This past month was an extremely special one for me. I got to travel around the amazing country of Brazil. It has always been one of those countries that I dreamed of going to, and it was as beautiful as I thought it would be. I experienced so many once in a lifetime experiences on this trip. From zip lining into crystal blue waters to touching the Christ statue that looks over Rio.. It’s hard to even explain the excitement that this trip brought me. I was on the trip from January 6th until February 2nd with 83 other exchange students. Germany, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Venezuela, Iceland, Denmark, United States, France, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Romania, Sweden, and Taiwan were all the countries represented. It was a crazy group, but I wouldn't have changed it for the world. We visited 9 different states and 13 different cities. Those cities were Brasilia (the capital of Brazil), Lençóis, Maceió, Natal, Recife, Olinda, Aracaju, Salvador, Porto Seguro, Vitória, Rio de Janeiro, Angra dos Reis, and São Paulo. Each of these places we visited was unique and had so much culture.
My top three favorite cities of the tour were Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, and Olinda. Salvador was this large city that had a upper and lower part because there is a large cliff in the middle of it. The two parts are connected by an elevator. The upper part of the city was the more historical part. Old rustic buildings were lined up one after another. You could surely tell that there was a huge history in the town. It was the first capital of Brazil, so it was a pretty large city. It was also the first slave port in Brazil and had a ton of African influence. The first night we were there we went to a showing of the Balé Folclórico da Bahia. It was a show that presented some traditional dances and music from the time of slavery in Brazil. It also showed all the major African gods and which each of the represented. Salvador is also one of the most popular cities for the Brazilian carnival. It was definitely a party city. The first time we got to walk around a little bit of the upper city was at night. There was dancing and music through out the streets and ally ways. It was just place to be. There was also this famous church we got to go to where you tie these colorful bracelets to the gate surrounding it. You tie 3 knots and each knot represents a wish. The gate was not only beautiful, but represented so many hopes and dreams for the world. It was my favorite location from the trip. Rio de Janeiro was, of course, one of my favorites. I highly recommend taking a trip to this beautiful city sometime in your life. It went over my expectations. It was the perfect combination of city, mountains, and beach. We were only there for three nights, but we soaked in all that we could of the city. The first day we got to go to the famous Copacabana Beach and the Sugarloaf Mountain to watch the sunset. The second day we went to the Museum of Tomorrow, the olympic boulevard (which had the world’s largest graffiti), the famous Christ statue, and a local market. To finish it all up, the third day we got to go on a tour of some of the favelas. The city was extremely large, but also amazingly beautiful. Once again, there was just a good vibe. It was really cool to be there after the Olympics being held there just this year. One of my friends kept freaking out because Michael Phelps could have been standing right where she was just some months ago. I also thought it was cool because just like the Olympics brings the whole world together, all of us exchange students kind of do the same. Olinda was much smaller than the first two cities. We were only there for half a day just to tour the city. I’m not really sure why I liked it so much, but I just felt like it was a town full of culture. The town itself seemed a little rundown to me, but all the houses and buildings were colorful with beautiful designs, and the churches were crazy decorated inside. It was just a very fun town to me. The Brazilian carnival is also very big in Olinda, and we actually got a chance to see some of the dancers perform. We had many different excursions on this trip. If we weren't on the bus, we were doing all sorts of things. There was not much time to relax, but it was a good thing (at times… 80 tired exchange students are not too fun to handle). We really did take full advantage of the things that we could do. I’ll just let you know about some of the highlights of the trip:
Chao for now:)
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AuthorHello or should I say Hola! I am Molly McLaughlin. I just graduated from high school in Iowa, and now I am taking a gap year to be a Rotary Youth Exchange student in Argentina! Go to my ABOUT page to learn more. Archives
November 2017
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