Her name was Lola...

So…I have to put everything I did in the past 5 days in Brazil into one blog entry? I apologize already for the length…but oh well… We arrived into Salvador, Brazil on Sunday and a big group of us pretty much just walked around and hung out all day. It was so weird having been there two years ago so I kept remembering places I had been with my family and where we had taken pictures and stuff. We hung out at a café and listened to some great samba music, where I proceeded to dance with one of the guys in the band (there is video)…so that was fun…we enjoyed a caiparinha (the Brazilian version of a mojito) and the guys had the local beer. We saw some sights and had a great day of exploring Salvador by ourselves. That night, there was a welcome reception with local university students and a showing of capoiera and music. The beer was unlimited and free so I’m sure you can imagine the spectacle that night, plus, after the show it pretty much turned into a huge nightclub with some dj from Europe…it will definitely go down as one of the most fun nights in my life.

About 2 hours after I got back from the “welcome reception” (rave lol) my group going to Rio de Janeiro was meeting in the union at a lovely 3:45 in the morning…so you can imagine the fun of the 10 hours that followed. We finally get to Rio after not going to sleep after a night of craziness, and of course it is raining. So they switched up our schedule for the 3 days we were there and gave us free time, which really? Free time in a city we have never been to before at the same time that it is raining was a little frustrating but we got over it. Our hotel was right on Copacabana beach (which was completely deserted the first two days because of the rain lol) but I met some nice new people and we hung out. The next day we went to a YMCA type place for the kids that live in favelas which are the Brazilian slums. It was so amazing to see that action is being taken to get these kids off the streets and they were so excited to have us there and play with them. Then we drove around Rio and went to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain on a cable car. That night we went out and met some nice Brazilians to teach us samba…I didn’t want to go with all the other drunk girls to the American bars so I made friends with the 2 other girls who wanted a more local feel. It was so much fun and we samba’d the night away. The next day it FINALLY stopped raining and we got to see the Christ the Redeemer statue. We had some free time before we had to leave for the airport so we spent the rest of the afternoon on the beaches of Copacabana which was lots of fun.

I then had one last day in Salvador and had an FDP (Faculty Directed Practica) which we all have to do for our classes in every country. We went to an Afro-Brazilian museum which was really cool. We learned a lot about Condomble which is one of the main original religions in Brazil. We then went to a sort of Condomble village and saw the houses where they practice. It was really interesting to see how differently people live in these little villages. The kids were so excited to see us, but we had a national guard escort considering “tourists” don’t come through those parts often, so that was a little sketch haha. I met a friend on that tour and he was going on an architecture tour of Salvador later that day and I had nothing to do the rest of the so I signed up. It was beautiful, we walked around Salvador and the professor was so passionate about all the little details it was adorable. We saw some absolutely gorgeous churches which was what I was dying to see! We then had to be back on the ship and had a BBQ out by the pool for all the students once we all got back on.

So for the past few days since being back on the ship we have had classes and they have been pretty much normal school days with the occasional card playing and hang out time, and my nightly ”iPod watching of the sunset party.” Today we have no class which is amazing…but it’s cold and rainy outside so everyone is here in the piano lounge studying. Everyone is really eager for Namibia because no one has a clue what to expect about it. Last night was open mic night and it was packed. Apparently they are going to do it once a week; it’s amazing how much talent is on this ship. We attempted to sleep out on the deck last night and watch the stars but that dream ended quickly when it started to rain haha. Next stop, Walvis Bay, Namibia! Miss everyone greatly and would love to hear what’s going on back home and stuff! (ayallen@semesteratsea.net) :)

Lots of love from the middle of the Atlantic!