So I am extremely sorry that this blog has been dormant since I got back over two months ago! But my dissertation kind of took over my life!
Anyway! Now that that is over, I can now focus properly on blogging again. I would have videoed all of this but my computer can't take it. The humidity and the climate does not mix well with technology here, and my computer has already taken quite the battering after nearly three years of university, so I will try to at least get a highlights video together because there is much to catch up on! If not it may have to wait until I'm home again in two months. Sorry!
So! Where to begin??
Anyway to finish off this slightly longer post, I thought I'd list what I've missed about being hear and what I've not missed:
What I've missed:
1. Maracujá juice!! (Passion fruit juice). The closest thing we have is tropical juice and it's just not the same. My landlord has offered to take me to buy some passion fruit tree seeds.
2. Speaking Portuguese (sounds weird, but it's fun to have that slight challenge everyday).
3. My neighbours and a couple of friends (duh!).
4. The sun. Yes it is humid, but it's nice to actually get some Vitamin D on a regular basis again.
5. The quickish access to a good beach. Ok so you have to ride at least one-two buses to get there, but it's less than £1 each way and I love being in the sea, it's so calming. We did stand up paddle board yoga in the last month before my dissertation was due and it was exactly what I needed to relax. Plus sand is really good for your skin and feet.
What I've not missed:
1. The difficulty of getting important things done. The international student office is closed, so I need to go to another department and get them to write out a new study contract, signed and stamped for me to take to the Policia Federal so that they extend my VISA to the exact dates that I need. Unlike last time when they extended it for just six months after I told her I would be there until the end of the semester.
Also, you need a CPF number for EVERYTHING! Opening a library account, buying flights, coach tickets and stuff off Amazon, returning clothes to shops, paying the dance classes, yep! You need one of those! Luckily you can use friends ones, not so great when you have to go away and come back again for them.
2. The humidity of the air! I stepped off the plane in Floripa and my lungs have not particularly forgiven me since. Only within the last week - and when it's the evening - now that it's getting colder, has it been freshening up.
3. Having to do things slowly. Leaving another ten or so minutes early just so you can walk slower to class in order to not sweat your face off when you arrive, just isn't worth it sometimes when you have long legs and are accustomed to walking faster.
4. The lack of variety of food. Yes it's all more or less fresh and you could technically make stuff from scratch, but it's not the same as being able to go into the supermarket and pick up good sour cream, a pot of salsa or korma sauce and a decent dessert that's not crammed with too much sugar or salt.
5. The stares in the street/corridor because I look different and also the "special" attention you get as an exchange student from England. Sometimes all you want to do is to come to class, put your head down and just learn without having to give too much in a discussion (particularly during the dissertation months). But being an international student (especially being British because they don't get many Brits here) I always get asked questions by the lecturers. Particularly in my Translation class because there are some cultural differences, such as humour. I honestly don't mind talking about my culture and discussing the differences, but sometimes I either don't understand what the lecturer is saying or I just don't have the words to explain! It's stressful!! Haha!
Anyway, thank you for reading my first official post of my second half my Year Abroad! Unless I am lost for topics I am going to keep this blog running weekly once again. It won't have quite the same structure as last semester and will be more based around life updates here, but there will still be some advice posts for younger years.
Beijos! xxx
Anyway! Now that that is over, I can now focus properly on blogging again. I would have videoed all of this but my computer can't take it. The humidity and the climate does not mix well with technology here, and my computer has already taken quite the battering after nearly three years of university, so I will try to at least get a highlights video together because there is much to catch up on! If not it may have to wait until I'm home again in two months. Sorry!
So! Where to begin??
- Well I'm back and have now had time to fully settle back into life and it's been pretty smooth. Sure there were tears shed over the dissertation, but what's new? It's tough!
- I'd say the only thing that I physically had to work past again was the frustration when you're feeling a bit low, the honeymoon period has gone again and you have to push past the frustration of not wanting to speak Portuguese a lot of the time. But it's fun to have that mental challenge everyday again :)
- The university has been on strike for two months and a day now and when I say university, it's the admin staff in most departments, cleaning, canteen and library staff - the international student office also got roped into it just because the cleaners wouldn't give them the keys to open it up. This was particularly frustrating during the last couple of months of my dissertation because it meant going to the city centre library to work. Although you could also look at it as a day out (hey times get desperate when you're writing your dissertation!). For anyone looking to spend their YA in Floripa, it's actually a really good source of local history and I really wish I'd come across it last semester.
- I've taken up four hours of dance a week! Woop woop! Two hours of Tango and two hours of Samba a week, I've really been enjoying it! It's so much fun learning these dances in their native (almost for Tango) setting. I even bought Tango shoes which actually help me to get the moves a lot quicker too. What makes it better is the fact that the combined cost of both sets of lessons and the shoes cost less than my dance lessons back home! I've always wanted to learn (the basics at least) of these dances and now I am! The only things I'm struggling with are dancing in heels and my posture in Tango and trying not to bounce so much in Samba because I'm used to Street Dance, where holding your shoulders up right and your legs extended are not a problem as is bouncing and full body movement. I end up with my feet looking funny because I'm focusing so hard on keeping my shoulders and back "limp". It's been so much fun though and I can't wait to show friends who were wanting to learn back home!
- I no longer have to worry about my VISA being within date anymore as I got it successfully extended for the last time! I had all the right paperwork, plenty of time and a much calmer attitude, so all went smoothly finally! My tips are: remember to extend it within 90-30 days before it expires, read all the info at the pinboard after you get your ticket in the morning, have a passport photo ready, take work to do and go sit in the Angeloni nearby. It's not worth trekking into town just to come back again. You can get everything done in the Angeloni and there's plenty of seating (and restaurants) to choose from. Once again it rained when I got there, like the weather agreed with my oh so sad ordeal. Hashtag pathetic fallacy! But all done and secure now! The last two months thing is starting to really sink in...!
- I handed in my dissertation!!! For the last week I've been ridden with confusion and laziness at not really knowing what to do with myself. But this weekend I've kind of kicked that and it feels great to not have uni work (that counts) to think about for the first time in over a year.
- My plan for the last nine-ish weeks of my Year Abroad? Well, I'm not really sure. The World Cup starts in less than a month so travelling is off the cards, and I'm not even sure if surfing is going to happen anymore/as often because the first class I booked was cancelled due to the high winter winds, and we've surfed in strong winds and rain before. So I'm kind of putting my time into my second blog: talbstar.blogspot.co.uk which you can check out for monthly favourites (including Year Abroad favourites) and more such as my Cancún video blogs. All the links are in the "Following the Nut" page. Otherwise it'll be studying for my classes here and spending time with my neighbours - who I was really happy to see again. They're like a second family and you meet so many people when you're at their apartment, plus they always love to hear about what's going on with you.
- They've got another dog which keeps the first one entertained, now the cat is actually becoming more sociable and he actually sits on people's laps now - getting him to move is the difficult part now. I brought them back a London mug and a tankard with the Union Jack on it, the reason for the tankard being that my landlord likes to make Caipirinhas in his so it can be shared around as one glass. He's not allowed to drink beer for health reasons now. Coincidentally, his tankard broke while I was away so it was a good purchase, although I haven't seen him use it though... He's more of a wine drinker.
- Me and a couple of friends stayed up to watch the Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse which was amazing!! I'm pretty sure Brazil is going to convert me to coffee by July, I had three cups that night alone. Although in my defense we did stay up til nearly 5am just to see the full cycle. It was beautiful! I got some really good pictures with my telescopic lens, it brought out the red perfectly.
- Going back to before another thing I'll need to think about though is getting my Spanish back up to par. Going to Mexico was a good shout just to brush the dust off it but I know I've forgotten some of the complex grammar. So that'll be a fun project!
Anyway to finish off this slightly longer post, I thought I'd list what I've missed about being hear and what I've not missed:
What I've missed:
1. Maracujá juice!! (Passion fruit juice). The closest thing we have is tropical juice and it's just not the same. My landlord has offered to take me to buy some passion fruit tree seeds.
2. Speaking Portuguese (sounds weird, but it's fun to have that slight challenge everyday).
3. My neighbours and a couple of friends (duh!).
4. The sun. Yes it is humid, but it's nice to actually get some Vitamin D on a regular basis again.
5. The quickish access to a good beach. Ok so you have to ride at least one-two buses to get there, but it's less than £1 each way and I love being in the sea, it's so calming. We did stand up paddle board yoga in the last month before my dissertation was due and it was exactly what I needed to relax. Plus sand is really good for your skin and feet.
What I've not missed:
1. The difficulty of getting important things done. The international student office is closed, so I need to go to another department and get them to write out a new study contract, signed and stamped for me to take to the Policia Federal so that they extend my VISA to the exact dates that I need. Unlike last time when they extended it for just six months after I told her I would be there until the end of the semester.
Also, you need a CPF number for EVERYTHING! Opening a library account, buying flights, coach tickets and stuff off Amazon, returning clothes to shops, paying the dance classes, yep! You need one of those! Luckily you can use friends ones, not so great when you have to go away and come back again for them.
2. The humidity of the air! I stepped off the plane in Floripa and my lungs have not particularly forgiven me since. Only within the last week - and when it's the evening - now that it's getting colder, has it been freshening up.
3. Having to do things slowly. Leaving another ten or so minutes early just so you can walk slower to class in order to not sweat your face off when you arrive, just isn't worth it sometimes when you have long legs and are accustomed to walking faster.
4. The lack of variety of food. Yes it's all more or less fresh and you could technically make stuff from scratch, but it's not the same as being able to go into the supermarket and pick up good sour cream, a pot of salsa or korma sauce and a decent dessert that's not crammed with too much sugar or salt.
5. The stares in the street/corridor because I look different and also the "special" attention you get as an exchange student from England. Sometimes all you want to do is to come to class, put your head down and just learn without having to give too much in a discussion (particularly during the dissertation months). But being an international student (especially being British because they don't get many Brits here) I always get asked questions by the lecturers. Particularly in my Translation class because there are some cultural differences, such as humour. I honestly don't mind talking about my culture and discussing the differences, but sometimes I either don't understand what the lecturer is saying or I just don't have the words to explain! It's stressful!! Haha!
Anyway, thank you for reading my first official post of my second half my Year Abroad! Unless I am lost for topics I am going to keep this blog running weekly once again. It won't have quite the same structure as last semester and will be more based around life updates here, but there will still be some advice posts for younger years.
Beijos! xxx