So I just figured out how to post slideshows of my photos. Here are photos from a tour of the island of Florianopolis. If you want to view larger versions of the photos you can just click on this slideshow and it will take you to the actual album. I'll be posting photos from our vacation as soon as I can upload them (the internet connection here is unfortunately slow). Enjoy!

This was my first day out of bed after I got sick, I was still pretty out of it - but I'm so glad I made it for the tour. I obviously really would have missed out had I not gone.








The restaurant where we had dinner, right on the water: frutos do mar


See food??


Yum!! Sea food!!


Oysters as big as your head

Finally in Curitiba

Well, the group finally arrived in Curitiba a few hours ago. I only posted once from Floripa but I figured you could extrapolate that one post and gather that pretty much all we did was hang out at the beach, relax, and enjoy the scenery. It was a welcome vacation, and extremely relaxing!

We took a (relatively) short bus ride through the mountains to arrive in Curitiba around 7:30 this evening. Some people slept, but I read an issue of Utne magazine and watched Flight of the Conchords for most of the ride. It was a much smoother ride than previous ones - because I sat in the second row and I had two seats to myself!

Jen and I have decided that this is our favorite hotel room, or apartment as they call them here, by far! There are two rooms - one is a bedroom with two single beds, a closet, and a decent sized balcony that has a great view. We have an actual normal sized bathroom. This is exciting because all of the other bathrooms have been about the size of a cruise ship bathroom, rather uncomfortably small! A full sized shower, and at this point, hot water - are luxuries to us!! Aside from the bedroom is a small living room with a couch (with a pull out bed), a little table with two chairs (which we have dubbed to be our breakfast nook), a window with a garden on the ledge, and best of all - a little kitchen!! Its nothing major but there's a refrigerator, a stove, a sink, and storage for food and utensils. At this point, we are thrilled to have the opportunity to cook for ourselves. Eating out has been semi-expensive and it feels like we're always scavenging for food.

The goals for tomorrow are as follows:
- find a place to do laundry - we are out of clean clothes!
- find a place to buy some groceries and hopefully a pot and pan (none are provided by the hotel)
- talk to travel agent - we have this coming Friday and Monday off from school, so a few of us are going to take the opportunity to go to Rio!!
- finally, go to class. Yeah, vacation is over, back to work

Oh, my dad asked about the weather/temperature. Floripa was extremely warm during the day - probably in the upper 80's lower 90's but with a nice cool breeze. At night it could be a little chilly, in the upper 60's but also with a breeze. We expected Curitiba to be very cold (from what Floripan's and others had told us) but when we arrived I was wearing shorts and a light shirt and was pretty comfortable. I would say its in the mid 60's right now. However I think that it will start to get colder in the next few weeks (just a guess)

Paradise

Today was a fun day! Shani woke me up and a small group of us headed over to one of the beaches - Praya Mole. We had to walk up this massive hill and then down and then we were there! The water was filled with surfers when we arrived around 11 - and by the time we were ready to leave the beach was so crowded with people - and many still arriving. Guess it's a popular spot!

I know that people always make jokes about the dental floss bikinis in Brazil - but I assure you - it is no joke. No matter what type of body - all of the women wear these skimpy floss bikinis!! We went in the water and played in the waves a bit - but the water was pretty rough. Mainly we lounged on the shore and got sun, I finished the book I was reading. I got completely covered in sand, but at least I didn't sunburn!

When we first got there we met a beautiful French couple with an adorable 3 yearold. They had lived in Miami, and loved Americans and were really happy to talk to us. Most of the people we meet love Americans and want to talk to us about where we're from and where they've been in the U.S.

We had a little lunch and then hit the road back to the house. Spent the afternoon lounging around the house and taking a nap.

In the evening we all got dressed up and went out to a restaurant down the street from the house called the Black Beard. It was kind of pricey but our dinner was delicious. Afterwards a couple of us went to a really nice bar with a live samba/rock band. The place was full of the island elite - rich people! Everyone was dancing - it was really fun.
Now I'm home, and sleepy. Tomorrow is gonna be another beach day most likely. We have Friday, Saturday, and half of Sunday left here before we leave for Curitiba. This place is paradise, I dont want to leave!

(pictures to come soon!)

Floripa

We're in an amazing beach house right on the lagoa. Our apartment is two stories with a HUUUUUGE outdoor balcony patio thing that's like the size of a house and overlooks the lake. Sleeps about 8 or more (we have two apartments)and has AMAZING views!!

Unfortunately, my computer doesn't get internet signal here so I can't post pictures - as I'm hijacking other people's computers. We used the barbeque and made an amazing meal - barbequed chicken on the grill in gyros w/ homemade tzaziki sauce. Shani and I went grocery shopping for 11 people for three days, with no car - *that* was an adventure! Anyway, we're having fun - oh, and we actually all worked on our research proposals today - so we're having fun and doing work!! My research is going to be about informal settlements, social capital, and public participation - I'll explain more later - because apparently we're about to play a game :)

Hey friends at home!

So we're in Floripa and it's really beautiful. I'd love to tell you all about it but unfortunately I've spent most of my time here sick in the hotel room! I was totally not functional for the first few days here but yesterday I managed to get out of bed and go on the bus tour (which was the whole day). This island is really beautiful. I'm glad I'm starting to feel better because our holiday starts this afternoon! We are renting a house that belongs to a professor at the university here - I think its on the south side of the island? We drove around near it yesterday and its in a cool part of town - I'm excited about whatever the group is going to get into this weekend! I dont know if I'll have internet access but hopefully I'll be able to post pictures in a few days.

Steph, good luck with your flights and all of the travel over the next couple of weeks. KEEP TRACK OF YOUR WALLET AND PASSPORT, DUMMY.
Luis, thank you for the pep talk <3

Everyone else, until later!

Now we're in Floripa!

Hi blog,

Its been a few days since I last wrote – my parents asked if the blog was on a writer’s strike. I want to assure my loyal blog readers that there is no strike – it’s just been a busy busy few days!

The week in Maringa was school intensive. We usually left the hotel by 8:15 and returned around 7. We usually spent the mornings in lectures and the afternoons on tours. Our classes were with both American and Brazillian students so we got to know some of the kids in Maringa!
Lauren and I on the touring bus


On Friday we had lectures in the morning and a student discussion forum in the afternoon and evening. It took forever because, as we learned, Brazilian students tend to be verbose in their explanations of things. When the forum finally ended we were all ready for a little fun. We met up at this amazing restaurant that served, almost exclusively, meat on sticks! We got filet mignon on little sticks (kind of like shish kabobs), and cheese and garlic stuffed bread on sticks, and of course several rounds of caprinihas with cachaCa. It was a really fun night cause we got to hang out with our new Brazillian friends! Good times.
Us with our Brazillian friends, and meat on sticks



Saturday morning we woke up, packed, and checked out of the hotel. Then some professors from the UEM (the university in Maringa) picked us up from the hotel and brought us to the Maringa country club where they threw a huge party for us. The food was unbelievable. Endless chicken, pork, beef, sausage from the churrascaria style barbeque, more garlic cheese bread, amazing salads filled with mango, sun dried tomato, goat cheese, veggies, etc; yuka, and different kinds of brazillian foods. They also served us this pure coconut and rum drink, traditional capirinhas, and a delicious pineapple capriniha. We basically ate and drank all day – it was a never ending feast. It was fun to socialize with the professors and students we had studied with all week. The country club had all kinds of amenities like soccer fields, tennis courts, bocce ball, a huge playground, swimming pools. People were using all of them and we played on the playground all day. It was a really nice way to end the week.
The food


Me with my friend Marcello

Playing on the playground


Around 8 oclock the professors took us back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and then brought us to the bus station. Our bus boarded and left at 9 pm. I was pretty miserable the entire 12 hours we were on the bus. For one, the bus smelled horrible – but the really bad part was that the bus extremely wobbly. For twelve hours I felt like I was on a little boat in a big storm! I tried to read and breathe to calm my nausea and stomach but it didn’t really help and I finally gave in and took some Dramamine. It kicked in pretty quick and I was out like a light. Unfortunately the effects only lasted for a few hours, and the rest of the night I was in and out of sleep. I finally woke up in Florianopolis with a stiff neck and a sore throat.

When our bus arrived in the city we got off and transferred to a smaller chartered bus for our group. As we drove in to the city I was astonished by the beauty and tried to compare it to other places I’ve been. My friend in Maringa, Marcello, told me that Florianopolis might be similar to Miami. Its tropical and there are lots of palm trees, water, boats, etc – but there are these beautiful mountains and hillsides with houses built on them. I think I would compare Florianopolis to a city in California.
We went to breakfast down the street shortly after we arrived. I had a cappuccino and a chocolate croissant – normally this would be my ideal breakfast but I was exhausted, cranky, and felt slightly sick – so I just wanted to get into bed. I hightailed it back to our beautiful resort hotel and got in bed for the rest of the day. I woke up periodically and just felt worse and worse. I think Shani, another girl on the trip, is feeling sick too – so there is a little bit of concern about us being contagious and getting other people sick. Hopefully that doesn’t happen!

Oh, our hotel in Floripa (the short name for Florianopolis) is basically a resort! The room that Jen and I are in doesn’t have a real door but sliding glass doors that open up to a little patio and has a gorgeous view! I’ll take some pictures of it tomorrow.

Day 2 in Maringa

Today was a killer long day. We woke up at 7:30 and didn't get home until after 8! Had breakfast at the hotel: delicious fresh fruit and fresh fruit juice, different cheeses and types of breads...

Walked over to the university for our first lecture given by Dr. Joceli Macedo, who is the main instructor of our program. Her lecture was on the topic of adapting the Florida model of housing needs assessments for Brazil and other developing countries. I obviously found this interesting as I just worked on a housing needs assessment and my specialization in the program at FSU is affordable housing. I'm thinking of changing my focus in this program from transportation to housing, since I am slightly more knowledgeable about housing. Here is a photo of us in class (we arrived late, of course):

The second lecture given to us was by Professor Doctor Something about the topic of "verticalization" or vertical growth in the city of Maringa. The American students couldn't really understand the negative connotation given to vertical growth in this lecture as, where we come from, the opposite of vertical growth is sprawl - and this is seen as a negative thing.
After the two lectures we had some time for lunch. Our Brazillian colleagues brought us to an all you can eat cafeteria with lots of authentic Brazillian dishes - including feshuoda! Yum! Here's a picture of us in front of the cafe:

After our too short lunch break, we walked back to school and met in front of a building to catch a chartered bus to take us to the destination where our tour began. On the tour we went to see the cathedral that looks like a rocket ship. Its huge and when you walk inside its filled with stained glass and you can see all the way to the top of the cone. Its amazingly beautiful:



Then we went to one of the two urban parks in the city that are referred to as the "lungs" of Maringa. We saw monkeys there!!





Then we went to a semi-informal settlement that is kind of under attack by the local government - too complicated to explain in depth but here are some photos:





I am slightly homesick and kind of out of my comfort zone. I miss spending time with Luis, having dinner with mom and dad, and talking to m sister Steph whenever I want. Despite these things I am learning a lot about the cities here, getting to know some awesome new people, and having a great time!
Tomorrow is another long day of lectures and field trips so I better get to sleep. Btw, I have Skype figured out and working so I can call people now!
Oh yeah, and here are some pictures of Jessica and Jennifer trying to kill eachother by pushing eachother into traffic - FSU UF rivalry still going strong!

Dinner in the Japanese district of Sao Paulo: Liberdade (read: Liberda-gee). Dan, Jen, Kevin and I shared a boat. I got dared to eat the most disgusting looking lime on the boat as pictured in the right of the photo below - of course I did it. Eww. 

Jen,  Jessica, Kevin and I taking a photo with some Brazilians we met while asking for directions to a bar. Crazy silly men. 

The group at a churascaria on the last night in Sao Paulo. On the left side of the table is Vicky, Dan, Shani, and Erin. On the right side is Merideth, Jessica, Kevin, and Eric.


Dinner at the churrascaria


The view from the tallest building in Sao Paulo



Walking around in Sao Paulo






The view from our hotel room


Jen, Eric, Vicky, Jessica, and Dan playing drinking games at the bus depot while we wait for our bus from Sao Paulo to Maringa



We arrive at Maringa around 4:30 in the morning


Dinner at a corner bar with Lauren, Elli, Renata, Kevin, and Jen. Drinking caprinihas and eating little pieces of beef and chicken.

Ok, a quick update from the hotel lobby in Maringa. We travelled all night last night from about 4:30 pm to 4:30 am - door to door. Today we slept until 1 then rushed to get ready for our lecture at the university here at 1:30. We had two lectures today about the development of the city and the zoning. 

Maringa is much smaller than Sao Paulo and was originally developed according to the garden city principles by British investors. The streets are lined with trees, and its much quieter and seems slower than Sao Paulo. The students we met today told us the population is 325,000. We'll be working in groups with the students from Maringa to write papers and create presentations to give at the end of this week (I think). 

Today is Lauren's birthday so we're about to go out to celebrate. We have a full day of class tomorrow starting at 8:30 am, so not too much celebration. 

I'll try to post pictures/videos soon - but this week is jam packed w/ activities. 

Hey Mom! It was too expensive to send flowers from Brazil, and I know you don't check your email on the weekends but I figured you would see this!! Happy Mother's Day, I love you!! 

Day 2 in Sao Paulo

Whew, it feels so good to sit down. We’ve only been in Sao Paulo for two days but it seems like its been so much longer.

We just returned to the hotel after a long day of exploring the city, but I’ll start with talking about yesterday’s activities.

After arriving at the hotel, we all rested for a few hours before getting refreshed and heading over to a university nearby for a lecture. I think the school is called Collegio Cidade (ci-da-je)? Every Friday they have a lecture series called Café Philosophico, so we were invited to that. The lecture was supposed to be given in English but after more Brazillians arrived it was given in Portuguese and translated every now and then for us. The topic was Urban Violence, specifically in Sao Paulo. It was interesting, but the students were in rough shape after traveling the night before – by this time it was evening, around 8 or 9 and most of us were drifting off during the presentation unfortunately. After the lecture we all went to a restaurant that served delicious Italian food and we all drank wine and chatted about our travel experiences and got to know each other a little.

(Here’s some background on my fellow travelers/classmates:
Though the program is through the University of Florida, UF students make up less than half of the group. There are five or so Gators with us: Eric, Lauren, Shaney, Kevin, and Jessica. Shaney has taken Portuguese language classes so she is really handy to have around. Lauren’s luggage is lost in Panama so she has none of her stuff. Eric is the class clown. Jessica is a fun girl. Kevin I don’t know very well but I think he’s from Delray beach… There is a girl from Canada – she goes to school in Manitoba but did her undergrad in Montreal at McGill (she’s interested in bus rapid transit and bicycles!) There are two girls from UT Austin, Erin and Merideth, I haven’t gotten to know them yet but they seem nice. Elly is really interesting – she graduated from Pratt Institute and currently works for a nonprofit in Honduras in a small town with no electricity! Oh, and Dan – Dan goes to Rutgers and bought and renovated a crackhouse in Trenton. Very cool guy. Everyone is really friendly and interesting.)

After dinner some people went home, but a group of us decided that even though we were exhausted, we needed to go out on our first night in Sao Paulo. We found a street with some interesting bars and bought a bottle of wine and sat in a park next to the bar and talked and then wandered into another bar nearby. We met some Brazillian students at the bar that spoke English and talked to them about the area. Oh, and we got to try the national drink of Brazil! I can’t remember exactly what its called but its basically a mojito without the mint – a ton of sugar and lime.

I also tried a drink one of the people we met recommended, a shot of espresso with liquor in it – I can’t say I’m a fan. The night was really fun – we got some great photos and no one got mugged. A successful night out in Sao Paulo.

Cut to today. Jen and I scrambled to make it to the free breakfast served by the hotel. We made it in time and luckily so because it was delicious. Tons of fresh fruit and fruit juice– papaya, pineapple, fruit salad, lots of tiny Brazillian pastries and cheese. Yum.
We were supposed to go on a walking tour at 11:30 but it was delayed until 2 so a group of us went with the teaching assistant, Renata, to the San Paulista Ave district. It is apparently a business/financial district but we didn’t get to observe the hustle and bustle as it was a Saturday. However, we did get to see some interesting sights. We had lunch at a little café – everyone ate Feshouda (fesh-wada) which is a pork stew and rice kind of dish that I think is typical of Brazil. I had grilled cheese. Ordering at restaurants is kind of difficult because a lot of the menu is difficult to translate and most servers don’t speak English.

We returned to the university we were at the night before to meet up with the rest of the group and a local professor (oh, here they call urban planning “urbanism” and we aren’t planners, we’re “urbanists”) for our walking tour of the historic district. We started with a presentation about the history of the development of the city. Apparently it developed in a haphazard way because much of the land was owned by families in large tracts that were farms – and one by one the farms would be developed into neighborhoods. This lead to Sao Paulo developing in an odd patchwork formation which makes providing infrastructure and public transportation problematic.

After the presentation we went out for our tour. The city is so interesting and diverse and HUGE (tt’s the second largest city in the world). We were told that unlike cities like Manhattan where you can relate where you physically are in the city to a location on a map, Sao Paulo is so huge and confusing that even the people that live here don’t really know where they are most of the time! I can definitely verify that experience. I would have no idea how to get around if I wasn’t with a group. So, anyway the tour was interesting and long. We probably walked around for 7 hours straight today – my feet are aching! Luckily we got some great photos of interesting architecture and urban parks.







Here's a link to an album of photos taken today and last night:

First night and second day in Sao Paulo

Its seven oclock here now and we’re meeting the group at 9 for dinner, so a few precious hours to rest and relax!

Ps. Hi Mom and Dad and Steph!!!
pps. I've added links to photo albums and a video to previous posts, so check that out :)

In Sao Paulo

Oh heyyyyy! We're in Sao Paulo! 

We are semi-disoriented as we flew overnight - the flight left Miami at 9:30 and arrived here at 6:30. The whole traveling part went fine - security, customs, immigration, etc. The flight was not bad - it went pretty fast, the food was good, and we had little tvs in our seats that displayed a map of our location. There was a little turbulence when we were passing over Cuba but nothing too bad. 

We are an a hour ahead here, so jet lag isn't really a problem but the lack of sleep is. We waited at the airport for awhile for everyone to arrive and once the group was together we took a bus into the city. We passed some informal housing looking structures on the way in - pretty interesting. There is a group of 13 or so students and they're all really interesting - so I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone. We just had an informal orientation type meeting and now we're in the bar of the hotel (free wireless, yes!) trying to get some food before we head off for a walking tour I think, and then a lecture at 7. 

The elevators in our hotel are kind of weird, and so are the lights (which require the hotel key to turn on), oh and our room is freezing. And we have a bidet in the bathroom. 

Portuguese sounds awesome, but its frustrating not knowing how to communicate with people. On the plane Jen and I listened to an In-flight Portuguese lesson on my ipod and learned a few key phrases: 

Obrigada - thank you 

Disculpe - excuse me

No entendo - don't understand!

A few others, but that's all for now. 

Here's a link to an album of photos we took on the plane and at the airport:

At the Airport

Hey friends  and family at home! So this is my first post in my travelblog. I'll update as often as I can find internet access. Here's a little video post for your viewing pleasure: