Rio is an amazing city. I knew that before I came, but my first day out and about reinforced it. The pictures of Rio are very beautiful, and I knew that everything would be even better in person. I knew that I was in Brazil before I got to Rio, but lots of the stereotypes and so forth that you would expect from Brazil are here in Rio. When I was coming to the hostel from the bus terminal, the song "Aqua de beber" was on, which is a great song and one that I feel is a classic Brazilian song. I felt like I had finally arrived in "Brazil." Check out the song here.
The geography of Rio is what makes it so amazing. The coast, the bays, the ocean, the hills, the weather all make it one of the most beautiful cities, naturally speaking, in the world. I am lucky to spend a few weeks here. It was hot in the bathroom at my school, so I opened the window and there was the Cristo Redentor right there! It was pretty sweet. In the library at school, you could look out the window and see the Pão de Açucar (Sugar Loaf). It is an amazing city. And the colonial architecture makes it even better. We went to Cristo Redentor and Pão de Açucar for the course I am in, and the views really were amazing. Definitely one of the most amazing places I have ever seen.
The first day of my class was July 6. It is, like I said, about doing business in Brazil and in English. I think it was geared toward foreigners, but most of the class was Brazilian. We had 6 hours of classes a day, and the lectures were about different aspects of law and business here. Some of the English was great, some not so great. Some of the lecturers were lively and exciting, some were really boring. The intellectual property guy had some interesting stuff to say, but his stomach was hanging out of his shirt and he refused to stop for breaks. So I made my own break and got out for some fresh air, because the classroom was often pretty warm. I think that the weirdest lecture was the salesman of breast implants. His English was excellent and he was really cool, but it was just so weird to hear him talk about breast implants as if it was just an everyday thing. And it was even weirder when he would hold the sample implants that he brought in positions on his chest to show how the surgery works and the benefits of different kinds. It was more than I wanted to know or see about the subject.
There were two other students from my school. One was cool, one was annoying. The annoying one bothered me from day 1. I know I need to be nice, and a long time ago I promised to be nice on my blog, but I couldn't stand her! The first day, she told me that she wanted to transfer from Fordham because the students were really competitive and she hated them all and wanted to get away from home. I personally found her to be a million times worse than most of the students I knew. I found most to be really cool. Anyway, that first day she told me that she wanted to come and check out the hostel. I had to try to water it down because 1) she was annoying, and 2) I had the whole place to myself! She ended up making friends with another annoying girl in the class, and so I was off the hook for a while.
But after that began my journey to dodge her at every opportunity I could. Once I saw her coming down to use the computers. As she went into the bathroom, before seeing me, I finished up my stuff and got out of there. Then another day I told her I was going to the hostel to eat. I think she was put out because she speaks like 5 words of Portuguese and had to find something for herself. Anyway, I went to run an errand first and came back to the supermarket in between the school and my hostel. I saw her going into it, and even though I thought she would have seen me, I turned around and went to the hostel to put my stuff away. I came back in the other entrance, and she was still there, talking on the phone! I slipped away again, and eventually made it in. I know that I act like a child a lot of times, but I just didn't want to get stuck eating lunch with her.
Anyway, I tried avoiding her as much as I could. She told me about her letters of reference for transferring schools, and I wanted to volunteer a letter to say: take her! I thought I would never see her again, but guess what....this weekend, I was walking out of the National History Museum and there she was, getting out the car (the cab that her personal driver drives). And believe it or not, she was excited to see me! How does these people do it? I don't think I am that likable! Anyway, it was brief, and I left. I couldn't believe it, and then I was reminded again of how God must laugh when He sees me in situations like that.
Well, now I thought that everything was over with her. When I saw her at the museum, she asked me if I was sticking around Rio after this week. I said that I was leaving, and going to do some things before going home in about a week. That was a big mistake; I should have just said that I was leaving. On Tuesday, I got an email from her. She said that she wanted to see more of Brazil and all and that we should travel together. I couldn't believe it. I thought it was all over, and here she was again. Not only do I prefer to do things alone, but especially when she is involved!
I figured that I had a few options. One was not responding. That was one that I considered very seriously. The second was to tell her that I am leaving Brazil this weekend and going to meet up with some of my best friends in Argentina. That is mostly true....I know that honesty is the best policy, but what do you do when the truth could hurt someone's feelings? I remember one of my sisters saying once, when the other asked her opinion on a new haircut, that she didn't like it. Should I do it now? I am going to Argentina, but I won't see these friends until Tuesday. I arrive in Argentina on Sunday morning. (And don't worry, I won't get swine flu!)
My third option was to tell her the truth, which probably would make for a bad situation. And I know that if I had done that, I would see her someday. It seems like my life is full of moments like that. Option 4 was to create an email address and send her an email as my parents or something, telling her that I had died. I really didn't consider this, but I know someone who did. Sad, but really really funny. Finally, two days later, I went with option 2. She responded and it was no big deal. I am glad that I dodged that bullet.
My favorite thing to do here on the weekends is walk along the beach, enjoy the scenery, and read. I was able to see a great deal of things on the weekends. Plazas, the Royal Portuguese reading room (which was amazing!), historical buildings, beaches, and so forth. I have been reading a book called 1808 while I have been here. It is a well-known Brazilian book about the Portuguese royalty's trip to Brazil in 1807-08. Napeleon was invading Spain and Portugal, and the royalty decided to head to Brazil instead of be kicked out of power by Napeleon. They lived here in Rio, a few blocks away from where I work, and lots of the things the book talks about happened in places where I have visited. It was a great book and very cool to read while here in Rio. My experience here has been very good.
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