. One day I saw a fruit in the fridge that I thought was passion fruit, and with passion fruit you put some sugar and mix it with the seeds, and eat it; so that is exactly what I did. Only it tasted horrible! I had no idea what I did wrong; so I just threw it away. The next day my host family was cutting up a fruit to eat, and once I saw the inside I noticed that it was the same fruit that I tried the other day. So, I got nervous like O I don't want to eat that again it was so gross. And you know what happened after that yeah she the seeds out of the fruit and and threw them into the garbage -_-. Turns out what I tried to eat was actually a papaya where you throw out the seeds, and eat the fruit part. Yeah so that was very interesting day......... But, o well I still love fruit here!!! My favorite is mango; oooooo it is just perfect how will I live with out it when I leave!!!!! Well that is all for today ate mais!!!    

Holidays

Well I have been so busy lately. First off Christmas was good. I really missed my family though; it just wasn't the same. But, we went to the beach the day after Christmas!!!! I love the beach so much. I love New Years here!!!! Ahhhh it is so amazing. So, for new years what you do is wear white, and everyone goes to the beach. And, what you have to do at the beach is jump 7 waves. While, this is going on there are fireworks happening all the way down the beach! So many fireworks it was crazy!!! I loved it so much I had so much fun! I want to come back every year for it. Also I have gotten very tan like I have never been this tan in my life it is pretty awesome. Especially since right now it is -50 degrees in Wisconsin! Yikes I am sooooooo glad I am here you have no idea! I am back in São Paulo right now, but I am going back to the beach in a couple days, where I will stay until the 18th!!!! yayyy beach!!! I love you <3