Hi All.
I had perhaps my busiest weekend here in Rio yet. I will write a big recap of it SOON with photos, but just a small preview:
Friday:
Went to a huge costume party at a Mansion in the hills with a view of the beach
Saturday:
Went to Samba school practice in Mangueira
Sunday:
Went to a soccer game at Maracana Stadium.
This week is a lot calmer and low key for me which is great so I should be able to post within the next few days, PLUS it seems like the sun is returning!
Will write again soon!
TCHAU AND BEIJOS
HAnnah
This blog initially recorded my amazing adventures in Brazil, Chile, Budapest, Spain and Portugal. Now it is being resurrected to once again tell the tales of a year abroad in Brazil!
Monday, October 23, 2006
The Long Awaited and Very Worth it Sao Paulo Entry
Hello All!
So, last weekend was a holiday weekend…again, haha. So I decided to take the opportunity to go and visit São Paulo. I have a mutualish friend living there named Julia who has been inviting me to come visit her, so I did. When I got to São Paulo I took a cab to her house which is GORGEOUS. That night, I hung out with Julia, her boyfriend Mateus and we went to her friends apartment where there was a little party. It was really fun and her friends were all really nice and fun. It was a fun group because they were all 24/25ish and they all had such interesting jobs. Julia works in film, her bf is an architect, and their other friends were architects, production assistants, working at MTV, psychologists etc. Very interesting group of people. On Thursday it was a bit rainy so we all slept in late and then we went and looked around this huge shopping mall, Shopping Iguatemi. It was a HUGE shopping mall and SOOO crowded when we went cuz it was Brazil’s Childrens day, like Mothers or Fathers Day…most Latin American countries have kids day. I think we in the US are getting the shaft by not having a kids day haha. Then that night we went out to dinner at this restaurant called The Fifties which is basically a much nicer version of an American Diner. Then on Friday, Julia had to work, but her boyfriend was soo nice and took me around São Paulo, to see various parts of the city. We went and saw his university, I think the University of São Paulo, which is the public university and it really reminded me of Stanford. Very different from PUC here. It was a huge with lots of grass and different buildings and very spread out. Then he drove me around the different city to see various areas, parks, museums, and various landmarks. It was a really nice overview of the city and it was great because I didn’t feel rushed to see everything since I think I will be going back to São Paulo many times in my future so it was a nice over view trip.
Then on Friday night we went to Julia’s family’s beach house on the Paulista Coast which is about 2 hours from the city. We went to beach called Barra de Sahy and it was so relaxing. Their house there is gorgeous. The people at the house were me, Julia, her parents, her boyfriend Mateus, Popola (Ricardo), Thais, Fe, and Bianca. All we did pretty much is relax at the beach, ate good food, had long great talks, watched movies and just hung out. Then on Sunday I went back to Rio.
Here are photos:
Mateus and Julia @ Popola’s Apartment
More São Paulo @ Night
Popola
São Paulo @ Night
Tom→ their dog that was brought in from the street
The two cute terriers.
The beach @ Barra de Sahy
The Beach
Thais!
Their House
More house
The movie watching area
The house
Mateus, Julia, Thais
Popola
Julia and Me
Me and Thais
The Driveway
Overall it was a great trip and it was so fun to see São Paulo with nice people who live there. It was also extremely relaxing and calm and so amazing to meet new people and speak Portuguese all weekend.
TCHAU 4 NOW!
So, last weekend was a holiday weekend…again, haha. So I decided to take the opportunity to go and visit São Paulo. I have a mutualish friend living there named Julia who has been inviting me to come visit her, so I did. When I got to São Paulo I took a cab to her house which is GORGEOUS. That night, I hung out with Julia, her boyfriend Mateus and we went to her friends apartment where there was a little party. It was really fun and her friends were all really nice and fun. It was a fun group because they were all 24/25ish and they all had such interesting jobs. Julia works in film, her bf is an architect, and their other friends were architects, production assistants, working at MTV, psychologists etc. Very interesting group of people. On Thursday it was a bit rainy so we all slept in late and then we went and looked around this huge shopping mall, Shopping Iguatemi. It was a HUGE shopping mall and SOOO crowded when we went cuz it was Brazil’s Childrens day, like Mothers or Fathers Day…most Latin American countries have kids day. I think we in the US are getting the shaft by not having a kids day haha. Then that night we went out to dinner at this restaurant called The Fifties which is basically a much nicer version of an American Diner. Then on Friday, Julia had to work, but her boyfriend was soo nice and took me around São Paulo, to see various parts of the city. We went and saw his university, I think the University of São Paulo, which is the public university and it really reminded me of Stanford. Very different from PUC here. It was a huge with lots of grass and different buildings and very spread out. Then he drove me around the different city to see various areas, parks, museums, and various landmarks. It was a really nice overview of the city and it was great because I didn’t feel rushed to see everything since I think I will be going back to São Paulo many times in my future so it was a nice over view trip.
Then on Friday night we went to Julia’s family’s beach house on the Paulista Coast which is about 2 hours from the city. We went to beach called Barra de Sahy and it was so relaxing. Their house there is gorgeous. The people at the house were me, Julia, her parents, her boyfriend Mateus, Popola (Ricardo), Thais, Fe, and Bianca. All we did pretty much is relax at the beach, ate good food, had long great talks, watched movies and just hung out. Then on Sunday I went back to Rio.
Here are photos:
Mateus and Julia @ Popola’s Apartment
More São Paulo @ Night
Popola
São Paulo @ Night
Tom→ their dog that was brought in from the street
The two cute terriers.
The beach @ Barra de Sahy
The Beach
Thais!
Their House
More house
The movie watching area
The house
Mateus, Julia, Thais
Popola
Julia and Me
Me and Thais
The Driveway
Overall it was a great trip and it was so fun to see São Paulo with nice people who live there. It was also extremely relaxing and calm and so amazing to meet new people and speak Portuguese all weekend.
TCHAU 4 NOW!
Monday, October 16, 2006
Reason # 1573 that I love living in Leblon
Last night after a busy day of beach and travelling home from São Paulo, it was late (10:15 pm) and I was hungry. I really wanted an egg white omelete and a fruit salad from the cafe, Cafeina down my street. But, I was worried I was really cutting it close by going at about 10:30 on a sunday night. But, not only was it OPEN but I had to scramble to get the last table availble. All of the indoor and outdoor tables were FULL! So, in the end I got my omelete and fruit salad which was the perfect snack and when I left at about 11:15 the cafe was still full and bustling.
and thats why i love my neighborhood. and im definitely gonna miss it. ahh, dont get me started on how little time I have left in Rio.
ok this was to tide y'all over till the São Paulo Post, which will come soon I hope.
tchau!
and thats why i love my neighborhood. and im definitely gonna miss it. ahh, dont get me started on how little time I have left in Rio.
ok this was to tide y'all over till the São Paulo Post, which will come soon I hope.
tchau!
Sunday, October 15, 2006
coming SOON!
lovely blog and picture entry about my amazing and wonderfully relaxing and fun trip to Sao Paulo and the Paulista coast!
4 days of:
fun
(sometimes) sun
full-time portuguese
great food
gorgeous houses and...
amazing new friends!
4 days of:
fun
(sometimes) sun
full-time portuguese
great food
gorgeous houses and...
amazing new friends!
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
A collage of events including ziggy marley, a chic club and the german measles
This weekend a lot happened and since im going away this week on vacation I dont want to mix too many posts together so here is a post with many an event (alas, no pics becuase im up at PUC on the computers there, but there will be pics to come)
Friday I went to the Ziggy Marley which was tons of fun. It was a rainy night but luckily the concert was indoor. I ran into sooo many friends and classmates there and I hung out with an awesome group of people including a reunion of the Buzios group which was fun as always. The concert was really good as I´m always a fan of reggae music. The night was topped off by an amusing cabride home and a lovely night of sleep until 3:30 the next afternoon.
That Saturday night I had plans to go out with my Brazilian friend Bianca and some of her friends. We ended up going to a super chic club out in the really nice neighborhood of Barra. The club, called NUTH, was really cool as it had an outdoor but covered garden, three bars, a dance floor, a restaurant and randomly dispersed couches. It was also nice because since it was a fancy-ish club they had a nice list of mixed drinks aside from Caipirinhas. I stayed there really late dancing and hanging out with Bianca and her friends and I always love going out with Bianca because she is really crazy and loves to dance and meet people and is so friendly. After dancing and hanging out with people all night long I finally took a cab home and again slept till 3:30 pm haha.
Sunday was just spent lounging around talking to people online (HI CHRIS AND REO & a voice chat with courtney all the way from stanford!) and catching up.
Monday was actually more eventful than I thought it would be. I have a group presentation due in my fashion class next week and all of us (foreign students) got together to work on it. It was quite fun just hanging out and working on it, and suddenly, the topic of the "german measles vaccine" came up. I was really confused as to what they were talking about until I annoyingly realized that for some reason i didnt make it on the the URGENT email list about the "small but fearful" outbreak of german measles here at PUC and that they were giving out free vaccines. I for one, am never a fan of vaccines and decided I didnt need it. But, luckily my friend Katherine was really insistent that I should and that it doesnt hurt to get it and I finally called my mom who was the finally convincer that I should in fact get the booster shot because if I got german measles it just would not be fun and can be more dangerous for adult women. So, that ended up being an adventure because my whole fashion group trekked down and got the vaccines together, and katherine held my hand during the shot (which ended up not being that bad) and one of the people in our group thought the whole event was so exciting that he took pictures of it, and the nurses and the vaccine station etc, so if I get those pics from him I will post them.
THEN last night Katherine and I both quickly did our gym routines (@ seperate gyms) and then met for one of the most epic dinner dates ever! We went to this fantastic Brazilian food restaurant near here house near Jardim Botanico and sat and talked and ate for hours. It was so nice to have a relaxing and great dinner and just vent and eat and laugh and tell stories! After that I just took a cab home and fell asleep because I was exhausted from such a long day and oddly eventful day!
Today was a day full of classes and a meeting for a group project (a different one) and now im off to the gym.
Then tomorrow I´m flying to São Paulo to stay with a friend and see the city and perhaps do some adventuring around the state of São Paulo too. Ill be gone until sunday and then will be back for another busy week in Rio.
I´ll surely be posting soon after my trip from São Paulo.
TCHAU ALL! (keep up all the lovely comments and BWABs!)
Friday I went to the Ziggy Marley which was tons of fun. It was a rainy night but luckily the concert was indoor. I ran into sooo many friends and classmates there and I hung out with an awesome group of people including a reunion of the Buzios group which was fun as always. The concert was really good as I´m always a fan of reggae music. The night was topped off by an amusing cabride home and a lovely night of sleep until 3:30 the next afternoon.
That Saturday night I had plans to go out with my Brazilian friend Bianca and some of her friends. We ended up going to a super chic club out in the really nice neighborhood of Barra. The club, called NUTH, was really cool as it had an outdoor but covered garden, three bars, a dance floor, a restaurant and randomly dispersed couches. It was also nice because since it was a fancy-ish club they had a nice list of mixed drinks aside from Caipirinhas. I stayed there really late dancing and hanging out with Bianca and her friends and I always love going out with Bianca because she is really crazy and loves to dance and meet people and is so friendly. After dancing and hanging out with people all night long I finally took a cab home and again slept till 3:30 pm haha.
Sunday was just spent lounging around talking to people online (HI CHRIS AND REO & a voice chat with courtney all the way from stanford!) and catching up.
Monday was actually more eventful than I thought it would be. I have a group presentation due in my fashion class next week and all of us (foreign students) got together to work on it. It was quite fun just hanging out and working on it, and suddenly, the topic of the "german measles vaccine" came up. I was really confused as to what they were talking about until I annoyingly realized that for some reason i didnt make it on the the URGENT email list about the "small but fearful" outbreak of german measles here at PUC and that they were giving out free vaccines. I for one, am never a fan of vaccines and decided I didnt need it. But, luckily my friend Katherine was really insistent that I should and that it doesnt hurt to get it and I finally called my mom who was the finally convincer that I should in fact get the booster shot because if I got german measles it just would not be fun and can be more dangerous for adult women. So, that ended up being an adventure because my whole fashion group trekked down and got the vaccines together, and katherine held my hand during the shot (which ended up not being that bad) and one of the people in our group thought the whole event was so exciting that he took pictures of it, and the nurses and the vaccine station etc, so if I get those pics from him I will post them.
THEN last night Katherine and I both quickly did our gym routines (@ seperate gyms) and then met for one of the most epic dinner dates ever! We went to this fantastic Brazilian food restaurant near here house near Jardim Botanico and sat and talked and ate for hours. It was so nice to have a relaxing and great dinner and just vent and eat and laugh and tell stories! After that I just took a cab home and fell asleep because I was exhausted from such a long day and oddly eventful day!
Today was a day full of classes and a meeting for a group project (a different one) and now im off to the gym.
Then tomorrow I´m flying to São Paulo to stay with a friend and see the city and perhaps do some adventuring around the state of São Paulo too. Ill be gone until sunday and then will be back for another busy week in Rio.
I´ll surely be posting soon after my trip from São Paulo.
TCHAU ALL! (keep up all the lovely comments and BWABs!)
Thursday, October 05, 2006
A Farm and a Film Festival walk into a bar
HI! Sorry for the long time no post! but alas, here is another long awaited post with many a topic!
Trip to the fazenda:
A few weeks ago I took a trip to an old fazenda (farm) in the mountains outside of rio. there, we hiked, rowed a raft across the river, ate 2.5 amazing meals, and just relaxed. When we got there had a full breakfast and then a great lunch, and then a really nice afternoon tea. All of which were excellent and delicious! Here are some pics from the fazenda.
On the hike at the fazenda!
At the Fazenda
The raft we rowed on!
COWS!
The biggest cow I've ever seen!
The fazenda..a tad cloudy!
Funny face pic...courtney didnt get the memo. haha
Nice face..we all got the memo!
The fazenda main house!
A horse down in the grove. this was so pretty just seeing this horse doing his own thing. being wild.
More farm house!
THEN: the week after that I went to an engagment party of an acquaintance fo mine. She is American and the boy she is engaged to is Brazilian. She met him the first day she got to Brazil, and after about a week of knowing each other, they knew they were going to get married. Now they are both living together in Rio. Both of their families accepted and they are going to get married sometime next summer. Which brings us to their engagment party. it was cute and simple and they exchanged engagement rings, said "vows" and she sang a song for him. I truly wish them the best and hope it lasts.
Pics from the engagment party:
The engagement party. The Couple: Leslie and Orlando.
Yes he IS on is knee giving her a ring. SWOON!
AH cute couple!
Last week I had midterms. They werent EASY but they werent HARD. Except my portuguese one was hard. I'm also not used to midterms because I dont have them at Stanford. But more shocking than the midterms is the fact that I am more than halfway done my with my time here! AHH thats the scary part.
Two Sundays ago MY DAD came to Rio for the Film Festival, and it was fabulous. It was like a mini-vacation because I got to stay at two amazing hotels, the Copacabana Palace and Le Meridien. It was so fun to see him and we had a great week of fabulous meals and fun!
Here are the movies I saw at the festival:
Pequena Miss Sunshine (Haha)
Volver-Almodovar's New Film
O Ano em Que Meus Pais Sairem das Ferias
Babel
Antonia
Proibido Proibir
The Departed
Overall my selection of the films was excellent as there were no duds in this group. I Loved The Departed a lot. it has a fantastic cast and a great story. (here's a little violent story for Reo: as the film ended a fight almost broke out in my theatre. it had to do with one guy talking and another guy wanting it to stay quiet during the credits. but people held them back. but...it was almost a fight...so yeah...)
Volver was a great film. Not as WEIRD as the other Almodovar films, but had nice twists and humorous moments.
O Ano em Que Meus Pais Sairem das Ferias was a great Brazilian film that deals with life during the dictatorship and also has an interesting jewish aspect to it.
Babel I really liked but definitely didnt love it the way I loved the Departed.
There's not much other news besides that. The weather here has been not so good recently. It's been cloudy at best and rainy at worst. Hopefully it will get nice soon! In general I'm super busy here. I have three in class projects all due within the coming few weeks and the reason that is a pain is because next weekend is a holiday weekend and I am going to Sao Paulo from Wednesday-Sunday. So, I have to get work done on top of that.
ALSO time is FLYYYING by here it's shocking. I cant believe it is already october and soon november when school ends! this has been such a fantastic experience and I cant even believe it is going by so quickly.
Alright hope everyone is doing fantastically! My next update will be after Sao Paulo.
TCHAUU
Hannah
Trip to the fazenda:
A few weeks ago I took a trip to an old fazenda (farm) in the mountains outside of rio. there, we hiked, rowed a raft across the river, ate 2.5 amazing meals, and just relaxed. When we got there had a full breakfast and then a great lunch, and then a really nice afternoon tea. All of which were excellent and delicious! Here are some pics from the fazenda.
On the hike at the fazenda!
At the Fazenda
The raft we rowed on!
COWS!
The biggest cow I've ever seen!
The fazenda..a tad cloudy!
Funny face pic...courtney didnt get the memo. haha
Nice face..we all got the memo!
The fazenda main house!
A horse down in the grove. this was so pretty just seeing this horse doing his own thing. being wild.
More farm house!
THEN: the week after that I went to an engagment party of an acquaintance fo mine. She is American and the boy she is engaged to is Brazilian. She met him the first day she got to Brazil, and after about a week of knowing each other, they knew they were going to get married. Now they are both living together in Rio. Both of their families accepted and they are going to get married sometime next summer. Which brings us to their engagment party. it was cute and simple and they exchanged engagement rings, said "vows" and she sang a song for him. I truly wish them the best and hope it lasts.
Pics from the engagment party:
The engagement party. The Couple: Leslie and Orlando.
Yes he IS on is knee giving her a ring. SWOON!
AH cute couple!
Last week I had midterms. They werent EASY but they werent HARD. Except my portuguese one was hard. I'm also not used to midterms because I dont have them at Stanford. But more shocking than the midterms is the fact that I am more than halfway done my with my time here! AHH thats the scary part.
Two Sundays ago MY DAD came to Rio for the Film Festival, and it was fabulous. It was like a mini-vacation because I got to stay at two amazing hotels, the Copacabana Palace and Le Meridien. It was so fun to see him and we had a great week of fabulous meals and fun!
Here are the movies I saw at the festival:
Pequena Miss Sunshine (Haha)
Volver-Almodovar's New Film
O Ano em Que Meus Pais Sairem das Ferias
Babel
Antonia
Proibido Proibir
The Departed
Overall my selection of the films was excellent as there were no duds in this group. I Loved The Departed a lot. it has a fantastic cast and a great story. (here's a little violent story for Reo: as the film ended a fight almost broke out in my theatre. it had to do with one guy talking and another guy wanting it to stay quiet during the credits. but people held them back. but...it was almost a fight...so yeah...)
Volver was a great film. Not as WEIRD as the other Almodovar films, but had nice twists and humorous moments.
O Ano em Que Meus Pais Sairem das Ferias was a great Brazilian film that deals with life during the dictatorship and also has an interesting jewish aspect to it.
Babel I really liked but definitely didnt love it the way I loved the Departed.
There's not much other news besides that. The weather here has been not so good recently. It's been cloudy at best and rainy at worst. Hopefully it will get nice soon! In general I'm super busy here. I have three in class projects all due within the coming few weeks and the reason that is a pain is because next weekend is a holiday weekend and I am going to Sao Paulo from Wednesday-Sunday. So, I have to get work done on top of that.
ALSO time is FLYYYING by here it's shocking. I cant believe it is already october and soon november when school ends! this has been such a fantastic experience and I cant even believe it is going by so quickly.
Alright hope everyone is doing fantastically! My next update will be after Sao Paulo.
TCHAUU
Hannah
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)