beautiful Brazil

more than just alliteration...it really is beautiful. i wonder if it is the hilliest country in the world (or if hilliest is a word, for that matter). despite an 8+ hour car ride that should have been maybe 3 from the beach to the airport yesterday, the scenery has been gorgeous -- the beach i stayed in near Ubatuba was very secluded, not super touristy since it´s so hard to get to and i´d guess you have to have some money to rent a house there...we stayed at a house of Flavia´s family friends that they´ve known all their lives which is about a 2 minute walk to the beach. It was fairly rainy for most of the time i was there, but i managed to get some funky tanlines none the less....i´ll be sure to share pictures when i can. seriously, that´s the one thing i really want to avoid each time and i always end up getting them. i did buy a brazilian bikini...but the least skimpiest you might ever find. here even hugely overweight women walk down the beach wearing next to nothing, and no one bats an eye, so i figured i could get comfortable with myself....and i found a green flowered one for R$30 (about $15 USD) so i couldn´t resist. the time at the beach was so relaxing - i never wore a watch, we ate whenever we were hungry, Fla´s parents were super generous and paid for all the meals we didn´t have at home (and those we did, for that matter...) friends came in and out throughout the week, and new year´s eve probably 15 of us ate a big meal around 11pm and opened some champagne at midnight, then ran down to the beach to jump the traditional 7 waves - i like making 7 wishes much better than making resolutions. :)
yesterday began the trek to rio...........what should have been a 3 hour car ride ended up taking 8. tiny roads, traffic, rude drivers, all that fun stuff...Fla´s dad was a saint to drive us through that. i got to the airport 45 minutes before my flight was supposed to take off, but then it was almost 2 hours late taking off anyway (they´re having some issues with air traffic controllers, etc. these days) so i ended up waiting around...very weird experience, not knowing why a plane is delayed, or even when the estimated departure is, and then being the ONLY person sitting on a bus waiting to be taken to my plane for at least 20 minutes....i just chose to believe i´d end up on the right flight and i did. i´m staying with my friend Alinne´s friend Priscila´s family, and her cousin drove her mom & his girlfriend to meet me at the airport when i finally arrived around midnight. i´m sharing a room with Priscila´s sister Patricia, and the apartment is really nice....in fact, i´ll probably be back there soon since my less-than-5 hours of sleep last night are not providing much energy.
class was good today - took the evaluation test, am placed at an intermediate level, and today´s class was an oral evaluation of sorts. the rest of this week i´ll have class from 8:30-11:30am. i´m excited to explore this beautiful city when i am more awake!!
i´ll write more when there´s more to tell!

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