Today was the first time that my roommate and I got to spend a full day entirely with our host family. After many early mornings and long classes, relaxing and spending the day with them was so lovely. After sleeping in a little, we ate breakfast and spent some time Read more…
To the uninitiated, a fractal is a mathematical term that describes a shape formed when a pattern (typically describable with a set of numbers) is allowed to repeat indefinitely. Most commonly, fractals are seen in spirals like the Fibonacci spiral (derived from the Fibonacci sequence) which is seen in pinecones, Read more…
While driving to campus yesterday, it felt as if my mind was going blank. It didn’t feel real that I was about to fly to a different continent and stay for three weeks. I expected this trip to be challenging, especially since I consider myself a “homebody” and I went Read more…
“Oui!” I said, nodding my head enthusiastically to the cashier’s question. She looked at me with a puzzled look, and any small hopes I had of at least pretending to look like I knew what was happening were completely shattered. Realizing my mistake, I corrected myself and responded with “sim,” Read more…
We are here! We are soaking up every moment of our trip so far. To be honest, I was having a really hard time saying goodbye to my boyfriend, family, and friends when we left for Toronto yesterday. I have never traveled without my family before, and I have never Read more…
They say that the best way to learn something new is to make a game out of it, but today I learned that the best way to learn a new language is to play games. Not in class, though the attempt we made at playing something like Headbands in lessons Read more…
Language barriers are a lot of fun. I’ve had a great time the past few days trying to communicate through Google translate, hand gestures, facial expressions, and broken attempts at Spanish. Today we took the attempts a step further by starting Portuguese lessons at Universidade Metodista de Sao Paulo, and Read more…
After an amazing but exhausting celebration yesterday at Carnaval, we were are all VERY grateful for an extra hour of sleep thanks to daylight savings! Feeling refreshed, we headed out with our knowledgeable new friend and guide, Renato, for a tour of downtown São Paulo. Our first stop was the Read more…
Who said Carnaval was just for Rio? This city’s version of the holiday involves many “blocos” or groups of people with a common costume theme. Each bloco had a huge truck and marching band that paraded through the streets blaring music and attracting gigantic crowds of dancing. An energizing, exotic, Read more…
Arriving in Brazil was a thrilling experience. I was excited and nervous. I had no idea what to expect; this is my first time traveling to a different country other than Canada, which after living in western New York my whole life doesn’t really count as foreign. Already my experiences Read more…