First glimpses of Rio!

Like I said in the previous post, I arrived in Rio Tuesday night. Since it was dark when I arrived, apart from seeing a few of the infamous favelas and tons of traffic on the drive from the airport to my homestay, I was disappointed that I could not really see the famous Rio skyline.

However, it was much to my pleasant surprise when I got up for school the next morning and walked out of my apartment building to see Christ the Redeemer literally right in front of me. Yup, I had arrived in Rio! As I walked the four blocks to the bus stop to get to school, I felt Jesus watching over me the whole way.

Crossing the street onto Rua de Humaita, where I catch the bus each morning:

Not a bad walk to the bus I'd say

Catching the bus on the first day was a bit of an experience. I got to my bus stop and realized that not one, but many buses were speeding by with PUC as a final destination. The only problem? None of them were stopping. I thought that maybe not all of them stopped at my stop so I waited for one that would. Just when I started getting worried that none would ever stop, I realized that people were flagging down buses to make them stop, and otherwise the bus drivers would just keep going. So, I waved down the next bus with destination PUC that I saw. The bus stopped about 20 feet away from where I was standing, so I had to run over, and as soon as I got on the bus I tried to give the driver money. He pointed to the back of the bus though so I was super confused, until I realized there was a man on a stool, right there in the front of the bus, waiting to take my bus fare. So then I handed my money over to him and the bus violently lurched forward. I would have fallen to the ground if there wasn't the red turnstile to stop me. I finally got a seat when the bus-fare guy swiped his card to unblock the turnstile (once the fare is received) and I could get through.

The rest of the ride was bumpy and involved extremely reckless driving on the driver's part (all of my bus rides so far have followed this pattern, making me hopelessly carsick) but I couldn't help but be amazed by how beautiful the city was around me on my way to school. Everywhere I looked was amazing, with lush green trees hugging even the busiest city streets and hillsides covered in tropical forest.

PUC itself is no exception, the campus has a forest and river cutting right through the middle of campus, with tons of varieties of all different kinds of plants, all labeled with their  botanical names.

Me and my new friend Louie on the PUC campus. The tables in the back are usually taken by students reading or even working on their laptops.

In terms of class, I got placed in level V Portuguese for foreigners for the language intensive before real classes start in August. Because it is an intensive, every day I have class from 8:10 to 1:30 with only one twenty minute break. Also, the view out the classroom window is very conducive to daydreaming or just wishing I was at the beach....But, my teachers are interesting, and since my class is small (10 people) so we've had some great discussions. I can't complain!

 Greenery is EVERYWHERE in this city...this is my view during class. See what I mean?

I feel like I've already written a lot... maybe too much, so sorry if I am boring you to tears! I'll just end this post saying that I can cross a few things off of my list of typical Brazilian foods and drinks I wanted to try. Yesterday I had my first caipirinha (Maracuja or passionfruit flavor) on Ipanema beach. Today I had agua de coco (coconut water) and açaí (frozen açaí berry blended with banana and syrup) for the first time, both delicious and refreshing, although I asked for my açaí "natural" (without sugar) and the cashier scolded me later saying that was not how it should be eaten. It tasted great to me though haha! I find that a lot of the food here is either was too salty or way too sweet, but maybe I'll try açaí the regular way next time.

I took this right before trying my first Caipirinha at a beachside kiosk in Ipanema

After you drink the coconut water you can ask the vendor to slice it open so you can eat the inside---yummm

That's me in the blue skirt walking along Praia de Leblon after class today with my new friend Chloe. All the Cariocas (residents of Rio de Janeiro) were out since it is Saturday and sunny! 

OK well that's it for today! Tomorrow I have to be at school at 8 am to go on a city tour with some of the other exchange students at PUC.

So, if you made it this far thank you for reading and until next time!
Tchau!