Week 1

A waterfall na Floresta da Tijuca.

Walking down from visiting the waterfall

in the Floresta da Tijuca. The wall on

the left is solid concrete...but it didn't

stop those plants.

I have been here for a week (minus about 12 hours, but since I'll be sleeping for the next 9 or so I figure they don't matter too much). Some things are exactly how I expected them to be, but at the same time almost everything continues to surprise me. This city is nothing like any of the other big cities I've been in (i.e. San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston). The people here are so friendly, and loud, and have such energy, and they all seem to be connected to everyone else. In addition, even though there's a lot of vanity here, just like in any other city (maybe more, actually), at the same time there is a lot more tolerance of differences. For me, this is really clear at the beach, where you can see all the women wearing bikinis and all the men wearing sungas (that's what you call a speedo, here). Sure, a lot of these people are VERY attractive, but a lot of them aren't, at least not in a typical beach body sort of way. Also, the way people talk here is very different (besides it being in Portuguese). People use so many gesticulations and facial expressions here that, yeah, sometimes are used in the US, but I feel like here these gestures are omnipresent.

Bah. This is not the best blog post. I have so much more to say but I am SO tired and hot right now. Maybe tomorrow after class I will be able to blog some and get my thoughts out correctly.