Random thoughts that I wanted to get out of my system!!

Random thoughts that I wanted to get out of my system!! 

When I got to Rio, they were doing elections for the local government, so there were constantly people out campaigning and stuff. Now that that is over... the city seems deserted! You don't get bothered by 100 people a day handing out little pieces of paper or the campaign songs blasted from cars... It is a very different atmosphere.

In New Mexico, you can save a LOT of money by ordering water at a restaurant. This is not the case in Rio. Water costs just as much as sodas and other things... you can't find free water anywhere. Another thing: people rarely (if ever) drink straight from the bottle or straight from the can. They either have a straw or pour the beverage into a cup; they consider it dirty to drink straight from the container.

Some little things!

First off... many, many, MANY of the teenage boys and young men have their left ear pierced... just the left ear.
They will also gauge this ear, but just this ear. Many girls also just gauge one ear...
When girls do not have a hair-tie, they just knot their hair. And it stays. Mine, however....does not. SADNESS. :(

Petropolis

Over the weekend, I went to Petropolis, a town about an hour (by bus) from Rio de Janeiro. I went with two other exchange students. We arrived in the evening on Friday, and from the rodoviaria (bus station) went to pick up Matilde (Danish), and then went to the Leandra's (Swiss) apartment. A little while later, Mathilde (Belgian) showed up, and everyone was there. We went shopping on "Avenida," a main street with many shops and people, for strawberries and pretzels, and when we arrived back at Leandra's house, we made chocolate dipped strawberries, and frosting with pretzels. (I know it sounds weird... but it is good!) After this we watched Mama Mia, and then went to bed. On Saturday, we woke up around 11, but by the time everyone had eaten breakfast and gotten showered, it was around 1 or 2. From Leandra's house we went to Museu Imperial, which is a museum in the house of Pedro II, an immigrant from Portugal, and who the city is named after. (Teresopolis, a nearby city, was named after his wife, Teresa.) That was pretty cool, but no pictures allowed! We had to put on slipper things over our shoes, to not damage the flooring, and if you had a large bag, you couldn't bring it. After this we went back to Leandra's house, and had Swiss style fondue! We later went to Matilde's house, had dinner, and went to Itipava, a small town not really in but not really outside of Petropolis. We got home at 3:30 in the morning, and then we woke up around 12 or so I believe, ate breakfast, went to the Crystal Palace, came back to eat lunch, and then went home! Fun weekend :)