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Ok, so many various things to update on!
So, about two weeks I ago, I went on the last Brown trip, to Ilha Grande, an island about 4 hours from Rio. It was a really great trip, and we stayed at a secluded pousada on the island. We were the only group of people there, and we had the place to ourselves. They cooked us amazing food and made us a campfire. It was so relaxing and I got to do some hiking and catching up on sleep and beaching. Enjoy some pictures from the trip!
The Beach on Ilha Grande
Cynthia Making our Sand Castle Land CynthannahLandia
Our Sand Castle Land--CyntHannahLandia
The Camp Fire
People sitting around the Camp fire
The Pousada Grounds
The beach and water and some boats!
Me and Sam and Ricardo on the Boat going back to the mainland
The Pousada’s Boat
The Dock
The Cute dog I found on our pit stop on the way back to Rio.

Last Thursday, I met up with a bunch of friends in Baixo Gavea. This is the neighborhood where my university is. On Thursday nights people meet up there to drink in bars and then hang out on the street for a while. Usually it’s a pretty early night, because one can usually only stand out on the street drinking for so long. But, somehow Katherine and I turned in into a ‘get home at 6 am kind of night’. So for a while we were there drinking and hanging out, and then it got late and people were leaving, so we decided to go with these three friends of ours to a kiosk on the beach to hang out. Funny thing is, two of our friends, Ivan and David had biked there. So, they decided to follow us on their bikes while Katherine and I went in Alexandre’s car. It might not sound like much but it was SOOO funny to have these two bikes following us, and they were biking sooo hard to keep up with us, and when we arrived at the kiosk they were sweating so hard and nonetheless hilarious. Once at the Kiosk we stayed there talking, joking, and hanging out and it was SO much fun. We stayed there until about 5:30 and then David and Ivan went home, and Katherine, Alexandre and I headed to Pizza Guanabara…of course. And that’s how we made it into a get home at 6 am kind of night.
Ok Disclaimer about these photos! Haha! Not EVERYTHING I Do in Rio is going to be classy and cultural!
David teaching Katherine How to Shot gun a beer.
David Showing How it’s done.
Less than 30 seconds! WOO!
A messy but fast way to drink a beer!

Katherine’s first shot gunned beer ever! A Job well done!
Ivan @ the Kiosk
Alexandre!

Then on that Friday night, I went with my friends Lillian and Martha to a bar called Emporio in Ipanema and then to a club called Baronetti. Emporio is a cute, hip but grungy alternativeish type bar, which I had never been to, but I liked a lot. Baronetti on the other hand, was the worst club I have been to in RIO. It’s so hyped up by so many people, and Katherine warned me against it, and I should have listened haha, but I just wanted to see it for myself. The things I disliked the most about it was just that it was SO crowded and overpriced and they only played techno and just not worth the money or effort to go. Nonetheless, I’m glad I went, even though I won’t venture there again.
Lilian and I at Emporio!


On Saturday I DID NOTHIN CUZ I WAS SOOO TIRED FROM my already two nights of partying, and because Monday was a holiday I knew I had to rest up for Sunday night, which ended up BEING CRAZY. Also, I need to give credit to two websites I found online that provide links to American TV shows online so I caught up on ALL Seasons of the OFFICE, all of season 3 of Grey’s Anatomy, and all of Ugly Betty. It was an incredibly relaxing Saturday and I really needed it…

BECAUSE SUNDAY NIGHT WAS CRAZY!
On Sunday I met up with Spence, his sister who was visiting from Texas named Lauren, Ivan, and Katherine to go to a club in Botafogo called Casa de Matriz. This club is UNBELIEVABLE. It is a house turned into a club. There is a dance floor and bar both up and downstairs and upstairs there are a bunch of rooms with couches and TVs where you can just chill out and talk and watch music videos. The other thing that’s is GREAT is that they play ROCK music. No techno, hip-hop or funk, JUST ROCK. Not that I don’t like those types of music, but it was just SO nice to dance and hang out with friends (and random strangers, as you will see in my photos! Haha!)

Ivan and Katherine @ Casa De Matriz. This is one of the chill out rooms.

Katherine in front of the mural of what looks like an angry sperm with bad teeth…hmm?

There is one reason this photo is hilarious. This is Katherine, Spence’s Sister Lauren, and yes, A STRANGER. We have no clue who he was. But he was happy to be in our photo.

Funniest story: This guy came up to Katherine and said “my priest said that If I ever found a girl as beautiful as you, and didn’t kiss her, I would have to say 400 Ave Marias.” Katherine’s Response to the shady guy: “Well, you better start praying!” This guy was lammee
Katherine and Spence! CUTE!
Me, Katherine and Spence
Katherine and I, looking amazing as always…kinda haha.
Spence and Katherine
Katherine with a Model face
Lauren Katherine and Spence in one of the hangout rooms.
Me and Katherine! An excellent photo!
Another me and Kath!
And again! I guess we went on a photo binge!
Katherine, Lauren and Me.
Lauren and Ivan!
I think this guy’s name is Franklin, but really I don’t know. The crowd was just very friendly hahaha!
Another Katherine Lauren and me! (sorry I guess I wasn’t too selective with these photos!)
Spence Dancing!
Spence still dancing! WOO!

So, once again, you are completely caught up on everything with this blog entry. Shockingly, time has FLOWN by and next week is my last week of class including all of my tests! I am completely done with school on November 30! That is SOOO SOON! On Dec 3 I am going to the Pantanal with Katherine for a few days and we are SO EXCITED! I have loved Brazil sooo much and this has hands down been the best 6 months of my life. I guess I am just SOO happy here and feel really in my element. I really don’t want to leave, at all, but I know Chile will be great too!

Last night a friend in the same program as me, asked me if I thought I had either found myself or changed while in Brazil. That’s a really interesting question that I’m going to have to think about, before I respond to it. I’m definitely a different person (for the better) than I was before I came here, but the question is whether I not I found the “true me” or if various elements of my experience here have changed me. HMM. Something to ponder until the next blog!

i think this weekend *could* be crazy but i dont wanna jinx anything, so ya'll have to wait till next week to seee!

Happy thanksgiving y'all!!!
BEIJOS

new post within the next few days

-with pictures and description of trip to ilha grande
-story of crazy thursday night where i was out till 6 am...on a thursday?!?
-the first club in rio i wouldnt go back to
++AND MY MOST FAVORITE CLUB IN RIO++
-thoughts?

and yeah tis all
promise to update soon--most likely wednesday when I have barely any class!

bjs
Hannah


ps chris--i want a huge morraco BWAB NOW

BUZIOS WEEKEND RECAP!

*Writing this before it is old news!*

This past weekend was another long weekend (feriado) so we had Thursday and Friday off. I ended up going with a group of about 6 Americans, 7 or so French and Italians and about 6 Brazilians to a Pousada in Buzios (about 2 hours from Rio). I’ve been to Buzios before, but I could go to Buzios a 100 times, I love it so much there there! So we took a bus up to Buzios and settled into our pousada. Our pousada was at the beach Geriba, which is not the BEST, beach, but very social, and dare I say hip. But, it was nice to just go there and relax. Then we went back to the pousada and relaxes some more, and then we made our way into the center of Buzios, Rua Das Pedras where they have all the bars, shops, restaurants and night clubs. We ate dinner at this great Brazilian a kilo place, called Bananaland, and then just walked around and browsed and people watched. The next day we decided to go and explore some beaches so we took a little van to drop us near some different beaches. In my last trip to buzios, we only went to Geriba, so it was sooo nice this time to go off and explore different beaches. The beaches were really pretty and we also saw a different part of the town that I had never seen before too which was really nice with lots of little bars, and stalls with people selling stuff. It is all right on the waterfront and soo gorgeous and low key. We also went to a beach, which was completely deserted with the calmest water and softest sand I’ve ever seen and preceded to skinny dip, which was so fun and relaxing. Did I mention I love buzios?! After that we went back to the pousada to change and shower and then headed out to rua das pedras for dinner and a night on the town. We ate at a nice restaurant called Lorenzo and I got a fantastic pesto pizza wit buffalo mozzarella. Then we found a tiny little bar on rua das pedras called Barzinho and the man who ran it named Baixinho, which means little short one. I wouldn’t even call it a real bar, id call it more a drink stand, but nonetheless we ended up staying there and drinking, dancing and laughing until about 4 or 5 am. It was a surprisingly eventful and super fun night considering we were all just crowded around this little drink place. The next day we went on a boat trip on an Escuna (schooner) around some of the islands and bays, which was very nice. I proceeded to fall asleep on the boat, and it felt good! We then walked back by the shore and through Rua Das Pedras. We ate dinner at this famous crepe place called Chez Michou, which was yummy. I got a Hawaiian crepe that had chicken, cheese, pineapple, and banana! That night we had planned on going to a white party, but it was cancelled. But we weren’t going to let our last night in Buzios be a bust, so our whole group of about 20 people, went out to a funk club called City Buzios. It was great funk music with a little bit of hip hope and other stuff thrown in there, and we stayed there dancing until it closed at 7 AM! From there we went back to the pousada to put on our bikinis, walked to the beach, and proceeded to fall asleep there. We then woke up, went and had a nice brunch at a little cute restaurant near our pousada and took the bus home. I slept the whole bus ride, obviously. Overall I LOVED MY BUZIOS WEEKEND! It was nice because I saw a lot more of buzios then I had last time, and it was fun being with such a big diverse group.



The beach @ Geriba

The area of Geriba

Cali and Courtney walking to the beach

The beach near Praia dos Ossos

More Praia dos Ossos

The bay with some boats

Three fishermen!

Me @ the praia

Me and Cali at the Praia

Me in the shade of the praia

JUST KIDDING! Those 3 fishermen from before are a statue! It’s a tribute to the fishermen of BUZIOS! Haha!

The fishermen again

Sam, Cali and Courtney in the back of the buggy

Me and the Italian Matias. We aren’t trying to look stupid, we’re just trying to show our amazing smiles…

Baixinho! The guy who owns the barzinho!

Sam and Ricardo at the Barzinho!

Cali and Nikolas!

Court on the boat!

Sam and Ricardo on the boat!

Courtney, Ashley, Me, and Cali at City Buzios…if we look hot and sweaty, its cuz we are…it’s a funky.

Other news NOT buzios related:
Last night we went to this neighborhood, Laranjeiras, and went to this photo studio to do a photo shoot for a final project in my art class. The photos came out really well and I will post some when I get the CD. After that, Elena and I went to a bar in the same neighborhood and saw a great music show and ate dinner there. Tonight there is a buzios reunion party at this guys apartment! Haha! And tomorrow Brown is taking us on a trip to Ilha Grande, which should be really nice and fun! Hopefully the weather gets nice though, because right now it’s raining! ☹. Also, next weekend is another feriado and we are thinking of going to Paraty!

Signing OFF w/ love from BRAZIL,
Hannah

Ps don’t even get me started on how little time I have left here in Brazil and how fast its flown by. It’s gone by sooo fast its crazy!