Day 1

I'm here and everything is wonderful. Really.
I keep comparing this to the first week of college. Remember how time felt like it was flying by because so much was happening? I feel like I've been here much longer than 1 day.

CIEE has put us up in a very nice hotel for orientation. There's wonderful art on the walls. This morning I woke up late and as I was reaching for a pair of jeans and a sweater I remembered that I was in Brazil. What a fantastic realization.

Yesterday was a lot of meeting people and eating. We went to a buffet for lunch and I was surprised to find that I had no clue what anything was. I could tell what was meat and what was pasta and what was vegetables but I couldn't really read the signs or make out specific flavors. Although everything was delicious that was definitely my "Shit, I'm in Brazil for real" moment. After lunch I went and found Angela.
There are no words to express how good it is to have a close friend nearby at moments like these. We hugged and hugged like we hadn't seen each other in years. Interestingly enough, Angela is rooming with a girl who goes to MU and is friends with my friend since middle school, Noah. They're both so comforting to have here--two "hometown" connections.
Later that evening we did some orientation stuff and had dinner and then the CIEE people told us they were taking us dancing. We walked about two miles to a club which wasn't open yet at 11:00pm (we are not in Minnesota anymore) and then got cabs and headed back to a place closer to the hotel. The walk ended up not being in vain because we got a great walking tour of the city. The club was fun and we headed back around 1 which was perfect for our 7am wake up call this morning. Today is mostly more orientation. I'm meeting my host family tonight which is a little scary even though they seem very nice.
I probably wont write everyday but I think that it's important to write at the beginning at least.

Tchau!

-B