Tonight I shall be spending my first night ever in South America. It's been a long and interesting couple of days, jam-packed with travel and a few cultural shockers.
Yesterday was an EXTREMELY hectic day. I woke up at around 8 AM to drive to New Brunswick and pack up my room so that Moe's friend can take my place. Packing up my clothing and books took me about an hour and a half, and including driving to and from New Brunswick I spent three hours on this one task. At noon I came home, took a quick shower, and ran a couple of quick errands before driving over to my dad's to wish him a Happy Birthday. I arrived at my dad's to find that he and my stepmom were both supremely busy; my stepmom was busy cooking for his birthday celebration later that night, and my dad was in his library going through his archive of old letters and correspondences from old friends of his youth. I got a little caught up in my dad's archives and lost track of time (and my airplane ticket), and as I was about to leave I asked my dad if he had seen my ticket. We spent an hour searching for it to no avail, and by the time I left the house (without a plane ticket) I was running very late for the airport. I drove home as fast as I could, finished packing with Wendy, and met Stan downstairs. A few complications later, I was finally on my way to the airport with Stan and Wendy, and running late without a plane ticket.
Wendy walked into the airport with me to make sure that I could make it onto my flight okay despite the lost ticket, and stood in line with me until I filled out a Lost Ticket Application and had my ticket reissued to me for the ridiculous price of $100. I said goodbye to Wendy and booked it over to the check-in lanes, which took me about an hour and a half to get through. Security took me about a half hour, and by the time I made it to my gate it was just boarding. Perfect timing. I met up with Jen (my roommate for the Brazilian program) and we boarded together. The flight was extremely pleasant and relaxing. The food and service were great, and I slept like a baby for a lot of the flight. I used the remaining time to write my Expectations Essay for the program, going through pictures from Europe and reminiscing, and listening to music on my lap top. I sat next to an old missionary couple who have spent years of their lives traveling all over the world to help all sorts of causes. They were traveling to Brazil for two weeks to help organize a school for orphans in Northern Brazil. The man sitting next to me told me they had been to Guam, Vietnam, Japan, Thailand, and the Middle East through the missionary program already. I thought that sounds like a great way to spend old age.
Jen and I missed our connecting flight fro Sao Paulo, because our JFK flight got into Sao Paulo much later than expected. It took me a long time to get through customs because I speak no Portuguese, and as it turns out, the customs official I had to get by spoke no English. It all worked out in the end, though, and Jen and I ended up relaxing at the airport for about an hour before catching the next flight to Salvador. The flight was only about two hours long, and I sat next to an interesting middle-aged man who shared a lot of his music with me and introduced me to some of the most popular bands from Bahia, Brazil (which is where I am currently). The view from the airplane down onto the Eastern Coast of Brazil was gorgeous. Below us we could see the large waves breaking along the rocky shore, and snow-capped mountains seemingly only miles away. As we got closer to landing, the lush foliage of Salvador became more and more apparent.
The Salvadoran airport is very tiny, and it didn't take us long to collect our luggage and meet Victoria, one of our trainers who picked us up at the airport and took us to our hotel. The taxi ride to the hotel was incredible. We drove past Banks, barrios, beautiful houses, the Brazilian version of Walmart, gas stations, delapidated houses, all surrounded by enormous lush trees with tortuous trunks such that I have never seen before. Our hotel is located in a very artsy area, where public works and sculptures are plentiful and musicians play on many street corners. Salvador is on the Northeast coast of Brazil, and the beach is only a five minute walk from our hotel. The waves here are the largest I've ever seen in my life, and Salvador is a very popular surfing destination. For those just lounging on the beach, there are many shacks selling fried fish, french fries, and Brazilian beer.
At the hotel Jen and I are sharing a small apartment; it has a tiny kitchen, a living room, a bathroom, and a bedroom with two twin beds. We also have TWO balconies looking out onto the streets of Salvador. It's not a view of the beach, but it's still very pretty and colorful, as many of the houses here are made of vibrantly colored adobe.
Jen and I were quite tired when we arrived at our hotel, and we rested for a while before going to dinner to meet the rest of our group. The group seems really great! There are only four of us from Rutgers and the remainder of the group is from Northeastern, which is kind of a pleasant surprise. The food at dinner was alright, but the grilled pineapple with limejuice and honey custard for dessert were delicious.
Tomorrow we attend our first class at 9:30 at the Universidad Federal de Bahia where we will meet our Brazilian partners for the first time.
Yesterday was an EXTREMELY hectic day. I woke up at around 8 AM to drive to New Brunswick and pack up my room so that Moe's friend can take my place. Packing up my clothing and books took me about an hour and a half, and including driving to and from New Brunswick I spent three hours on this one task. At noon I came home, took a quick shower, and ran a couple of quick errands before driving over to my dad's to wish him a Happy Birthday. I arrived at my dad's to find that he and my stepmom were both supremely busy; my stepmom was busy cooking for his birthday celebration later that night, and my dad was in his library going through his archive of old letters and correspondences from old friends of his youth. I got a little caught up in my dad's archives and lost track of time (and my airplane ticket), and as I was about to leave I asked my dad if he had seen my ticket. We spent an hour searching for it to no avail, and by the time I left the house (without a plane ticket) I was running very late for the airport. I drove home as fast as I could, finished packing with Wendy, and met Stan downstairs. A few complications later, I was finally on my way to the airport with Stan and Wendy, and running late without a plane ticket.
Wendy walked into the airport with me to make sure that I could make it onto my flight okay despite the lost ticket, and stood in line with me until I filled out a Lost Ticket Application and had my ticket reissued to me for the ridiculous price of $100. I said goodbye to Wendy and booked it over to the check-in lanes, which took me about an hour and a half to get through. Security took me about a half hour, and by the time I made it to my gate it was just boarding. Perfect timing. I met up with Jen (my roommate for the Brazilian program) and we boarded together. The flight was extremely pleasant and relaxing. The food and service were great, and I slept like a baby for a lot of the flight. I used the remaining time to write my Expectations Essay for the program, going through pictures from Europe and reminiscing, and listening to music on my lap top. I sat next to an old missionary couple who have spent years of their lives traveling all over the world to help all sorts of causes. They were traveling to Brazil for two weeks to help organize a school for orphans in Northern Brazil. The man sitting next to me told me they had been to Guam, Vietnam, Japan, Thailand, and the Middle East through the missionary program already. I thought that sounds like a great way to spend old age.
Jen and I missed our connecting flight fro Sao Paulo, because our JFK flight got into Sao Paulo much later than expected. It took me a long time to get through customs because I speak no Portuguese, and as it turns out, the customs official I had to get by spoke no English. It all worked out in the end, though, and Jen and I ended up relaxing at the airport for about an hour before catching the next flight to Salvador. The flight was only about two hours long, and I sat next to an interesting middle-aged man who shared a lot of his music with me and introduced me to some of the most popular bands from Bahia, Brazil (which is where I am currently). The view from the airplane down onto the Eastern Coast of Brazil was gorgeous. Below us we could see the large waves breaking along the rocky shore, and snow-capped mountains seemingly only miles away. As we got closer to landing, the lush foliage of Salvador became more and more apparent.
The Salvadoran airport is very tiny, and it didn't take us long to collect our luggage and meet Victoria, one of our trainers who picked us up at the airport and took us to our hotel. The taxi ride to the hotel was incredible. We drove past Banks, barrios, beautiful houses, the Brazilian version of Walmart, gas stations, delapidated houses, all surrounded by enormous lush trees with tortuous trunks such that I have never seen before. Our hotel is located in a very artsy area, where public works and sculptures are plentiful and musicians play on many street corners. Salvador is on the Northeast coast of Brazil, and the beach is only a five minute walk from our hotel. The waves here are the largest I've ever seen in my life, and Salvador is a very popular surfing destination. For those just lounging on the beach, there are many shacks selling fried fish, french fries, and Brazilian beer.
At the hotel Jen and I are sharing a small apartment; it has a tiny kitchen, a living room, a bathroom, and a bedroom with two twin beds. We also have TWO balconies looking out onto the streets of Salvador. It's not a view of the beach, but it's still very pretty and colorful, as many of the houses here are made of vibrantly colored adobe.
Jen and I were quite tired when we arrived at our hotel, and we rested for a while before going to dinner to meet the rest of our group. The group seems really great! There are only four of us from Rutgers and the remainder of the group is from Northeastern, which is kind of a pleasant surprise. The food at dinner was alright, but the grilled pineapple with limejuice and honey custard for dessert were delicious.
Tomorrow we attend our first class at 9:30 at the Universidad Federal de Bahia where we will meet our Brazilian partners for the first time.
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