Oh, hello. Somehow, you've stumbled onto this blog, where I will be musing about my first time away from Madison, WI, USA for more than a fortnight. I am fortunate enough to be writing from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where the beaches are world famous and the nightlife scene is dazzling. However, if you know me well, you'll know that I care for neither beaches or nightlife. In fact, last time I went to a beach (Summer 2011, Santa Cruz) I covered myself in blankets and towels and somehow still got tremendous sunburn. The next summer, in Havana (couldn't have been in Cuba, because Americans aren't allowed there) I stared at a wall for three straight hours (yes, this really happened) in a posh nightclub while my friends stumbled their way through salsa with some hip locals.
But this trip, while functioning in part as an extension of my studies in both music and Latin American studies, also will hopefully serve as an opportunity to break down some of the barriers I have constructed for myself. As it happens, I have a few main non-academic goals for the following six weeks:
1. Stop obsessing over how much sleep I get. I am a person who highly values sleep, but since college began, this has gotten in the way of social life way too often. In an environment where the most growth stands to happen by breaking out of comfort zones, I am very interested in continuing the trend set while counseling the past two weeks at UW-Madison Summer Music Clinic and hope to not let sleep get in the way of everything this marvelous city has to offer.
2. Learn how to dance (or at least begin this arduous task). My genes have cursed me to a fairly awkward demeanor, and this has sadly transferred over to the dance floor as well. Dances sap me of all confidence, and given how much I enjoy watching other people dance, I would love to be able to participate alongside them. One of the main reasons I enjoy some of the music I do is simply because it conjures up the innate desire to physically react. For me this resembles something more freakish and less fluid than most people, but I would love to learn how to dance the samba, or perhaps something more modern.
3. Explore. On every vacation my family has ever taken, I have always opted for staying at the hotel or apartment when given the chance to go on an excursion. Although such choices were made when I was considerably younger, I still wish I had taken more advantage of places like London, Santiago, Kauai, and even New York City. Here in Brazil, I have no family to drag me along on trips, so the motivation needs to come from within. Somehow, I don't think this will be too much trouble.
Well, enough about goals. Let me tell you about my trip thus far, all eight hours of it. This morning I woke up (if you can call it that) on a plane, my face pressed against the window and my legs scrunched in an economy class seat. I must have only slept for a total of three or four hours, because I have almost nodded off thrice while writing this blog. Anyway, getting into the airport at Rio, I was initially quite preoccupied about customs officials eyeing me suspiciously for being of the USA. Then I remembered that yankees are quite legally welcome in Brazil, unlike certain places I've visited recently (certainly not Cuba).
I was greeted after getting my bag by the IBEU (forget what the acronym stands for, but it's the group of American students I'm here with, and I'll be referring to it a lot) staff, and I quickly met some other students in the group. They all seem really cool and only one out of thirty (whom I haven't met yet) is also a UW student. After waiting for a few other students whose flights had been delayed, we set out of Galeano International airport in a private bus.
Driving through the northern and middle parts of Rio, I could already detect that this city exemplifies social and economic extremes. On one side, beautiful architecture (some of it still present from the colonial era) glistened in the sunlight, and on the other, the ramshackle favelas looked down upon me from the hillsides. As we entered Copacabana (the beachside neighborhood where I'll be staying), I knew that this contrast extends even into upper middle class neighborhoods. Well-dressed store patrons share sidewalks with tattered garbage-scavengers.
Another harsh awakening occurred during the bus ride when the program directors (Leonora and Lorena, confusingly enough) adressed our group in rapid-fire Portuguese. Luckily, it seemed I wasn't the only one adjusting to an unfamiliar language, which is nice, because I was expecting to be the one to do the most catching up. As it turns out, the group seems to have incredibly varying language levels, with some grad students practically fluent, and others like me, knowing a considerable amount of Spanish but being Portuguese novices, relatively.
Stepping off the bus and meeting my host mother, Nilda Pereira Felipe, turned out to be an awkward experience, but in the exact opposite way to what I expected. Coming to Brazil, I have been preparing for the people to be much more affectionate than me, and I know that they use the European greeting system (kisses!) when they meet someone. So, I figured I'd avoid the awkwardness by going in for the kiss when I met Nilda. It turns out, however, that she didn't really have any desire to kiss me or my roommate, Kegan, on the cheeks, and instead was bending over to help me pick up my bag. What ended up happening, essentially, is that she kind of kissed my chest and I puckered up to the thin air above her. Kegan, taking a cue from my bizarre debacle, didn't go in for a kiss at all, which is a sure indication that he is more savvy about these things than I am.
Most serendipitous event of the trip up to this point: When I walked into Nilda's posh apartment, her daughter and son-in-law were watching the cinematic masterpiece, Daredevil, starring Ben Affleck and Jon "Foggy" Favreau (dubbed in Portuguese, of course). I know, based on this fact, that my housing assignment was certainly no coincidence. Also, I had my first taste of authentic feijoada and some other delicious foods for lunch.
Well, if you've managed to get this far, then you should probably get back to real-people things, but thanks for checking it out! I'll try to update a few times a week, but we'll see if I'm able to keep that promise. This is my second experience blogging (my first happened two weeks ago) so let me know if you'd like me to address anything else. Até logo, minha gente.
