Today, May 26, 2025, was our last full day in Sao Paulo. We started the day by traveling to a local church in San Andres, where a music school for school age children operates during the weekdays. The school is called “Locomotiva”, and operates during the hours when students are not in school. Brazilian schools operate differently and have different schedules. Students can either attend school in the morning or in the afternoon, and attend “Locomotiva” during the hours they are not in school. The church believed that their walls should be put to good use during the week when there are no church services and began this nonprofit organization to allow children who come from families of low socioeconomic status to have the opportunity to learn music and how to play instruments.
We spent time learning about the organization, and then had the opportunity to sit in on a group of young string players that included, violines, violas, cello, and bass players. The students played a song that they had been working on for us, which was “twinkle, twinkle, little star”, and they also each had a book of songs that they were learning. Afterwards we had the chance to interact with the students and get to know them. I met a group of young girls who played violin, and they taught me how to play “twinkle, twinkle, little star”. The students barely knew English, and I barely knew Portuguese, however we were still able to communicate and get to know each other very well in the short time we spent together. Despite the language barrier, they were able to teach me how to play a song on violin, and discuss our favorite music artists, movies, and compliment each other. The girls were so sweet and I was able to build a friendship with these girls, and exchange social media to stay connected with them in such a short time. We then visited the place where the organization makes their own violins for beginner students to use and help families save money and still give their children a chance to engage musically.
Afterwards, we took a trip to a real Brazilian steakhouse, where we were served with numerous kinds of meat, and a full buffet of authentic Brazilian food. It was a great way to spend our last lunch together in Sao Paulo with great tasting food and great community. Then to end the day, we headed back to the school to present our final presentations on different Brazilian cultural topics we had experienced so far on the trip. My group presented our research, experience, and reflection of the Atlantic Rainforest. The other groups presented on topics like day to day life, brazilian food, religion, capoeira, and music and dance. It was a great way to reflect on everything we had learned and experienced while in Sao Paulo, and see how far we have come together as a group. Lastly, we watched a video created by our Brazilian classmates and host families sharing how much of a blessing it has been for them to host and build relationships with us. Let’s just say a few tears were shed, and it finally hit that the time had come to say goodbye to the people we had spent the last fifteen days with. Throughout this entire day, and this trip, I have learned the importance of good community and people around you. Every person I met in Brazil welcomed me with open arms and kindness. The people were not only interested in surface level information, but wanting to get to know everything about me and my life on a deeper level. This made saying goodbye to all the amazing friendships, and my host family, now my second family, so incredibly hard. I can say that I have left a piece of my heart in Brazil.
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