generalities

Classes have begun. Whoooo hoooooo! There are five levels that international students can be placed in, and I was placed in the third level, after having only taken a single portuguese class. I am excted about being placed higher than normal, but the other people in my class are pretty good at portuguese and I feel kind of like the weakest one. Everyone else has taken at least a year of Portuguese or is a fluent Spanish speaker, which are really similar languages However, I feel my self improving more and more every day. I wouldn't go as far to say that I'm 100% fluent, but I can definitely get by and accomplish daily tasks.

Life has been pretty ridiculous. Everyone drives really small cars here, which is good for the environment, but can be pretty dangerous sometimes. The other day I was walking to school, which is 15 minutes away from my house in Leblon, and a car was coming down the street and made a quick left turn without stopping at all. I suppose he didn't see the other car that happened to be coming through the intersection but the two cars crashed, and one of the cars actually flipped completely upside down BEFORE MY EYES. All this before 8 AM. Not normal. Not normal at all. The guy in the flipped car said something in Portuguese about his back but luckily both drivers were alive. I was so stunned I could not stop walking nor my hands from shaking on the way to class.

Aside from that crazy experience, I've just been hanging out with some amazing people, to name a few names, a PhD student from Miami named Mary, a Portuguese-American girl from Boston area named Monica, some New Yorkers Laura and Stacey, some other cool gay guy Martin from England, two cool dudes from Massachusetts Bryce and Felippe, Ramon from Mexico, and Heidi from Germany and this crazy girl from Cali that I adore named Sarah. I spend my weekends on the beautiful Ipanema beach at posto nove, or Post 9, which is the coolest place on Ipanema beach.

Another thing that is amazing about Rio are these salgados, which are basically pieces of heaven in food form. Since being in Rio I've renounced my vegetarianism and picked up an addiction to this amazing snacks. Imagine this: cheap sandwiches with every possible combination of meat and cheese packed together and fried. Put a little bit of ketchup or pimienta and call it a day because these babies are what's up!

The living situation is still chill, the guy that lived there when I moved in has moved out since I last updated, so it's been just me and Dora. She helps me with Portuguese and included in my rent is café da manhã, or breakfast, so every morning she basically just rattles away in Portuguese whatever may be on her mind. Haha, she's cute though. I'm in the process of the looking for another place, but unless I find something cheaper, Rua Bartolomeu Mitre, 380/404 may be my address for the next 5 months.

I'm happy here. The views are breathtaking and the people are amazing. I miss home, but not enough to want to go back just yet.

Tchauzinhos,

Antônio