Artsy Brasil

Embu De Artes-- a small town about an hour from Sao Paulo, beautiful handicraft

Itau Cultural in downtown Sao Paulo, great art gallery

Beautiful colored pictures are all over the city 

BRASIL

Sorry I stopped blogging about Croatia—work became super busy towards the end, although I did have time to visit the beautiful island of Hvar and really enjoy the rest of my time in Zagreb! It will not soon be forgotten and neither will all the amazing friends I made.

I’ve been in Brazil for two weeks and what an incredible two weeks it’s been! I arrived completely and totally jet-lagged (three continents in six days will do that to you) but excited. I had about 24 hours to recuperate before I met the group I’m here with. We had a few days of orientation at a wonderful hostel called Bee W Hostel (if you’re ever in São Paulo and need a hostel---stay there). We got acquainted a bit with this booming city of eleven million people (almost twenty million in the metropolitan area). That Sunday I met my host parents and moved in. My host parents are great people, a chill young couple, with an awesome cat. My window has a great view of a few of the thousands of skyscrapers in São Paulo.  I’ve been learning some Portuguese and exploring a bit. I’ve been to the municipal market, taken Samba lessons, two cultural centers, a giant cathedral downtown, ate out a lot, been to a balada, oh and I did start classes this week. I’m taking some interesting classes on Brazilian Foreign Policy, the BRIC nations and marketing in Latin America. My classes are part exchange students and part Brazilian students so I really am learning with people from all over the world, which is exciting! Lucky for me, these courses are taught in English. My school hosted a few welcome activities for exchange students, which included a city tour, a capoeira demonstration and a presentation by the school drum line that I think was their version of school spirit.  The people here really are amazing, everyone is so nice. Besos are given every time you meet someone or see someone you know. And yes it’s true, the food is amazing here too. São Paulo certainly has a lot to offer since it is an international city but that doesn’t mean the traditional dishes are forgotten. I’ve had a lot of rice and beans, pasteis and empanadas. Freshly squeezed fruit juice, sugarcane water, and a soda called Guarana are popular drinks here. Overall I’m a huge fan of this city and country; although, living in a developing nation certainly presents me with the constant challenge of stepping out of my comfort zone and being more resourceful than normal. The upcoming weeks I have some day trips, company visits, and a trip to Rio de Janeiro planned so hopefully I have some exciting things to share with you soon. Until next time—Tchau!! 

View from my Window

Learning to Samba! 

Budapest!!

This weekend I was blessed with the opportunity to visit Budapest. What an incredible amazing city. New top three favorite places for sure. What’s so intriguing and alluring about Budapest is their east meets west flavor. As me and one of my house mates coined it, it is very “EU-y.” They have all the brands, and conveniences of a modern open economy. However, Budapest has managed to maintain all of its grandiose character and historical significance. The Buda part of the city contains castles and magnificent old buildings.  The Pest side reflects a modern day bustling city with its commercialism, however its architecture tells a story of a powerful empire, Nazi and Soviet occupations, and a recovery and emergence into the 21^st century. Grand, large bridges link the two sides of the city across the historic Danube. The views and waterfronts are a UNESCO world heritage site. Unfortunately, the Danube was flooding while I was in Budapest. The two roads and trolley lines normally nearest the river were underwater.

Food in Budapest is far more varied and cheaper than Zagreb. Friday night we had a pretty cheap meal at a restaurant near our rented apartment. Saturday we had food at a bakery (hello $1 breakfast) before heading to Hero’s Square, City Park, and a walk down Andrassy Utca. A visit to the House of Terror was in order. Although definitely an interesting perspective on Hungarian history, the building was the original headquarters for the Nazis and the Soviets as well as a prison for those brave enough to defy the regimes. We met some of my housemate’s friends for lunch where I experienced chilled fruit soup (delicious!) and walked across one of the bridges. A 45 minute rainstorm only slightly derailed our late afternoon plans. Then we headed for a quick view of parliament. After we went to dinner at….wait for it…wait for it… A MEXICAN RESTAURANT. For those of you who don’t know me or know me well, I LOVE MEXICAN FOOD, in particular, guacamole and tortilla chips. And unfortunately, Croatia doesn’t believe in avocadoes, guacamole, or Mexican food in any sense. So to find Mexican food in Budapest was very exciting. Afterwards, we chilled for a bit in a ruin bar (famous in Budapest).

Sunday we ventured to the Turkish/Hungarian Baths, quite an adventure if I do say so. Europeans are very, well, comfortable with their bodies. I also learned I hate saunas. Who’s idea was it to sit in a room that you can’t breathe in and sweat? Not anyone sensible. However, the medicinal hot tubs were pretty refreshing. Afterwards we drove to a place called Memorial Park. This was actually pretty cool although a quick tourist attraction. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re already driving back like we were but this place does hold the boots of the statue of Stalin that was torn down by the Hungarians in the attempt to overthrow the government in 1956.

Two other quick notes on Hungary—the language is near impossible. For those of you who learned Hungarian and are not native speakers, congratulations, I’m really impressed. Second, the currency, the Forint, is so inflated. A roll can cost you 300 Forint and a dinner for two will cost you 5000-10000 Forint. The exchange rate during my visit was about 225 Forint to $1, so quickly determining a price in dollars in my head was challenging.

Props to my housemate Jess for driving to and from Hungary successfully in a miniature European car!

I’m back in the beautiful Zagreb and I think summer might finally be emerging from behind a cold and rainy spring. I guess we’ll have to see if it’s actually here to stay this time.

Work has been going well, I helped plan and execute an office-wide event last week so that was a good lesson in communication and organization for sure. I can’t release a ton more public details about my job.

Until next time—Vidimo se. Bok Bok! 

Zadar, Split and Medjugorje!

Wow! It's been a while. Sorry I haven't posted I've been very busy. So where did I leave off? I spent two weekends ago in the coastal town in Zadar. It was beautiful, really cold though. I also had my first hostel-like experience. We had a private bathroom, but the place was loud, two twin beds, no TV, no phone, just the basics. A light bulb exploded and it was freezing but other than that it was okay. Zadar is a cool city though! I mostly explored and shocker, sat at cafes and drank coffee. Monday was a day off work so I went to Dolac and got some food as well as played charades with the lady at the pharmacy to get allergy medicine.  I then worked two days. 

My mom and dad flew in on Tuesday evening (YAY!) so we had a nice dinner in the centar and they had an amazing hotel room with a great view. They explored the city of Zagreb on Wednesday while I worked. Wednesday we again had dinner and pivo in centar. Thursday we took a day trip to the national park and UNESCO world heritage site Plitvice. It was beautiful there as well. The park is covered with clear blue lakes, rushing waterfalls and lush forestry. The hike took us from the top to the bottom of these lakes. Friday we rented a car and started on an epic road trip. We drove to Split, another quaint coastal Croatian town and saw Diocletian’s Palace. We then enjoyed a cup of coffee inside the palace walls on the steps outside the church and listened to Klapa, a traditional a capella singing from Dalmatia. We drove then, to Bosnia and Herzegovina to a little town called Medjugorje. Immediately as you enter Medjugorje you feel an incredible amount of faithfulness towards Jesus. It’s incredibly peaceful. Saturday we went to mass at the main church in town with hundreds of other English-speaking pilgrims, although masses before and after ours were in other languages. We then set out to climb Apparition Hill where Mary appeared frequently to visionaries in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Although she still appears to some of them, she appears mainly in the Sacristy of the main church. The climb was difficult but so worth it. At the top people were praying to God and asking Our Lady for her prayers as well in so many languages and in so many ways. Even in the pouring rain. Faith that strong was an incredible sight. The rest of the time in Medjugorje was spent eating, relaxing and attending Sunday Mass. Now I’m back in Zagreb and who knows what the next adventure will bring. Bok!   

Receptions, Movie Nights, Ice Cream, $7 Macedonian New Wave concerts, hobbies and Dolac

Work has started to pick up a bit which is nice because most days I'm busy. I've been given some longer term projects to work on which is exciting. Tuesday night we had a nice reception at my boss' boss' house for some people that are leaving this summer. It was very cool especially because there were a lot of Croatians there! The rest of the week went by pretty quickly, although me and my roommates had an extensive discussion about finding a hobby to fill some of our spare time with. We work for eight hours a day, sleep for eight, leaving eight hours free. If you have any suggestions please let me know, because right now we've got coloring and possibly dance lessons and juggling. Friday night a coworker hosted a movie night which was really fun and we had chevapchichi (a sausage-like sandwich traditional Croatian dish) afterwards. Saturday I went out with one of my roommates to a nearby lake to just hang out and she introduced me to a Croatian ice cream brand and it was delicious. Apparently roller blading is still cool in Croatia as many of the locals were out and about roller blading on the paths by the lake! Saturday night we ended up going to a Macedonian new wave concert by this band I've never heard of. Tickets were only $7 and although it was enjoyable and certainly a new experience, I do not think I've found a new hobby and my hearing took a while to recover. This morning (Sunday) I went to mass at the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary which is the main cathedral in downtown Zagreb and it is a beautiful church! It was local election day today too in Croatia although you wouldn't really know it, people didn't seem to be too involved. After mass, we proceeded to a bakery which was delicious, then headed to the main market in Zagreb called Dolac (pronounced doll-ats). I found lemons, cucumbers, avocado (which was a bit pricey although worth it!) and a few other odds and ends. The market though was large and had a huge selection of fruit, vegetables, oils, cheeses, meats and fish. We then had coffee at a nice cafe and then ate at a more local restaurant right back by the cathedral. We get a new roommate this week so that's going to be exciting! Until next time! Vidimo se!

Bok iz Zagreba! Hello from Zagreb!

Bok!  My past 10 days in Croatia has been a whirlwind, but a wonderful one. After twenty six hours of travel I finally arrived in Zagreb, got a taxi, and found my new home! The house is beautiful and in a little suburb outside of Zagreb, very close to work. My roommates are great people and made me feel right at home. Tuesday I started work and although I met close to 200 people this past week, I know I will be very good friends with many of them, even past my time in Zagreb. Most of last week was spent settling in and working but I did get out of the office a little bit and even went to and Irish Pub (in Croatia?) for a trivia night with some neighbors. This past weekend I went down to "the coast" as it's known locally, which means any seaside town you can get to over the weekend. We were in a little town called Crikvenica. It's not high tourist season yet, so there weren't a lot of people around but that's what made it so relaxing. Who knew a group of Americans could just sit around and drink coffee and beer all day and actually *gasp* relax? These Croatians really understand the true meaning of vacation. The other good news is that this place is pretty cheap (well at least the food) and the Kuna, although pegged to the Euro, does not have very high value and the prices are low even after conversion. I get my morning coffee for $0.86! I hope this gives you a little taste of what my past week and a half of life has been like, and I hope I have some exciting things to write about in the near future. Vidimo Se!

Here I Go!

As many of you know I'll be spending my summer in Croatia and my fall semester in Brazil. I thought a blog would be a good way to keep everyone up to date on my travels so I don't overload my facebook friends :) This is my first time blogging so bear with me as I learn the ins and outs of this. I'll be flying to Croatia here in seven days, so here I go.