More Brazil and general thoughts

So due to some family stuff, I will be leaving Brazil in exactly 10 days. Holy crap. There are days here where I am so ready to come home and have all the things I am used to, but when it really comes down to it I am going to miss this place like crazy.

First and most importantly, I am going to miss the people. I have never been so proud to be a part of AIESEC (well... we will get to that in a bit), as I am when I am around these people. They remind me every day why AIESEC is so amazing and should be availible to all! To come to another country was terrifying, I will not deny that. I am an only child born and raised in a small southern town. I can never thank my parents enough for making sure to teach me that the world was not just Wilmington, but to leave the safety of a small southern town for more than a week is still a seriously scary thought. However, because of my @ers here in BH, I have never felt so at home. I know I have said that a million times but it is so true. It is amazing to leave home and be so far and be surrounded by such different cultures, different everything! BUT, you still feel safe and right at home. It is totally corney and so overused, but I do feel like I have family here. AIESECers around the world are all the same. They want to make it a better world. They are people who are insipired, people who believe in change, people who are amazing leaders and can communicate well what they want and need. The @ world may be a little bubble, but it is an amazing one. I truely hope that everyone in this organization gets a chance to have an exchange like mine, and that people not in @ can find it and (see previous hope). I could go on all day about how amazing the people have been, and how willing they have been to go out of their way to help me and make sure that my time here was nothing less than perfect.

Just a few other observations about Brasil. The traffic here sucks. I have to take a bus for around an hour each day to get to work. The public transportation is great here, like most countries other than the US, and I have found I can use a bus to get just about anywhere I need to go. However, riding the bus is a whole other story!! Traffic here uses the traffic laws more as suggestions rather than acutal laws, especially at night. At night, stop signs and lights become mere hints to slow down or honk as you fly through. Dear Lord. It is terrifying!! I am actually a little woried becuase after the past 7 weeks, I have actually adjusted and am no longer scared when I am a passenger in Brazil. I think losing this fear may be a bad thing. About avoiding the traffic, one thing I have really started to enjoy is walking home from work. About 3 days of the week I take the bus about half way to my apartment and then get off either at the city center or in Savassi (a neighborhood a few miles from my house) and then walk home. It is a really safe walk and it gives me a good feel for the city. This has become one of my favorite times of the day because I just get to absorb the feel of the city and think about my day and the future and all that important stuff.

hmm what else... some strange foods from Brazil: chicken heard on a stick (not that bad, usually the guys eat them like there is no tomorrow!), farofa (a powdery stuff made from maniok flower, butter, oil, other spices, and anything else people feel like putting in. You eat it with your meat... reallllly good), maniok (a root from the Amazon usually eatten fried or with butter and cheese... it is similar to potatoes but I like potatoes better), and... hmmm... oh! of course! Cachaça! The Brazilian rum that is made from the sugar cane juice so it is sweeter and better and WONDERFUL!!!