i thought i was slowing down, but no, im addicted to travel

i've never claimed to be good at keeping up with these posts, but i figure better late than never, right? we returned to the states about 3 weeks ago now, but this europe trip has really stayed with me. literally i was jetlagged for 2 good weeks, but i mean it really played a part in deciding some things for my future that i'm going to stick to. i'll get to that. i left off as we were headed to mykonos, aka the party island, also the gay island, this was interesting. paradise beach resort, a crowded concentration camp-looking property with people sleeping everywhere, and then a beautiful private cove with bars, stores, restaurants (i think.. i pretty much stayed on the beach). it was what i imagine spring break to be like in mexico or something. we made a great group of friends for the few days as we explored the island and partied, and partied, and partied. it was amazingly fun, but by the time we left for italy, we were desperately in need of showers and sleep. ITALY!!!!! ...i cant describe the feeling of arriving in torino again... like being at home, only a lot warmer, fuzzier, and more nostalgic. and we stayed with my dear friend and used-to-be-co-worker at the bar, sergio. and we ate pizza and pasta and drank wine for the next 2 weeks straight! i love italy. torino was amazing, i got to see old friends and make new ones, then we went to genova, santa margherita, portofino, cinque terre... the riviera was as beautiful as ever. the pesto and focaccia delicious as ever. and then.. finally.. we arrived in rome! my favorite city. we spent 5 days there i think, doing everything again- trevi, pantheon, st peters, vatican museum, trastevere, and my favorite.. the colosseo. we pub crawled, sketched, and basked under the roman sun, and i spent a lot of time just staring at the colosseo and trevi, a LOT of time. by this time we had met up with an aussie we had met in greece, he traveled with us for the remainder of the trip, and 3 was a party everywhere:) but when youre with an aussie what can you expect? from rome we ventured south to the amalfi coast, where we stayed in the tiny town of atrani, with one small piazza and two luigis who we immediately befriended. it was such a cute friendly place, right next door to the town of amalfi, i will definitely go back there. we bused it one day to positano, had pizza and soaked up as much sun as we could, the amalfi coast is definitely a sight to see. the roads are sketchy and narrow and the bus drivers are probably the most amazing drivers in the world (right up there w latin american bus drivers), the cliffs drop like a hundred meters right out from under you, it was all i could do to get close to the edge! but it was incredibly beautiful something you should take your mom to see, i promised mine i would.
after amalfi we headed north to trento for a couple days, a big town on a river in the mountains of northern italy, and then into austria. austria took my breath away. its sooooo beautiful, green, really tall jagged mountains, tiny quaint chapels everywhere, and chalets. we stayed just outside of innsbruck in a really beautiful hotel right next to the old olympic bobsled track in the foothills. we trammed it up to the top of nordpark, the big ski resort of innsbruck, vowed to come back and ski, and spent a couple days exploring the town. and it snowed.. the first snow of the season, completely blanketed the mountains in white. it was quite a sight, and that is when i decided not to move to san diego, i need my winter. the food was delicious, the owners of the hotel memorable, and overall it was a lovely experience. did i mention the down comforters and the spa? this place was NICE. i told my parents id take them there too:)
the rest of the trip happened very quickly, starting with oktoberfest. we arrived in munich in the morning, locked our backpacks at the train station, went to oktoberfest allllllll day, drank, sang, cheered, rode a rollercoaster, a ferris wheel, made new friends and had another quite memorable experience, then made it back to the train station in time to catch a night train to berlin. it was a looooooong day. but its something i want to plan better and go again next year, just book a hostel in far advance.. berlin revisited was fun, we rented bikes and my german sister lydia met up with us on our last day. it was so good to see her! we went to the berlin version of oktoberfest that night, drank and danced some more, then said our goodbyes. we left the next morning, daryl was ready to go home, i was absolutely not. with no plan of where to live or work, all i wanted to do was stay in europe, but my best friend in the world got married 2 weeks ago so i needed to be back for her. after 3 weeks of living out of my truck and couch hopping (and mooching off the parents), im finally in a new place in truckee for the next few months so i can ski, be close to friends and family, work and save some money... and then im moving to rome in march or so. i love europe, i love italy, i love rome, i love prosciutto e funghi pizza, i have nothing holding me back, so what better time than now? this is an open invitation for anyone who wants to join me, you know how i roll, its going to be amazing. a presto a roma!..
j

Kalimera, yog er hungrig!

That means good morning (in greek), i'm hungry! (in swedish- and don't quote me on the spelling of that one). These are just a few of the many new things ive learned on this trip! i'm in europe with my brother daryl for 5 weeks, starting sep 4, and ending oct 7, that means were somewhere in the middle. we actually had a long layover in amsterdam, which weve never been to, so we found our way downtown on the trains and walked around for a few hours. we learned a few things about the dutch in this time- they love h&m (good taste) we saw about 5 of them within 2 blocks, no joke. they really must like flowers, because seeds and bulbs were for sale EVERYwhere, including "cannibus" seeds, funny. and in the red light district you can window shop for girls just like seeds, i did not know that before and found it.. kind of disturbing actually. we ended up steering clear of there and finding a nice cappuccino and baguette in a different neighborhood before heading back to the airport. its really a beautiful city, looks incredibly similar to copenhagen i thought, and now that ive seen it, i probably dont need to go back (and i never say that about anywhere) but it definitely was a worthwhile stop. we finally made it to berlin after... i dont even know how many hours (or days?) and managed to find our hostel pretty easily. the next few days were spent walking all over the city and back like 37 times, my poor joints werent keeping up with my muscles very well. but i liked berlin so much better the second time around, we went on an awesome walking tour with this guy paulo from england. he was like a storybook come to life, we learned so much history that day we were just hypnotized by this guy. it was like reading an entire book, and all of it was right in front of our eyes, it really was amazing, and i recommend sandeman's free tour of east berlin to anyone who goes there.
anyway we did some shopping and pub crawling and photographing, day and night, oh and sketching! that was fun even for me, daryl being the architect.
it was a little cold for my taste, which was doubly (is that a word?) made up for with our next move- to greece! we flew to athens at night (the 8th?), and when we walked out of the metro station, the first thing we saw was a huge lit up ruin (we later figured out was part of the roman agora), and behind it, up on the hill, was the acropolis. just there to be revered in all its glory of being on top of the hill. it was quite the sight. and we were afraid eateries might be closed by this time, boy were we wrong! the city was coming alive, people were out everywhere. so we got crepes and sat by this ruin to try to take in our new surroundings. athens is a hot place, literally, and it was nice to be in shorts and tank tops again. everything id ever heard anyone say about athens is that its "dirty" and you "only need a day there" and its "sketchy" and whatever. but my first impression, and lasting impression, is that it reminds me of latin america, and i immediately loved it, narrow streets with local crafts for sale, shops and restaurants everywhere kinda like italy, and then ancient ruins thrown into the mix just for fun. yeah it was "dirty" but nothing compared to some places ive been. it was comfortable, and greek is such a pretty language, it sounds like a mix of russian and italian to me, i want to learn it. so ive learned 4 words for sure- kalimera, kalispera, efharisto, and parakalo- good morning, good evening, thank you, and youre welcome (and please). but everyone speaks english so its easy. anyway we roamed the streets, drank cappuccinos, and of course visited the acropolis, and sketched the parthenon which unfortunately is covered in scaffolding, i think theyre trying to rebuild it (its pretty beat up). but it was well worth it. we spent two days kicking around athens before taking a ferry to naxos, one of the many islands, which is where we are now. staying in a sweet place with 2 swedish girls, our new friends. mt zeus is on this island, daryl keeps talking about running up to the top, but the drinks here have kept him from waking up early. ha. so our time has been spent on the beaches, today we went to one and the water looked like lake tahoe, it was beautiful. we were in the topless section, and realized later that the nude section was just next door. guess im gonna have to get used to this.
little cobblestone streets, shops, restaurants, fresh seafood, another strange square shaped ruin thing, beaches, boats.. and a lot of white white buildings, with cobalt blue windows and roofs. thats what makes up this island. its very pretty. and relaxing. we head to mykonos tomorrow for a few days before going to italy next week, which im so excited about! so until then, kalisomething that means good night:) hope all is well! (pictures to come soon)
j

Vacation with a suitcase!

just in case anyone is still checking this, i figured i would at least post an update. so before we even went to hawaii we went for a night in napa valley, and i just have to say i love plumpjacks. they set us up in the sweetest place ever! imagine 3 girls in a cabin with a king size bed and a heated stone floor in the bathroom, oh and an indoor outdoor shower. it was crazy fun. and i had never been to napa so it was an amazing first experience. it was a good start to our vacation, and we did bring suitcases, and we stuffed them full of clothes and shoes, and then of course we went shopping in hawaii and they were practically overflowing. but it was worth it. hawaii was so much fun. we stayed with amandas friend ian in kailua, about a 2 minute walk from the beach. he took us up to the northshore and we went to pipeline, caught some sick waves, yeah right thats for the pros. we did actually go surfing in waikiki though, it was soooo much fun, and now i have a whole new respect for surfers, dude its hard and its scary! and i cant even imagine waves like the ones we saw up at pipeline, the power in them is... intimidating to say the least. but now i can say ive been surfing, and we learned in the first place that anyone ever surfed! so i thought that was appropriate. we also went kayaking, cliff jumping (well i didnt, i took the pictures, but amanda and ian did), we went out a few nights in waikiki to dukes and hula grill where we used our ts employee discount, that was nice. and like i said we went shopping, but only a little bit:)
i couldn't believe how pretty it was there, i mean everyone has told me and i've seen pictures, but its really is amazing and i think you have to see it for yourselft. the weird thing about me going to hawaii is that im like the last person to go. usually i go places my friends havent been to, and this time i feel like im just catching up to everyone else. it was so strange to me too that hawaii is part of the US. i couldn't get over it, i almost actually started speaking to a cab driver in spanish out of habit i guess. its just so different from anywhere in the country. it has its own definitive culture, language, customs, and natural beauty. yet they use the american dollar and fly the american flag. weird! people also used to tell me that i would love hawaii and should try living there, but i also felt kind of claustrophobic out there. ian says its the single most isolated land mass on the planet. and in the middle of the biggest ocean, it should be. heres what goes through my mind- "what if hawaii sinks! there wont be anyone here to save us, and theres nothing to hold on to.." i know its ridiculous, (we actually had a conversation about this) but if youve ever felt claustrophobia you might understand. so i dont think i could live there, but it was a beautiful place to visit.
and now the story goes on, i spent another week or so in tahoe, sort of continuing my vacation and hanging out with friends, and then i packed up my truck and made the long haul up to bozeman, montana. so here i am, in my brother's new house, i've played in my first softball game already (which we dominated 16-5 wahoo!) and i'm just looking for a job.
daryl and i are going to europe for a month in the fall, but until then i think i want to chill out for a while and stay in one place. and im excited about it. so i hope everyone has a good summer! and if you want to hear about europe, check back in september:)... ciao!

Looks like Plan Z!

hello everyone,

so.. theres been a change of plans, a HUGE change of plans. long story very short, at the end of a long bus-ridden day to sao paulo, i get to the airport (headed for bolivia) only to find out that the documentation i had for yellow fever* wasnt going to be accepted in bolivia, which meant i couldnt even get on the plane.. *as of december bolivia is now requiring visas for US citizens, including a yellow fever vaccination, which ive had, but we didnt know about the visa till after i left (my lonely planet was published in march), and i didnt have the proper proof with me, great. so i literally spent the next 4 hours running back and forth between all the airlines and phones and internet and meanwhile my gigantuan (is that a word?) backpack was painfully going with me. i cancelled my flight to bolivia just in time to get most of a refund, and changed my return flight home just in time to catch the last flight to the states.. that very minute. i barely had time to call my mom to desperately ask her to pick me up from san fran the next morning. it all happened sooooo fast, i couldnt believe i was heading home. but deep down, i was actually really relieved, this whole trip was really stressing me out and i didnt have a good feeling about it ever since we found out about the visa. something is to be said for women's intuition on that one. like i said, this was a long complicated, emotional and stressful story short, there were more details than what i mentioned, everything was working against us. luckily amanda was a saint and helped me through it and we decided we would use our budget and time to take a 2 week vacation somewhere else. and within an hour of getting into my moms car the next day, that somewhere else quickly became 2 tickets to hawaii. hawaii? i cant believe i was supposed to be in bolivia, now im in tahoe, and in a couple days ill be in hawaii. but im SO excited! i was joking that i want to bring a real suitcase instead of my backpack just to be different, (or would that be normal?). and purses that i dont need to zip for fear of getting something stolen (of course ill be careful anyway), and dresses and cute shoes (not that i really own many), because for a 10 day trip i will have room for that stuff in my suitcase, and i can justify bringing it:) we will be staying with a friend of amanda's on some beach that has a name like kahlua, sounds good to me. ive never been to hawaii, and ive really been wanting to go, and now i actually feel like im going on vacation. i think vacation is different from traveling, at least the way that i usually travel.

in the end i am of course bummed that i wont be hiking machu picchu just yet, but i really cant complain about going back to the beach. plus ive had such a good time with friends in just the 2 days ive been home, so its good. 

and, i do have to say that i am really proud of myself, because i figured out this entire problem, worked through it with all the different airline personnel, ALL in portuguese! i was almost beside myself listening to me talk, the words were all coming out so fast, i mean, i was stressed, emotional, totally clueless as to what to do, and i was able to explain everything, ask all my questions, and do everything in portuguese, you guys would have been really proud of me. at one point i was frustrated and i asked the woman if she spoke english, she said no but go on, im understanding you fine, and then she said oh well i speak spanish, do you speak spanish? my goodness, you dont know how hard it is to switch from one romance language to another, even to spanish which i speak so much better than portuguese, and i couldnt do it. i couldnt even think of a single word, which is actually normal in that situation, but it just made me realize how far id come with the language. and that was one good thing about the horror of the situation. 

so, im sure i will put up a post or two from hawaii if you want to read about our daring adventures to a foreign land that im sure will be full of beaching, surfing, tanning (thats a definite), hiking, and who knows what else. south america will just have to wait a little longer, cuz we both promise, we will make it eventually! so until hawaii...  aloha!

i went sandboarding!

it was probably the most exciting thing ive done yet in brazil, though i was also really scared i was going to kill myself. im a skier, the whole sideways thing never worked too well for me, and i heard that sandboarding is a lot more dangerous than it looks (don't worry mom, i didnt even fall!) i pretty much handled it like a pro:) the dunes are huge, and there was a big bowl that we just kept climbing up and going down, luckily it was cloudy, otherwise it wouldve been scorching. only one other guy wanted to try it with me, he crashed and burned a few times, but in the end it was super fun and i would definitely do it again. and ive got some hilarious videos. and it really made me want to try snowboarding again, but i guess that will depend on getting me away from the beach and back to the mountains when its winter time..
a few days ago we (the canadian girls and the english guy and i) took a "lovely" boatride out on the lake to a little village about half an hour along the shore. it was sooooo beautiful, and for the first time since ive been here, i really really missed lake tahoe (people in tahoe dont be offended, im talking about the actual lake) and im sad about not living there this summer, even though i know bozeman will be awesome. i love the ocean, but theres just something about lakes that will always get me. theyre so peaceful, and the houses along the shoreline all make me want to live in them. we ate some awesome seafood and walked to a little waterfall, it was a really nice afternoon. its crazy having the lake near the ocean, its literally the best of both worlds in one place. if only there were high mountains with snow:)...
it was good to have some excitement, because this week has actually been pretty stressful for me, planning my route to amanda, aka la paz, bolivia, by the morning of the 18th. and i know some of you at home think that travel is all sun and fun, but unfortunately, its not, and youd never believe the extent of planning and exhaustive researching ive been doing these last few days just to see if la paz is even possible. in the end, it looks like it will be, though expensive, possible. my plans just keep changing by no fault of my own, and since i was supposed to set off on this 6 day adventure tomorrow, and still didnt know what i was going to do, it was tough. today i received more news that completely changed my plans yet again, but apparently this was better, because i think i finally know what im doing. im going to stay with the canadians for a few days and then bus it to sao paulo where i can catch a flight to santa cruz, bolivia. this means im avoiding "the death train" so mom you can rest easier. ill have a few days in santa cruz to figure out getting to la paz, which will be much much easier once im actually there. then itll only be a couple days till i meet amanda and we start our exciting two weeks to copacabana, lake titicaca, and on to cuzco and machu picchu, yay! after that i might just find a beach and stay there for another month, i like this lifestyle.
on the homefront, were having a goodbye dinner for me at my house tonight, just some of the closer friends ive made, were going to make moqueca, a brazilian seafood dish, some typical crab appetizer of some sort, and tapioca for dessert (no its not pudding), which i made all by myself! pretty much. ill be bringing home some great recipes, and some really great memories. its crazy how one month flies by, but at the same time it feels like ive been here for a long time. im speaking conversational portuguese which was my main goal, picked up samba and forro enough to know that ill forever be a salsa dancer, and added a bunch of new friends to my worldwide collection. so i would say it was a success.
the next few days hopefully ill be stress-free on the beach, then be able to muster up all my energy to take on bolivia. for those of you who have actually called me, i leave brazil on the night of the 15th, so no more phone after that, but i might get a chip in peru too. who knows. bom fim de semana para todos.. ate bolivia!

so many beaches, so little time..

olá! so ive figured out that we are pretty much in september weather right now, summer is "over" and all the students have gone back to university, and its getting cold, but its still mostly nice. so weve been taking advantage of every sunny day and going to the beaches. i hung out with hennia from holland and jeremy from san diego for a little while, which was nice. strangely enough they are both gone now, but such is the way of the school down here. i met a couple canadian girls, we went out the other night with my friend jim from minnesota to see a jazz-ish type trio, the music was amazing, and they were so nice! and we drank strawberry caipivodkas, dangerous! we also all went out dancing one night at a club that plays forró music only. so it was interesting, i was expecting it to be super fun, but it really just made me miss salsa, cuz really forró itsnt as fun, and the guys that i danced with werent really all that great. but whatever, when in rome..
i also went out with ariana and hennia one night to dance samba, it was samba de raiz, i didnt even know i could dance it, but the steps are all pretty similar, and wow, that made the forró seem awesome. i think i just found it boring, cuz the guys werent even twirling me around, how boring is that! but the band was really good. its all about the experience. so i think were going out dancing again this weekend, but now i guess i know what to expect a little more.
as for school, luckily (because shes awesome) we got the same teacher 2 weeks in a row. by the end of the second week we had gone through every single verb congujation, like how to say "if i were you, i would.. and i would have if i could have..." stuff like that, which usually comes after like 2 years of language study. awesome! so now were practicing vocab and conversation and using what weve learned. i gave a presentation in class yesterday about the history of brazil from discovery to independence, and it was actually really cool. i only talked for like 5 minutes or so, but i never hesitated or anything, it was easier than i thought it would be, so i was excited:) i almost feel like i speak more portuguese than italian now, but i think thats cuz its really hard to switch between romance languages since theyre so similar, i even speak portuguese when im trying to speak spanish, so i dont think i need to worry. i just need to go back to italy!
so one thing that has been kinda stressing me out lately is my trip after i leave here, we found out that since december of 2007 bolivia is requiring visas ($100 visas- ouch) for US citizens, so now amanda and i are tyring to figure things out for that. and my route to la paz so far doesnt exist, im tyring to figure out which way to go, cuz paraguay requires a $50 visa too, buses take days and arent the safest, but theyre cheap, and anyone ive ever talked to about bolivia has warned me not to go there alone- i thought, yeah right! like i would! and guess what... now im pretty sure i am, so im trying to be positive about it, im finding out good things that are starting to outweigh the horror stories, so im sure itll all work out. but i only have another week! i cant believe ive already been here almost 3 weeks, actually its not even that, its that i only have a week left. weird. im gonna be in peru before i know it. with amanda! im so excited for that.
so this week its been pretty cold, so i started running again (im training already for the ridge run daryl!) and thats been really nice. near my house is the big highway-type road that goes along the water, its all lit up at night and has ample space for runners, walkers, and bikers, so its super safe and theres always tons of people running, its awesome at night. ive also really taken time to talk to ariana, its so fun. shes probably my best friend here, its just like having a great roommate, we can talk about all sorts of things, and hang out, like girls should. and our director at school has taken some of us out lately too, us being me and some other brasilians, so i always am speaking portuguese. and thats really the reason im here, so by the end of next week im sure ill be able to say im more than satisfied with what ive experienced here. its a lot for a month.
oh- james youll be proud of me, i bought new flip flops, and they work in the rain! and theyre red:) i also got another pair of brazilian sandals, a new sarong and some shirts, oh and i did buy a brasilian bikini top..but only the top, the bottoms here are missing a lot:) im definitely gonna have to send a bag home with amanda, but thats okay! so anyway i think the ice cream in my freezer is calling my name.. next time i write hopefully ill know where im going in a week! hope all is well!! tchau.. jaque (thats how they spell my name here..)

its already been over a week!

oi! tudo bem aqui no brazil.. e estou falando e aprendendo portuguese muito rapido.. que bom!
it only took until that first day of classes for me to stop speaking spanish at home, pretty much since then ive been able to speak almost entirely en portuguese, but its largely due to the fact that the language is pretty much spanish, just have to insert different words and accents. class went well, we learned so much in the first week, verb-wise we went through what you would go through in one semester in college. it was perfect though, we all already spoke 2 other languages so we were able to move quickly. i made a friend, and i didnt really have a choice of who, there was only one other person who is here alone who wanted to explore and do stuff, so my new friend became jean-francois from french-speaking quebec, canada. hes a bit older than me, but oh well, its nice to have someone to explore with so you dont feel quite so lost. we quickly learned the bus system by traveling to different beaches everyday, so far weve had 5 sunny days, and ive seen 5 beaches. everyday the beaches are more beautiful than the one before. seriously... its unbelievable. we hiked 2 days through jungle-like trails to remote coves that were amazing. so far ive been west, east, south, and north, this island is beautiful. towards the east theres a lake, its kinda strange, but its a lake right by the ocean, and it has little towns and bars and restaurants, ive been out once to see a bossa nova band there. and just beyond the lake are some sand dunes where people go sand boarding, i have yet to do it, though i think ill prefer sand sledding, instead of voluntarily trying to kill myself sandboarding. and as it turns out, my house is super close to the water, however the water on the continental side of the island isnt beachy, its city. the beaches are north, east, and south. the closest one is probably 30 min away w 2 busses, its cuz busses are so fast and organized and i just love them (some of you have experienced 3rd world busses)..
the city is really nice, it reminds me of panama city, its modern, has huge malls and nice clubs, though theres still trash in the streets and you can still tell its latin america. but more towards the south of the island, it looks much more like the rest of latin america, like costa rica, just dirtier and poorer. theres a small aquaduct thing that runs across my street and down towards the mall about a quarter mile away, and one guy from the school said he saw a crocodile in it by the mall last week. thats funny. ive seen monkeys, cows, and horses all from my kitchen window. the best part though was the horse- it was the trash truck! with a big cart full of trash and one guy in a buggy type thing..i took a picture. there are tons and tons of dogs on our street too, but luckily they arent strays, and i love to stop and play with a couple puppies on my walk to school, which is just at the end of my street about 10 min away.
so last wednesday night i went out for my first ladies night in brazil, which is nowhere near as cheap as say..costa rica ladies nights, but it was fun. we ate sushi and danced, the club was much like italy, house music, flashing lights, i loved it. and i had my first caipirinha, it was okay, but i hear theyre better on the beach.
for easter i stayed home (rainy) with ariana my host and we ate lunch with her parents who live downstairs, it was delicious and was nice to have a family lunch for a holiday. i also started yoga again and am going to try to take full advantage of cloudy days doing other things. unfortunately for social me, everyone else in the school left this last weekend, except 3 of us, me, jean-francois, and a swiss guy named rico, and im desperately in need of someone else to hang out with, so im trying harder to meet brasilians. last night i went to dance classes! oh it was awesome. i did 2 classes, the first was samba de gafieira, which is a partner dance, kinda like bolero or tango, i caught on pretty quick, which was good cuz i when i got there they told me it was a level 3 class, yikes! but i met one of the dance teachers there and she taught me really well. then i did forró (pronounced fohó) which was so much fun, its a lot like salsa so for me it was easy, and i cant believe how much i miss dancing! so i plan to do that a lot more. (i think salsa will remain my favorite, but this is once of the things i really wanted to do here!)
so our teacher this week (we change teachers every week, this is good) gave me the biggest compliment yesterday, she was absolutely amazed with my level of speaking and comprehension based on the fact that a week ago i didnt know a word of portuguese, that made me feel so good! it really is awesome how fast im picking it up, i never speak english though so that helps. even in costa rica and italy we spoke tons of english cuz everyone was from the usa, but nobody but me is a native english speaker now, so we all just speak portuguese together. its great practice. so things are going well mais o menos, theres a girl from holland who arrived today who speaks spanish but not portuguese yet, so im making friends with her, and i cant tell you how excited i am just to see another student, and a girl is even better. and she wants to learn to dance too! so hopefully ill have a new friend there. its hard to be in this position and trying to meet people, its harder than it seems.
anyway i think thats it for now, im going to put up pictures when i can use arianas computer at home, so hopefully soon. i hope everyone is doing well! até logo..
j

im in the southern hemisphere!

Oi! After a very long two days, i did finally make it safe to Florianopolis, and am starting to enjoy myself.. for various reasons it was kinda hard to be super excited to come down here. the flights were long and thank god i slept, i would have slept all the way from new york to sao paulo if it werent for our emergency landing in brasilia, somebody had to go to the hospital, i dont know i slept through most of it. but i was awake enough to notice the grey clouds and rain outside, and wasnt too stoked on that. it was the same in sao paulo, which definitely didnt lift my spirits. it was the first time id ever been in an airport, needing to fly somewhere, and didnt already have a ticket, plus i didnt speak a word of portuguese, but somehow i got a flight that was supposed to leave in 30 minutes, this is funny. so the guy was all flustered and hurrying for me and i ran to the gate and then the intercom comes on and luckily i understood enough to hear that our gate changed, however, when we got to the new gate it was mayhem, and no one spoke spanish or english, and suddenly everyone starts following the airport guy down the hall, through the airport, out an exit, and stops at the door of a restaurant! i seriously thought there was some exit we needed to get to, but no, they started giving us all vouchers for free food. apparently we had been delayed 4 hours. i made friends with a brazilian woman whose husband is colombian so she spoke some spanish, it was comforting. 3 gate changes and 4 and a half hours later, i was finally on my last leg, and i started to feel better as we were descending over a beautiful island where the sun was shining and the hills were green, and the ocean..everywhere.. and that was to be my new home. and the guy next to me who had gotten in trouble for smuggling in and drinking a beer on the plane was telling me how much i was going to like it here, yay!
i ran into another slight problem when i called my host mom whom i thought spoke english from some previous emails, and find out she doesnt speak a word, and i couldnt understand her portuguese, all she said was -i need one people talk portuguese!- so i gave the phone to a very confused airport worker who finally hung up and said she would meet me outside. as i waited for her, i finally started to get so excited i could hardly stand it. it hit me all at once, and memories from my first day in costa rica came back to me and i finally started feeling good for the first time. my host mom if you can call her that, is only 30 it turns out, and lives alone, so its more like having a roommate, which is perfect. good that she doesnt speak english, but we figured out that i can speak spanish to her and she understands most of it, and i understand most of her portuguese, so this is how we communicate, and as im learning, im speaking more and more portuguese to her. it also turns out that another student will live with us, as there are 2 extra rooms, but she still hasnt arrived.. but there was still a guy there when i came (he left saturday) and i went with him the first night to a bbq and met a bunch of people from the school (about 10 but the school isnt much bigger than that) and i couldnt believe how much i learned in the first..6 hours or so.
unfortunately its been raining here so i havent done much yet. today was our first day, well my first day of class, and im really in disbelief how easy it is and much i just get it, so im confident i will be fully conversational pretty soon, spanish and italian both help sooooo much. by the way the other night i was noticing how young everyone is, and i was the oldest student by over a year at the bbq, and then i got to class today, and my 3 classmates are 27, 37, and 42, so i guess im not so old! i went with one of them and another guy to a beach today, praia mole, it was so beautiful! kinda like youd imagine a brazilian beach, surfers, thong bikinis, fruit juices and cocktails, and some guys playing soccer. unfortunately it was pretty cloudy, we stayed for a couple hours, and right when we left it started to rain, sad!
but anyway some exciting things- yes, the stars are different, i am going to learn all the new constellations, the first one i saw was the southern cross, how cool is that! i still dont know if the toilet flushes the other direction, i cant think of what it did in the states, but if anyone wants to tell me, i will see if it really does go the other way.. and i got a cell phone today, for about $17. yeah- cheap! so from the states you would dial 011 55 48 8446 1225. if anybody wants to try, just remember im 4 hours ahead of the pacific coast! my time is about up and i hope i didnt bore you! im known for writing books. id love to hear from anyone, write me back, and tell me if you think this blog is a good idea... tchau tchau!!!
ps pictures to come as soon as i can figure out how to get them on this stupid computer!:)

pre-departure hello

Hi everyone!
I've decided this will be the easiest way for all of you to follow me around, those of you who want to can pay attention, and those who don't won't get long emails they don't want to read in their inboxes.
My last trip to Latin America was absolutely amazing, and now I wish I had kept a blog of it, but my next trip starts in less than two weeks. I'll be heading first to Brazil for a month or so to study Portuguese, and then I have a flight out of Lima, Peru at the end of May. I am going by myself and don't really have a plan, but I will keep this updated.
I just received my housing information for my Portuguese program in Florianopolis, Brazil, I'm so excited! And I most likely will be getting a cell phone down there, so I'll post the number when I get it. And hopefully I can figure out how to post pictures and everything, so please stay tuned!