Hello...

I thought I´d take some time to write an update for everyone now as my classes have finished (YAY!) I have a little extra time.

I had my last class last Tuesday. I haven´t received all of my grades yet, but I now for sure that I ate least PASSED all of my classes! I was a little worried about my grade in Brazilian Econ. because I didn´t do so hot on the two tests, but thankfully the prof was very gentle and understanding. I think I did just fine in my other classes, but actually my grades won´t even transfer to the U. I will just receive the credits and my transcript will just say pass.

Since classes are over, I´ve been trying to keep busy doing some last minute sight-seeing around Rio. There are still a lot of musuems, parks, touristic points that I haven´t seen. But actually without classes to go to, I´m getting pretty bored around here! Lucie is traveling around the northeast of the country (alone!) so it´s just me and Claudio at home. It´s nice because we get to do some "bonding", but...I´m trying to do lots of things with my other friends here-Marianne, Eva, Kristi, Sylvie, Pierre.

Earlier this week I visited the huge city park close to PUC that has a city history museum. It was really pretty, but you had to hike up a huge hill to get there. I also went to the cinema and saw a Brazilian film that took place during the dictatorship in 1970.
Friday the weather was nice so we went to the beach in the afternoon. Friday night I went to a party at a friends apartment. Saturday I was invited to a barbecue/birthday party of another foreign student (from Venezuela). She has family here in Brazil and lives with them in a condominium on a golf course in Barra (the really "rich" area of Rio). It was amazing! They had hired people to do the barbecueing and make drinks. We spent the afternoon out in the backyard surrounded by tropical plants chatting with other Brazilian friends of hers and other students from PUC. I really enjoyed it.
This morning I went to a church service with marianne in Ipanema and afterwards to the Feira Hippie (again, it´s become a Sunday ritual). In the afternoon we went to the Feira Nordestina, a huge fair inside a complex in homage to Luiz Gonzaga, a famous musician from Salvador. There are tons of restuarants inside serving typical Northeastern foods. It starts Friday night and runs through the night until Monday morning. Everywhere you walked, you ran into a huge cloud of smoke from barbecueing meat. I think I need to take a shower because my clothes have a stench of meat! There were also two big stages with live forró music(typical northeastern music, to me is kind of like polka)where everyone dances. It seems like whole families go there to spend the day, eating, dancing, eating and dancing. There were little shops selling little things, lots of typical Brazilian foods and sweets.

I still have some things I want to see and do this week. Also have to get to packing to make sure I can fit everything in my suitcases! I´m also going to try to get together with Rick and Maristela this week and Fernanda Aidar from São Paulo might visit me next weekend as she has never been to Rio.

I guess that´s all I know for now...Hope all is well at home! Can´t wait to see you all VERY soon!

Hello Everyone! Just wanted to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Brazil mainly because it is a Protestant holiday, and Brazil is predominantly Catholic, so today is just a normal day for me, but it doesn´t mean I can´t be thankful for all of the blessings God has given me this year and during my time here. Today I´m thankful for the opportunity to be here experiencing and learning about a new culture and for my family and friends who have been such a great support to me. I love you all!

I hope you´re all enjoying spending the day together with family and eating your turkey and pumpkin pie...man, I´m jealous!

Lately, I´ve been really stressed with all of my final work for the University and as it is getting close to the holidays, I´m getting more anxious to come home. From today it is less than a month...it´s hard to belive I´ve been here for 5 already!

As the weather there is getting colder and colder, it is just the opposite here. It´s so hot, you sweat just sitting inside the house! Some days I´ve had to take like 3 showers...and this is only spring! I can´t imagine the dead of summer! I think the heat has been taking a toll on my body as well. I feel like sleeping all the time and don´t want to move! I could actually go for some snow right now. It´s kind of hard to imagine that is is getting close to Christmas. Most of the stores here already have decorations up and they are putting up a 20 story metal Christmas tree that will sit in the middle of the lake by our apartment. I guess it is all lit up and we will be able to see it from our window..sounds pretty neat!

I have just 2 weeks until the end of the semester. My last test is the 30 and then after that I will have 3 weeks or so to do things around here. Hopefully the weather will be nice so I can spend some time getting a tan. I´m also looking forward to visiting Fernanda in São Paulo and spending some time in Petropolis. Lucie is going to be taking a 20 day trip or so from the beginning of Dec. until the 22, so I won´t even see her again before I leave. It will be kind of weird being alone at home, but there will be plently of other friends to spend time with too. The time is going to go so fast...I´m excited to come home and spend the holidays with all of my friends and family! I miss you guys!

Hello all!

Again it has been too long since I updated my journal...sorry!
I returned home Saturday night from another trip of almost 10 days. A group of 6 int´l students took a plane on Thurs. 10/26 to Iguaçu Falls, the largest waterfall in the world, bigger than Niagra. It is in the southwest of Brazil on the border with Paraguay and Argentina. We stayed in a very nice youth hostel there and spent two days visiting Iguaçu Nat´l park-one day on the Brazil side and the other in Argentina. The weather was super hot and humid. I´m pretty sure it was over 100! We did a really cool boat tour and got to pass under some of the water falls. Man did that feel good in the heat! We saw lots of cool animals and plants. There was also the largest dam in the world that we wanted to see but it was closed on the day we wanted to go, so weren´t able to see it. Other than the Falls there isn´t much to do there in the town.
On Sunday night we took a 9 hour bus ride to a city called Curitiba. There was not a lot of things to see there especially because it was Monday and any kind of museum was closed, but I enjoyed walking through the city because it is a complete 360 difference between Rio and most of the rest of Brazil. The southern part of the country is the most rich and it is very European. The archetecture is much more like in the US. The bus system there is very efficient and other cities are trying to copy it. The most interesting and funny thing for me was when we wanted to cross the street and a car actually stopped, backed up and waved us to cross! That would never happen in Rio-the cars have the right of way here! That night we spent in a shopping mall in Curitiba which was really cool. It was built inside the old train station. We saw a Brazilian movie for like US$3! That night we took the bus again (5 hrs) to Florianópolis and arrived there at 4 AM. Florianópolis is the surfing capital of Brazil and has some 42 beaches.
We were all exhausted because it´s pretty difficult to sleep in the bus especially with the air conditioning blasting. We went to the hostel that we had made reservations but it was really yucky. The people had just gotten done with a party and were all drunk. There were about 10 people sleeping in a room and only 2 toilets in the whole place. It really would not have been comfortable. We attempted to sleep for about 3 hours and decided that we would change places. It´s a pity becuase it probably had the best view of every place. We moved to a very quaint, bright, and clean pousada owned by a family originally from Uruguay. The weather was much cooler in Florianopolis, but it did allow for 2 days on the beach (one ended up being a nude beach, but don´t worry I kept my swimsuit on! :-P). It was interesting though! We had nice breakfasts in the hostel and even did a barbecue there one night. We spent one day in the old city center which was interesting as well. One night we stayed up all night and we went to see the sunrise on the beach. By Saturday though, we were all tired from a long trip. We arrived home late Saturday night to Claudio who was very lonely and missing us a lot. He even made a special dinner for our return!
Now it´s back to classes again. I can´t believe there´s only about 3 weeks left of the University. I still have some final projects to do, but hopefully it will all work out. Then I will have a few extra weeks to enjoy Rio before returning home. Just a little over a month and I will be back!
Hope all is well in Minnesota or wherever you´re reading this from. Until soon!

I returned Sunday night from a trip to Paraty, a city 4 hours southwest of Rio. Just Lucie and I left last Wednesday afternoon. I sat next to a woman from Rio who was going to visit friends in Paraty who were opening a store. She invited us to the opening. We talked a lot and she was really nice.

We stayed in a Pousada on the edge of the historic center. The room was so-so, but it was very homey.
For breakfast we had the traditional bread with pineapple, orange and goiaba jelly, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, papaya-orange juice and coffee.

Paraty is a small city with not that much to see, but one of the biggest attractions is to take a boat tour. The first day we walked around the center looking in all the gift shops. There are a lot of artists who sell different handmade things. It rained the first day. The streets are all stones and the water sat in the middle, so it was a little difficult to walk around. At night there was always live music in the restaurants and bars. There was also a concert series going on each night because of the holiday.

We ate in some great restaurants (always late at night, sometimes we finished dinner at midnight!). We ate Indian food, crepes, Brazilian food, a little bit of everything. We ate ice cream one night for dessert. There were vendors every few feet in the streets selling sweets and cakes, so one night I bought a piece of carrot cake with chocolate.

There was a little fair going on most of the time where people sold jewelry and other things, kind of like the hippie fair in Rio. So we spent lots of time looking at all of the jewelry.

On Friday we took a boat tour. Unfortunately the weather was cool and it rained, but it was beautiful nonetheless. Because of the weather we were able to get a better price (R$25/2 instead of R$20/1) It was a 5 hour tour and we stopped at 2 islands and 2 beaches. Each stop was about 40 min. and you could jump from the boat and swim, but Lucie and I didn´t have towels so we waited until the last stop to swim. The water was freezing, but nice. There was an optional lunch on the boat, but we opted out. They also served fresh fruits and played music.

Saturday we took a bus to a nearby village called Trinidade that has beautiful beaches. Unfortunately it rained again, so we didn´t swim, but just walked along the beaches. Many people camp there just on the edge of the beach. It was gorgeous, I can´t imagine it with sun!

We made lots of friends talking with people in the streets, at the docks, or in the restaurants. We made friends with the owner of a bar and he even invited us to lunch at his place!

The last day (Sunday) the weather was gorgeous! Sunny and warm. We heard about some waterfalls close by and wanted to go, but the buses only ran every few hours. We were walking in the street looking for someone who was going and a security guard from a bar that Lucie met happened to drive by and offered to take us. We drove about 30 min. out of town to a "waterfall". It wasn´t really anything speical, just a little water trickling down some rocks, but the trip there was worth it. Such beautiful scenery. I even saw some pineapple trees/plants! Very cool! This guy was going to a birthday party of his friend and invited us to come with. We went to the house of his friend and were very kindly received by the family and friends. They were having a churrasco (barbecue) and offered food. They had music playing in the backyard and everyone just sat around and talked. It was really cool, not something that a normal tourist can say they did!

We took the bus back to Rio Sunday night and got home about midnight. Both of us very tired, because we stayed out late most nights. It was a very fun trip. The weather could´ve been better, but I enjoyed it just the same.

Hope all is well at home. Love to hear from you all!

Hello all,

I realize it has been way too long since I last wrote an update. Things just get busy and I just can´t write a short post. When I start to write, I write every last detail, so sometimes it is hard to find the time.

Anyway, I have been busy as I said. The last two weeks I had tests in my classes. They went all right. I haven´t gotten any grades back, though, so we´ll see.

Lucie and I joined a gym near our house. It is especially good for raining days, which have been many lately. The day can start out beautifully, hot, sunnny, 90 degrees and by the afternoon it is raining. I guess that´s what happens in spring. The gym is great. It has everything you could ever want: weight machines, cardio machines, a pool, a sauna, various classes (I´ve already tried spinning and a stretching class. I want to do something cool like belly dancing or yoga).

This past week I went to a soccer game at Maracana stadium (the largest soccer stadium in the world). I took the bus and the Metro to get there because it is in the Centro of the city. It was a game of Flamengo against Fluminse (the 2 big rival teams in Rio). We sat in the heart of the Flamengo cheering section which was very crazy. Every time Flamengo made a goal glasses of beer would go flying and fireworks would go off. I had a few showers that night. But, they say you actually have to be careful, the games can be really dangerous. Flamengo won and luckily we all survived!

Yesterday morning I went to the Price Waterhouse Coopers office in the Centro. I had made a contact with the head of auditing there during a fair at PUC and asked about coming to visit the office. I met with him and the HR manager and they gave me a presentation and stuff. In the future, I could possibly do a short-term program working there in Brazil. After this I went back to the Fed. Police because I have to inform them of my move, but I needed a stupid written note from Claudio saying that I am living with him. Because I didn´t have this, I´ll have to go back. It´s just a pain because it is really far away from here.
In the afternoon, I made a Pineapple Upside-Down Cake with the fresh pineapple I bought this week. It was delicious!

Last night, Claudio, Lucie and I went with an architect friend of his to this exposition thing in Barra. A bunch of designers take an old house and each redoes a room. It was a mansion and it was gorgeos. My favorite room of course was the kitchen. After they had a cocktail thing with little apetizers, drinks and chocolate. When we came home it was pouring and so we all went to bed.

Lucie and I made a reservation in a pousada in Paraty for next week´s holiday. All the good places were already booked, so we´ll pay a little bit more, but it should be really great. It´s a city about 5 hours from here and there are many islands so you take a day boat trip and stop at all the beaches. It is also historical and there are lots of other things to visit.

Well, I guess that is enough of an update for now. I will try to be better about writing things, even if it is just short. Hope everyone is doing well. Think of you often and miss you lots!

Last Friday, Lucie, Claudio and I went to see the ballet Swan Lake at the Municipal Theater in the Centro of Rio. Claudio´s friend plays in the orchestra and got us tickets. I had never seen Swan Lake before so I thought it was really good. I especially liked the music.

Saturday I woke up very early to go on the "passeio" with the International students from PUC. We left here at 7 AM and drove two hours to a historic coffee plantation. When we arrived we had a traditional breakfast with lots of breads, cheese, cakes, juices, etc. We then went for a hike in the Mata Atlantica (Atlantic Forest) and we arrived to a little lake where we hopped on a raft made of basically barrels and bamboo and paddled across. When we reached the other side we went to the pool where there was also another lake with a zipline, climbing ropes, and boats. We spent some time relaxing in the water until lunch time. We had a traditional meal with salads, rice, beans, quiche, breaded chicken, beef...It was very good, but filling. For the rest of the afternoon we had free time to play games or do whatever. Unfortunately the weather turned chilly so it was very nice to be in the water. I went for a walk around the Fazenda and took some pictures. We ate lunch at about 3 but by 6 it was time for our Imperial Tea, a tradition they had at this time because it was a coffee farm so instead of drinking coffe they would have tea like in Europe. No one had even the littlest hunger, but of course we all ate again! There were like 10 different kinds of cakes-coconut, cornmeal, banana, lemon, carrot, mandioc, many other sweets and salty snackes too-empadas(little pies filled with chicken) and of course tea and hot chocolate. After our bellies were all stuffed we got back on the bus and headed back to Rio.

Sunday morning I went to a Lutheran Church I had found on the Internet (one of only 3 in Rio I think). It was very small and simple. There were mostly old people there. The people I met asked me if I was from one of the southern states in Brazil because this is where all of the German immigrants are and I guess I look German. I spoke with an older man before the service. He was really nice and sat by me. We sang some hymns and had Bible readings. The pastor gave a sermon about knowing the Word and how we can say we are Christians if we don´t know God´s Word. After the service the old man invited me to eat an Açai with him. It´s a kind of fruit pulp that is put in a blender, usually mixed with banana or strawberry and eaten with granola. I agreed even though it was freezing outside. We exchanged emails and hopefully I will see him the next time I go to church.

I went to the Hippie Fair in Ipanema after this looking for some more jewelry. They have so many pretty things for very cheap. Didn´t find any jewelry I had to have but bought a beautiful purse made from jeans.

I went home to do some homework. I started feeling sick like the last time i ate açai. I´m not sure what it is that is in it that doesn´t agree with my stomach. I have eaten it many times, but the last two times I have thrown up. I guess that means I better take it easy on the açai for a while. I spent most of the day feeling pretty crappy and just laid around. The weather was fitting as well. It was foggy and rained in the afternoon. I watched a movie on my laptop and did some reading for my class. I felt very tired and went to sleep early. I´m feeling fine now, thankfully.

Tomorrow is my first test in my Globalization and Brazil class. I hope it goes well. I spoke with the teacher yesterday and he understands that I am reading the texts and will try my best. At least I am always in class as well. He told me to see how the test goes and we can talk after that.

Yesterday I finally bought a bike. Now I can go bikeriding around the Lagoa as well and ride to and from PUC. Hopefully I´ll save some money on the bus too!

I guess that´s all for now! Take care everyone!

Sorry it has been such a long time since I updated my journal, but it´s hard to keep up with all the happenings!
I returned on Sunday from a 3 day trip to a historical city called Ouro Preto (Black Gold) which is about 7 hours north of Rio. Last Thursday and Friday there was no class because of the national independence day here. We (me, Eva and Marianne-the 2 German girls and kerolina, a girl from Norway) left on Wednesday night and arrived there on Thursday morning. The weather was very cold and windy. We found a pousada to stay in that was right in the heart of the historic center. It was okay, more expensive than the hostel in Salvador and definitely not as nice. I think it was more cold inside the place than outside! Luckily I had bought a jacket a few weeks ago that I could wear and also had my big U of M sweatshirt. If you look at the pictures, you will never know which day it was because I always wore them. It was the warmest clothes I had here. Oh yeah, I even bought a pair of gloves! I never thought I would be wearing gloves in Brazil!
Anyway, the first day there was a little parade in the center of the city. We spent the rest of the day visitng museums and churches around the city. Ouro Preto is famous for a few reasons. First, gold was found there in the 1700´s so it was a big mining town. Also, there was a famous artist/sculptor from there who had a disease and lost his limbs, but still managed to continue sculpting in many of the churches. Another reason it is famous is because there was a group of men there who rebelled against the Portuguese settlers. Many were killed and one in particular, Tiradentes, was beheaded. The archetecture of the city is much different from Rio as well.
The second day we took the bus to a small city close by that also had beautiful architecture. On the way we took a tour of a gold mine.
The third day we were woken up by loud rock music-Born to be Wild-outside. We later discovered that there was a big dirtbike/motorcycle rally going on. Hundreds of motorcyle dudes arrived into the town square and spent the day drinking beer and so on...
Later we met and spoke with some in a restaurant. They were giving us ideas of where to travel in Brazil. Originally we had planned to stay 4 days, but kind of ran out of things to see and do. After a while all of the museums and churches all start to be the same. So, we took the bus back on Saturday night and arrived in Rio at 4:30 in the morning on Sunday. This was okay too, to have an extra day to rest up before the week.
When I told Claudio about our trip he was a little disappointed that we didn´t enjoy ourselves more. He has never actually been to Ouro Preto, but said that because it is a college town there should be lots of things for young people to do. We met a group of students from Rio in our pousada, but they also had the same problem. Oh well, it was still fun to get away and see another part of the country.
When we returned to Rio the weather was much nicer and it has been sunny the last few days. I think from here on it will only get hotter. My classes are getting a little more involved with tests coming up in the next few weeks, so I´m a little nervous for how that will go.
On Friday night Claudio, Lucie and I will go to Swan Lake at the old Municipal Theater in Rio. A friend of his plays violin in the orchestra and got us tickets. Saturday, the International Student Office is taking the students on an outting to a traditional plantation where we will get a traditional breakfast and lunch and spend the day playing sports, hiking, and swimming. It should be really fun!
I guess that´s all the news for now. Hope all is well. I´d love to hear some news about what everyone is up to! Until next time!

Man, the weeks just seem to fly by! Today is already Thrusday which means it is the weekend for me. The weather has not been very nice the past few days. Tuesday it poured ALL DAY LONG and was very cold and rainy. Since then the temperatures have been cooler too. I´ve been having classes as normal and they are going all right I guess. It´s hard to say because there has been no tests or any kind of evaluations yet, just a lot of reading. I´m able to understand most of what the professors say, so that is good. The whole classroom environment here is really strange though. Of course, this is Brazil, so no one is ever on time, but sometimes the professor even arrives 20 min. late and it´s normal for students to arrive even an hour late to class! I even managed to go to the library and check out a book the other day-I thought that was a pretty big accomplishment!

Yesterday I went to PUC for my one class but it was canceled. So Lucie and I ended up taking the bus in the afternoon to a mall. I bought a nice jacket which was really cheap (I probably won´t need it here, but it will be nice for at home). We ate supper together last night. She went out later to a party at the Hard Rock Cafe in Barra, but I stayed home since I had class at 7AM today.

Today I went to class and from there I took a bus to another shopping mall where I met some of the friends I knew from Petropolis since the first time I came to Brazil. It´s weird because everyone has grown and matured. I hardly recognized some of them! We had lunch there, but I didn´t get to stay long because I had class again in the afternoon. Anyway it was good to see them.

Tonight we´re having another dinner at our place again. It has sort of become a Thursday night ritual. We invited some other "estrangeiros", mostly Americans. Lucie will try to make an Indian dish with rice, chicken and mango and for dessert ice cream with "drunken apples." Yum! I´m sure it will be delicious!

No class tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will warm back up soon so we can go to the beach. I have a lot of things to read for the weekend. PUC is also supposed to be a throwing party on Satruday on the beach where the International students can get paired up with a Brazilian student to become friends, because it´s really sad when we all just stay in our little groups. So, I am excited to get to meet some other Brazilians.

That´s all the news for now....Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Friday the weather was not spectacular but Lucie and I went to the beach anyway. It was nice because it had been too long since I went, I was really losing my tan! Friday night Lucie went to a birthday party of another int´l student, but I met up with Fernanda Coutinho and a bunch of her classmates at a bar/restaurant in Botafogo. Friday was her last day of working at her internship, so everyone wanted to celebrate with her. It was great to meet all of her friends and get to talk to them because most of the time I am just with other exchange students. Afterwards one of her friends gave me a ride home because she lives on the same street.

Saturday I slept a little later and got up to work on some homework. I had to write a paper for my Portuguese class about an article we read, but it was difficult because the level of the words was very high. Lucie arrived home later in the afternoon because she had stayed out until 6AM and then slept at someone´s apartment. In the afternoon I went to Claudio´s art studio because there is an exhibition, like an open house going on during the last two weekends of all the artists in the Jardim Botanico area. It was nice to finally see more of his artwork. He did well-he sold three large pictures! Afterwards I went for a run around the Lagoa. It was the perfect time because the sun was going down and it was much cooler. It´s fun to be there on the weekends because there are lots of families bike riding and playing, people exercising and eating at the cute little restaurants around.

Saturday night I met some friends at their apartment in Ipanema and we walked to Copacabana beach where there was a free symphony orchestra concert in the open on the beach. The Rio symphony orchestra played and there were 2 choirs from Petropolis. It was a huge show and there were around 200,000 people there. They closed off one whole side of the street for people to stand and watch. It was really cool! I prefer to go to this type of thing than out to a party or something like that. Before going home we stopped at a juice bar and had something to drink.

I woke up suddenly in the middle of the night on Saturday feeling very sick. I ended up vomitting twice...yuck! I don´t really know what is wrong but I think I ate something weird and just got a bug. I took some medicine and was able to sleep ok, but have just been feeling nauseous all day. I´ve been taking it easy most of the day. I have some things to read for class so I´ll try to do that. Not too much else new....Until next time!

Here are pictures from our crepe party last week as well as pictures from the weekend in Petrópolis!

	Crepe batter
	Lucie grating cheese for crepes
	Me grating cheese for crepes
	me eating crepes
	Eva cooking crepes
	Pierre (France), Marianne (Germany), Pedro (Brazilian guy I met)
	Lunch from Friday (eggplant stuffed with hamburger and cheese)
	Marli chopping tomatoes for the sauce
	Cooking the most amazing sauce ever
	Our Italian dinner of gnocchi
	Noelma and Ernesto (Rick and Marcos´ parents) at Ernesto´s birthday party
	Rick, Ernesto and Me
	Ernesto with his brothers and sisters-in-laws
	Rick and I
	One of the table flowers that Rick made for the party

The past weekend I spent in Petropolis so that I could go to Ernesto´s 80th birthday party on Sunday. On Friday afternoon I took the bus to Barra, the modern neighborhood of the city. There is a huge mall there that is the biggest in South America and is very Americanized. I did some looking around there before meeting Marcos at his Shell office. It is right next to the mall, so it works out perfectly. We caught a bus back to Petropolis and arrived there around 8:30PM. We we got home Marli was cleaning the house and so we didn´t eat until 9:30. We just had bread, meat, cheese...I slept really well in the loft but of course woke up early. The whole family had things to do on Saturday: Marli had Italian class, Andre had Boy Scouts and Marcos went swimming.
After that, Marcos and I went on a bike ride around the city. It was really nice to get some exercise because it´s been hard not having my bike or rollerblades here. In the afternoon Marcos, Marli and I went out to do some errands, one of which was to buy a new rooster because the old one died (darn!) Thought you would appreciate that mom and dad! So we bought a new rooster and brought him home in a box in the car. It was quite funny! We got home about 6 and Marli and I started making supper. She made a tomato sauce from scratch just then from fresh tomatoes, garlic, onion and basil from her garden. It was one of the best things I´ve ever tasted and it was so easy, I think I´m never going to buy tomatoe sauce again! She also made gnocchi (the "pasta" made from potatoes). Marcos set the table very elegantly with a red and white checkered tablecloth, cloth napkins and candles. We even had wine. For dessert we had ice cream with a sauce Marli made from sugar, fresh orange juice and bananas. The meal was excellent, but very heavy and since we didn´t eat until almost 10PM, I felt very full!
The next morning Marli was up early getting things ready for the party. She was kind of in charge of organizing everything. We had breakfast around 10 and Marli had bought a million different kinds of bread for breakfast. They were talking about all the food that they were going to have at the party and I said, "So why are we even eating now!"
There was a mass at 11 to honor Ernesto and lots of family attended. After the mass, we went to a special house that you rent to have parties. The tables were decorated very elegantly and Rick had made the flowers for the tables. I would say there were about 40 people there total, mostly just close family. Ernesto has several brothers, all younger who were there. Also Fernanda´s parents were there, Rick and Marcos´ other cousin, Andrea and here family, Rick (not Maristela) and the guy Marcello who works at the book store. They served wine, beverages and salgadinhos (little appetizers) before the meal. Lunch was served at 2. We had salad and several vegetables, chicken in an orange sauce, beef in a wine sauce with mushrooms, white rice, rice with broccoli and a hot potato salad. The food was excellent.
After the meal they had kind of a dessert before the real dessert, the cake. There was fruit, some sweet dishes made with pumpkin and papaya, goiava and cheese, and little chocolate cups to drink different flavored liquors. Throughtout the whole day, they took many family pictures. At 4 we sang Happy Birthday and they cut the birthday cake. It was very different from our traditional cakes. It had several layers of cake and different fillings including pineapple, raisin and a doce de leite. During the party it got really foggy out and began to rain. The rain was welcomed by everyone though because it has been so dry here.
I got to have some nice conversations with people including Rick and one of Ernesto´s brothers.
We went home around 5 and I got to take one of the flowers from the table. It was really cold and it stormed. Everyone was so full from the lunch that we didn´t eat anything for supper.
I went to bed and got up the next morning around 6. This time since I didn´t have class til 11 I took the bus back to Rio myself instead of going earlier with Marcos. Marli´s dad dropped me off at the bus station. When I arrived in Rio, I had to take another bus to get home. I arrived home just at 10:30, just enough time to drop off my things and go to PUC. I had class and came home. Claudio was there because he was sick with a really bad cold. I found out from Lucie that I had to go back to PUC to pay an "orientation fee" and take care of some other things with my classes for the add-drop day today. So, I spent my afternoon at PUC doing that.
I made meatloaf, mashed potatoes and cucumber salad with cream for supper. The meatloaf didn´t turn out quite the same I think because of the tomato sauce and oven temperature, but Claudio and Lucie really liked it. It was nice to cook something I´m familiar with. After supper i had a lot of things to read for class, but unfortunately, I fell asleep almost right away! I was so tired from the weekend and it´s difficult to read and really comprehend things about economics in Portuguese!

Well, I guess I wrote enough for now. I will post some pictures later when I can of our crepe party from last week and also from the birthday party this weekend.
I hope everyone is well at home and is enjoying the last few weeks of summer. Miss you guys!

Today I woke up early as usual-7 AM- even though I didn´t have class until 11. I made some coffee with the new coffee maker Lucie and I bought Claudio for Father´s Day and read some articles for my sociology class. Oh, that brings me to something I wanted to say about PUC. Here, most classes don´t require you to buy books because you study from many different books, but instead of the professor making copies and bringing them to class, they put the copies in a folder in these little "copy houses". The students then go there and pay to have copies made. It was quite a fiasco yesterday for me to try to find the right folders for each class. One professor had given the wrong folder number and after three times of checking there and not finding the right text, I figured it out. Then, as always, I had to wait in line to have copies made. There is always a line here for something. The other day there was a huge line by one building and some other students and I were wondering what it was for. We finally realized that this enormous line was just to use the elevator! It´s just so different for me that here many things are still done manually, not necessarily because the technology is not available to them, but because there are so many people that don´t have jobs, this gives more jobs to more people.
Anyway, I had breakfast with Lucie and then we went to the grocery store (market) (I can´t say that grocery store here when I speak in english because nobody else knows it!) to buy some things for a party we´re going to have tomorrow night. We invited some of our friends (mostly other int´l. students) over for a crepe party. The only problem is we don´t have any pans, so we´ll have to borrow some. It should be really fun to have people over and Claudio loves entertaining.
Today I had lunch with Claudio at PUC after class and then took the bus across about a 6 mile bridge to a nearby city called Niteroi. I went to meet my Portuguese professor, Marilena, from the U. She had brought some things for me from home. Of course she arrived late, like any good Brazilian, so we only had about 20 min. to talk, but it was still nice to see her. So, I came back on the bus and now I´m just chilling at home. Claudio is teaching an art class and Lucie is out at an art exhibition with a Brazilian guy she met. I´m just trying to catch up on some emails and will probably read some things for class. Hope all is well, take care all!

	Claudio cutting the roast beef for lunch
	L to R Nephew and niece of Claudio, Claudio´s cousin, other niece, daughter Roberta, Claudio, and daughter Paloma
	Nicolai (German friend), me, Claudio and Lucie
	Sunset today from our window

This weekend has been simply splendid! Today was Father´s Day in Brazil and we had a big lunch here. Claudio´s two daughters and his cousin and his children all came. This morning Lucie went to the beach and I stayed here and helped him prepare things. Most of the meal had already been prepared by the maid, so we didn´t have too much to do, but it was really great. "Lunch" here was actually at 3 in the afternoon. Claudio´s cousin brought an amazing risotto (type of rice dish) with seafood. It had clam, shrimp, fish pieces and even octupus...and it was delicious! We also had salad, cooked potatoes, roast beef and farofa (a side dish mades with TONS of onion, seasoning, oil, bananas and manioc flour. A German friend of mine and Lucie from PUC, Nicolai came. He made real Tiramisu for desert and we also had a cheese with a sweet paste of doce de leite and chocolate. The meal was delicious and it was great to be around so many people. They all got along so well and were joking and laughing. It was really fun.
During most of the day yesterday, Lucie and I stayed at home relaxing and resting because we were out late the night before. Last night we went to the apartment of Sylvie, Eva and Marianne in Ipanema. Sylvie made dinner of pasta with fresh mozzarella, eggplant, tomato and zucchini. We had cake and ice cream for dessert. Afterwards we went walking along Copacabana beach to find some place to hang out. We ending up stopping at a little kiosk along the beach. We moved our table out onto the sand and just sat and talked. A Brazilian guy came and started talking to us because he said he thought it was neat that we moved to be closer to the water-that Brazilians would never do this. Turns out he spoke English and French as well. He stayed there talking to us for almost 2 hours. He was 37, but seemed much younger. He knew so much because he has spent the last five years living and working in Europe. We exchanged emails and hopefully sometime he´ll take us to a samba club. We left the beach at 2 AM and I didn´t feel like taking a taxi back home at that hour, so I slept at their apartment in Ipanema until the morning. When I woke up, I came back home and slept for a few hours, but I am really tired. It´s been a busy weekend with not much sleep and I´m not used to all this going out all the time business. I said this to someone today and she said, "Welcome, this is Brazil", so I guess I will have to get used to it! Luckily tomorrow I don´t have class til 11, so hopefully I can wake up, go for a run around Lagoa because it´s been a long time since I did this. I only 1 class tomorrow and afterwards if the weather is nice, perhaps I will go to the beach. Well, I guess that´s all the news for now. I´m ready for bed soon!

Hi Everyone!
Just wanted to post a few pictures from this past week. These are of Lucie and I at the beach in Ipanema. I forgot to put suncreen on my face and I was wearing sunglasses, so now I look like a raccoon! Wish you could all be here enjoying the beautiful weather with me!

	Lucie and I at the beach in Ipanema
	Self-portrait on the beach

The last time I wrote, I didn’t get to finish telling about my weekend. So…on Sunday morning I first met Eva and Marianne at the Hippie Fair in Ipanema. We bought a belt for our friend, Kristi’s birthday and I also bought some earrings for like US$1.50! It’s really fun to go there and argue down the prices with the people there. You’d never be able to do that in the US. The price is the price, but here, it is expected almost everywhere! At 1 I walked to the beach and met Lucie. The beach is always crowded with people on the weekend. They even close down one side of the street for people to walk, ride bike and skate. As we left the beach we were walking and there were all kinds of reporters. I heard one say, “That’s Caetano Veloso!” If you don’t know who that is, he’s one of the most famous Brazilian singers. Too bad I didn’t have my camera, but I did see him. That was pretty sweet! Lucie and I walked back to Eva and Marianne’s apartment. They are now living in Ipanema right next to the square where the Hippie Fair is. They also have a grocery store and post office right outside their door, not to mention being 2 blocks from the beach! Their apartment is really nice and I felt kind of jealous when I went there, but the more I think about it, I’d still rather live with a family or Brazilians. Because I know there, they are speaking in German together. Now in the house with Claudio, we don’t always speak Portuguese, but for the most part we do. Plus, it’s kind of like having a dad here or as Lucie and Mike called him, Tio (Uncle) Claudio. I’ll try to take some pictures of him and his apartment and put them up soon.

I am officially finished with my first week of classes. I have no class on Friday, so it’s just like if I were taking classes at Carlson! Yesterday I went to PUC in the morning to resolve things with Cristiane (the woman from the last house) and then was supposed to have class at 11. Well, my class was canceled, so I had to go there for nothing. I bought a quentinho of a fish filet with shrimp, spinach, rice and beans and walked back home. That was the best meal I’ve ever had for US$1.50! I changed into my bikini and headed to the beach to meet Lucie. We have our “usual spot” where we always go, so it is easy to find each other. Being it was Wednesday, the beach was much emptier and calm. I’m really starting to get used to lying on the beach all day! The weather was gorgeous as well as the landscape. Sometimes I forget I am really here. It all feels like a dream! We stayed there until about 4 in the afternoon when the sun wasn’t so strong. After this, I walked up and down the main street near the beach to waist some time before my class at 7. I didn’t have any money since I was at the beach, but just did some window-shopping. Before class I went to the supermarket and bought a pre-made sandwich for supper and ate it on my way back to PUC.

I had the class “Financial Institutions in Brazil.” The professor is American, but has been in Brazil for 30 years. You’d think after 30 years, his accent would be better, it was really funny to listen to him speak. It was easy for me to understand him, though; because he speaks in the same manner I suppose I would. He is from Pennsylvania and taught at MIT. He also has a doctorate from Yale. The class is supposed to go from 7-11, but we finished at about 9:30 for the first night. I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay up that late. Good thing it’s only one night a week!
After class I asked a man which bus to take home, but he told me the wrong bus, so I had to get off and pay again for another one, but nevertheless, I made it home safely. When I got back I started to feel nauseous like I had to throw-up. I took some PeptoBismal, showered and went to bed. I woke up during the middle of the night still not feeling well, but couldn’t do much at the time.

When I woke up today, I still didn’t feel so great. I had planned to run this morning, but instead took a little walk around Lagoa and stopped at the store to buy some bananas and fresh, hot “French” bread. On my way up the street, I met none other than Marcos (the man with whom I was staying before). I smiled and said good morning, but he just kind of lifted his hand. It is inevitable that I will meet him again because he always walks in the mornings. Oh well, I guess it’s his problem.

This morning I had history class at 11. Afterwards, Lucie and I met for lunch in the cafeteria. Then I had Portuguese in the afternoon. Today there were even more new students in the class. We did several different activities and got out a little early. When I got home, I finished unpacking everything from my suitcases. I think I’m pretty well settled in now. Tonight, I made some Brazilian stroganoff, not from scratch, but I used a mix for the sauce. I didn’t want to eat anything too heavy with my stomach, so I will eat it for lunch tomorrow, then how it turned out. I made a salad with a bunch of vegetables I had here. I think Lucie and I will go out for something to drink later on. Neither of us have class tomorrow, which is nice. I’m sure we’ll spend the afternoon at the beach. I spoke with Fernanda Coutinho today and I’m planning to stay overnight at her apartment tomorrow night in Barra. I’m excited to see her again because we’ve only seen each other once since I’ve been here. I think I’ll probably meet up with my professor Marilena from the U this weekend too. Well, I think this entry has gotten long enough, so I’ll write more soon.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Today was the first day of classes at PUC. I don´t have an alarm clock anymore because mine broke, so I woke up at 8:10 thinking I had class at 9. I rushed to get ready but after I checked my schedule again, I realized that it wasn´t til 11. I walked to PUC and went to see the people in the Int´l. Offic to talk about moving again. I met them all sitting outside the building talking and drinking coffee. They told me that something was wrong with the keypads to get into the office so they were all locked out! Sounds like something that would happen in Brazil! So, I spoke with them about moving and they said I do not have to stay here another 30 days that I could leave right away.

After this I went to the bank to cash my check for housing and food. It was very nerveracking walking around with that kind of money,but I made it home safely.

I went to my class Globalization and Brazil. It was supposed to be 2 hours long, but the professor just gave us an introduction abuot the class. He didn´t even have the syllabi today so we got out early. There are a few Int´l. students in my class, but it´s mostly Brazilians. It was really cool because I was able to understand mostly everything he was talking about. That was really exciting for me.

After class I ate a quentinho for lunch-rice and beans, beef stuffed with carrot and spaghetti noodles in a really good garlic sauce!

I came back home and packed up all of my things AGAIN. I didn´t even put all of my clothes there because some were dirty and my suitcases were full. I don´t know how because I really haven´t bought much. Of course I didn´t do a great job of packing...every time I try less and less! I hope this is the last time I will have to move...well I guess it will be because i can´t keep doing that. I think it will be good to be living with my friend Lucie and still be with a Brazilian person. Claudio is super nice and open. You can talk to him about anything.

Tomorrow I have two classes but will be finished by 1 PM. I spoke with Fernanda Coutinho today and she would like me to come to her apartment in Rio this weekend some time. I hope we can arrange it. I still have not heard from my Portuguese professor Marilena who is now in Rio. I hope we can get together soon as well.

I´ll also just say a little about my weekend. I did a lot of things. Saturday night I went out with Lucie to a birthday party of a Intl student she met from Germany. He´s already been here 6 months. It was in an apartment in Copacabana and there were some Intl students and some Brazilians. We arrived at 10 when teh party started at 9:30 thinking this was "late enough" in Brazil. Well, we were the only guests until about 11:30! They had snacks and drinks there and music. Mostly people just stood around and talked. I met two Brazilian girls who study at PUC and already I saw one of them today. We arrived home very late- after 3 AM. It was very late for me-I started to fall asleep there!

	Drink stands on the island
	Breakfast area at hostel in Morro
	Eating breakfast at the hostel
	Archway on Morro de SP
	Donkeys...the main mode of trasportation. That and wheelbarrows!
	Church on the island
	Cool plant!
	Lighthouse
	Entrance to our hostel
	Me and Neginho, a guy who we met in Morro who sells bags on the beach
	Me, Eva and Kristi posing at the beach
	The fort built in 1603
	Breakfast at the hostel
	Photos from the top of the island
	Me and Franciso, the owner of the hostel. He took us "hiking" to see the waterfall.
	Taking a refreshing shower after an hour long hike to the waterfall
	Clouds while watching the sunrise
	Me and Marianne watching the sunrise over the beach
	Sunrise
	Primeira Praia on Morro de SP
	Our shadows
	Room in hostel at MdSP

Some photos from Morro de Sao Paulo and me doing the zipline