Long awaited and SOOO worth it!

This excellent entry will include:
-the dentist party
-trip to tiradentes
-trip to buzios
(and some pics!)

ok first:
two fridays ago i went to something called a chopada. its a huge party where you pay one price for unlimitied, beer, water, juice, and this thing called gummy which is juice mixed with vodka. I went with a girl that works at my gym and a bunch of her friends. its kind of confusing to explain why this was a dentist party, but at every university in brasil, people know their major before the go into college. so this party was put on by the odontologia (dentistry) curso at UFRJ (universidade federal rio de janeiro). it basically initiates the freshman (who raise all the money for the party), and says goodbye to the seniors and then is open to the public as well. so the reason that this party was so crazy/fun is that it was hundreds of brazilian college students at one huge club. there was great music cuz there was a dj, a band, and funk rappers/mcs. overall it was just a fun/crazy experience and definitely hope i go to another one soon.

Tiradentes:
So, i got home from the chopada at about 5:30 am and then prompty almost missed my 7:00 bus to tiradentes. I got home at 5:30 and set 2 alarms for 6:15 to wake up and get my stuff together and go to meet the bus for tiradentes. i get a call at 7:30 from the coordinator of my trip and she's frantic asking where i am. im so groggy and out of it, that i randomly remember saying "honestly, im at my house in leblon. just leave without me." luckily she knew better than that and yelled at me to take a cab there asap. which i did. so i slept on the long bus ride up to tiradentes. we got there and checked into our pousada and then explored the town. tiradentes is an old colonial town and is quite small but extremely beautiful and quaint which nice old churches, people riding horses, etc. you dont need more than 2 days there, but was definitely a great place to visit. also, its in a different state Minas Gerais, which was neat to visit.
Pics of tiradentes: (with captions this time!)
Nice old church in tiradentes
Old colonial town Tiradentes
Tiradentes
More Tiradentes
Horse in Tiradentes
Old Really gorgeous church in triadentes
Town of tiradentes
Church built by the black slaves for themselves in tiradentes
Another nice view of tiradentes
Inside the igreja dos pretos
Courtney and I in the Church
On a walking trail that leads to the source of fresh water which connects to a fountain that people get water from in town
Cynthia, Courtney, Me and Elena in the forrest
Courtney and I at our fabulous program paid for dinner where the food was fantastic!
Two men in the town square selling Fresh Minas Chesse from Minas Gerais. This cheese is AMAZING!
Town of Tiradentes
Town of Tiradentes
Courtney, Elena, and ME on a still running Steam Train in Minas Gerais
Me conducting the train...obviously!
A farm on the train ride.
Courtney outside of the train.
Me outside the train
The Steam Train in the country side
Beautiful Church in São João do Rei made by Aleijadinho
Carvings by Aleijadinho
São João do Rei
Town of São João do Rei
Church again
Carvings by Aleijadinho in the Church
Church again

Buzios:
I had a 5 day weekend last week because it was independence day in Brazil so me and a bunch of Americans and a couple of Brazilians went to Buzios. Buzios is said to be the Saint Trope/ party capital of south America, and I truly think it is. It's about 2 hours away from Rio and we stayed at a great Pousada where the owner was a gay ex-Varig flight attendent who since varig has closed, has invested all his time into the Pousada. Overall it was a fabulous weekend. The beaches in Buzios were gorgeous. The main street called Rua das Pedras is sooo crowded at night as it has all the main clubs and bars and also has stores open until about 2 am (aka my heaven!) Here are some pics!
Me and Camilla at our favorite restaurant David's, where we ate at 4 times in Buzios.
Buzios Beach
Gorgeous Beach House in Buzios
Buzios Beach
BUZIOS cove Beach
Buzios Beach
Vergilio and Zac walking on the beach
Beach at Sunset
Surfer at Sunset
Surfer at Buzios
Gorgeous house on the beach in Buzios.
Me and Brazilian Friend in Larissa
Awesome Bar in Buzios on the beach called Fishbone
Fishbone!
Fishbone
Me and Luciana my new Brazilian Amiga!
Me and my friend Katherine at the club Zapata on Rua das Pedras.
The Pousada Owner Ze helping us with barbecue.
Camilla preparing the churassco!
Our amazing charming pretty pousada.
The Pool area of our pousada.
Pousada again
Churassco FOOD!
The Churrasco went on into the night!


Now you are all completely caught up on my life and adventures here! Hope all is well with everyone!

ps. this blog entry took me about 3 hours so you better enjoy it, appreciate, and write me and let me know how you're doing! JK, kinda. xox!


This weekend im going to a Fazenda (farm) for the day so I should have pictures and stories from that next week!