Things I am going to missss

nossasenhora que saudade que eu vou sentir......

I will miss the delicacy of eating pao de queijo and salgados in school between classes,
the way you can walk into a store and drink a cafezinho, and how friendly and helpful the workers are,
the beautiful efficient words and the sound of Portuguese,
the sun on your legs and playing soccer beneath the trees,
the endless little shops of shoes, clothes, and everything you could imagine walking down the street,
the MUSIC! samba, sertanejo, funk, mpb, choro
going out to eat acai or a milkshake with friends,
barbecues!!
going to the roca with family,
the sheer dream of being a foreign exchange student and having the world at your fingertips,
dreaming about visiting the beach, Rio, the Amazon,
getting to meet so many new people and tell stories about your coutry and birthplace,
being in contact with friends from all over the world,
sharing dreams, cultures, songs
people calling me "Joellieeee"
Every day a new different delicious food, fruit, vegetable,

fruits and flavors I had never imagined,

the simplicity in life,

watching Brazilian TV,
having time to read books,
capoeira class, when I felt like I met the avatar
and then became one myself,
playing the cavaquinho, violin, guitar
pronouncing correctly and teaching the English
talking and playing with little kids
learning how to dance again,
writing in my journal,
the beautiful trees and creatures eveywhere...
and how beautiful I felt,
staying up late,
Festaaaas! Shows!
Michael Telo, Ivete Sangalo, Joao bosco e Vinicius,
running home in the rain,
running up the stairs on the break of the new year to see the fireworks
always turning around and being amazed by something new,
the deep, true friends and brothers that I have made,
and always having something to look forward to,
realizing what is important in life,
and the excitement of finally coming back home in the end=)

New Year's Resolution

Today is the first day back at home after we went to Sao Carlos for New Year's. It is finally setting in that I have just these 2 weeks left here, but I feel good. I feel like I have done what I needed to do here, and that it is time to go back home, and start studying again to finish what I need to finish back there. I feel like everything is finally coming together, and I am actually getting a little excited to come back!!

I thought hard this year, and came up with some things I want to really keep up and remember for 2011:

-learn from mistakes, don't let them push you back, use them to get forward

-keep in touch with old friends

-don't let activities get in the way of friends and family

-keep up what I learned in Brazil: be more organized and clean,

-go back to my health-consious self, stop drinking soda, and integrate new healthy foods and habits into my routine when I come back

-this is only the very beginning- the whole rest of the world is out there to be discovered/saved

and most of all
-Never forget what I did and learned here in Brazil

Lambari

We traveled to a small tourist town called Lambari, famous for its natural mineral water springs and park of old trees.



Plus a bunch of cool old bikes to rent and ride around the park!

3 Months!!

I've been in Brazil for exactly 93 days, on the last day of my 3rd complete month here- the 31st of October. I'm at the roca with my brother and grandparents with an old notebook in my hands and I decided it was time to try and start a journal again, and to take a minute to look back at everything I have done and all the things that I have gained so far from this exchange.

3 Months - the time the time when most exchange students are supposed to have finally settled down and adjusted into their new life, family, and language. But for me, it is allready more than halfway through my experience (if I do leave in January) and I am definetely not looking forward to leaving, but I think I was able to (aproveitar) my first few months because of my quick adapting and language abilities. Now the rest of my stay fits on one page in my planner - about 76 days, and I wanted to take some time to look back at what I've done so far.

Looking back at my first blog post about 4 days into my stay, I seemed to have already absorbed so much and been able to communicate without much difficulty in the new language, and I those first feelings of pure adventure and excitement to venture out into the unknown will never be erased from my memory. I love that feeling -I can never get enough of it. I seem to absorb new things so fast, I remember (well it's written here in this notebook which I brought with me on the first day of school) wondering what I was going to write my college essay on; I didn't feel that challeneged at first- haha I guess I just didn't know what to expect.

Since I arrived here, so many things about me have changed, I changed my appearance- I have learned how to take care of my new long hair and I don't think I will ever cut it short again anytime soon- my handwriting has drastically improved, due to the fact of writing in cursive, I have become more disciplined, learned how to respect differences and deal with misunderstandings to fit into a family, how to be more clean and organized, and much much more than I think I even realize. I have learned how to eat again, how much it means to have a good friend, how to take care of myself, and how to live in the moment and make the most of what life gives you. Doing a foreign exchange means putting a lot of yourself out there to be tested and greatly challenged, but I believe that it does a person good, that it does the world good, and I don't regret making the decision to come here one bit.

Ouro Branco

more pictures!.... :D

mmm another really amazing reastaurant in a small close by city called Itaia


interesting wine arrangment

mmm deliciouss meal complete with my favorite* pineapple juice w/ hortelão =)

Ouro Preto

Pictures from reigonal AFS orientation in Ouro Branco
haha wow these are old
first night: bus to the orientation and Ouro Preto


The whole gang;D




Amaazing restaurant in Ouro Preto that my adorable host family in OB took me to...


mmmmm flaming bananna dessert-
I looove doce de banana- a carmelized flavor, in a dish with vanilla ice cream, and flaming champagne poured over it;D
I am definetely going to learn how to make this one!


pedra de sabao- soap stone- artesian crafts famous to Ouro Preto


Another thing famous to Ouro Preto- beautiful antique churches!


and another, partying college students!! haha jk there is also a good college for mining here

Tres CoraçOES (three hearts)

Time for......MORE PICTURES! ahah I think living here in Brazil has made me more expressive in my typing.. hehe more on that later;D


This is a Statue of world famous soccer player Pelé who was born here in neighboring city, Tres Coraçoes. There are always these strange statues along intersections on the road or even inside a city.