So long USA

I'm sitting in the airport right now waiting on my flight that was technically should have taken off 5 minutes ago. Unfortunately for me, my flight is 2 hours and 45 minutes delayed so I'll be waiting around for another 2 hours or so.

Saying goodbye to my family was really hard for me this time around. When I said goodbye to my parents and sister, tears were actually streaming down my face. Even when I left for Semester at Sea I didn't cry the way I did today. I guess it's because I had my friends Sam and Jon traveling by my side. This time around, I'm going to be all alone in a foreign country with only a single acquaintance living there. But he doesn't even live in or near Rio, so it doesn't exactly do me much help.

If you're wondering what I'm feeling right now-- it's fear. I'm scared shitless. But I'm also really... wondrous. I can't stop wondering what my life is going to be like for the next 5.5 months of my life. And I've spent the last 3 days trying to talk myself out of these emotions. I've tried to suppress them. When people have asked me about how I've been feeling, I really just was acting non-chalant. I didn't focus on the details, kind of just said the words to those who asked without internalizing what it all meant. The truth of the matter is I'm going to a place where I know not a single person and I don't know how to deal with that.

I have to believe that when I get there I'm going to be fine. I mean, I did CIRCUMNAVIGATE THE GLOBE. And I do draw strength from that experience. But this will change and grow me in a way unlike any other.

One of the life lessons that I've learned in my limited 20 years is that the harder the challenge, the more intense the growth. The harder something is for us, the better the person we will become at the end of it all. So I'm going to remember that and enjoy my pre-trip nerves, because once I'm there, I'll probably laugh at myself about them.

Wish me Boa Viagem--
Anthony

LINK TO NEW BLOG

OK you guys--

I'm linking you to the new blog . Read that and comment. I'm going to be updating that one also (the same stuff) but I thought you guys may want to see my fancy college blog!!!

Anthony

Necessary preparations

The past week or so has been filled with the necessary preparations for the big trip. Not the most exciting part, but important nonetheless. Since any visitor to Brazil from the United States needs a visa to enter, no matter how long the stay, I had to get my little booty to the Brazilian Consulate to apply for my visa and pay my $170. I ended up waiting around all day the the visa to be processed yadda yadda yadda, and lo and behold, I have a cool new sticker on my passport that will allow me to stay in Brazil for 200 days (sweet, I know).

On Tuesday I went to Dr. Scarfuri, my travel doctor, for my Hepatitis-A booster shot. I already had the initial shot before I went on Semester at Sea, and also the yellow and typhoid fevers. I'm also supposed to take malaria pills for when I trek out to the Amazon but they all pretty much suck. It's either the pills make you sensitive to the sun, extremely nauseous and dizzy, or have ridiculously realistic nightmares. I think I'd rather have malaria. OK, maybe not, but it's still annoying. In any case, the Hep-A booster didn't make me show any symptoms or anything, just made my arm really sore. It's better now though :).

On Wednesday I got exciting news about where I'm going to be living. My address is: Av. Bartolomeu Mitre, 380/404 Leblon, Rio de Janeiro, BR. I didn't get any information about the family I'm going to be staying with except for a name: Dora Jode Pontual. My program director said that it's fairly common for students to be placed in houses that only have an older woman living there. I guess it would be cool to have a little Brazilian grandmother as a roomie. Oh, and here's a google map image of my new home. If you look closely you'll see that it's um, dois, TRES blocks from the beautiful ocean... amazing!

Aside from all this craziness, I'm just packing and enjoying my last couple of days with my friends and family and being in New York. Luckily when I get back I'll finally be 21 so I can actually go out without having to wonder if I'm gonna get in anywhere.

Ate logo--

Toninho (in Portuguese people put -inho or -inha, pronounced eeen-you or eeen-ya, at the ends of words to kind of make them cute)

COUNTDOWN

It wasn't an easy decision to choose Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as my second destination for study abroad. (My first one was on the lovely M.V. Explorer, through an amazing program called Semester at Sea.) I wanted to go to a country where I'd be able to learn a new language but also have access to lots of culture, and of course, the beach. Naturally, Rio seemed like the best choice.

At this point, I have pretty much everything I need to leave the fab city of New York and head to "The City Magnificent"-- one $1100 plane ticket, one $170 visa, and one new luggage later. I don't have the exact location that I'll be living at yet on hand, but once that happens I'll be really ready to go. I'm assuming I'm going to get that assignment sometime this week (haha!), because if not, my little American butt will be staying in a hotel.

I'm going a month early to take a Portuguese class, which will hopefully prepare me for my classes at my home school, the Pontificia Universidade Catolica of Rio. I haven't signed up for classes yet, but I plan on doing that sometime this week. The system they have for registering is pretty whack, so I'm putting that off as long as possible.

I also don't know a single person going, except for this one girl that I sneakily found on some list and added on facebook. Creepy, I know. But I was desperate for some friendship. Actually, I don't know a single person in the entire country. I guess that will soon change.

Adeus for now...

Anthony