Hey!
Things have been so busy (in the best way) so I’ve been a little distracted from blogging the last two weeks! But I’m going to catch you all up to speed and tell you what I’ve been generally doing, and give some Rio recommendations based on what I’ve been up to. Last week, my family came to visit!! I was lucky enough to have my mom, dad, sister, and her boyfriend crash Rio and bring a sense of home to me for 6 days!
Our first dinner together on the beach in Ipanema <3
If you know my family, you know that coffee stops are a must, everything will be pretty spontaneous, and as long as we are eating and outside, everyone is happy (for the most part).
One of our many espresso/coffee shops on the street
Just one of the good meals we ate
I stayed with them in Ipanema for four nights, and then we all headed to Búzios (where I went for IBEA weekend) for another 2 nights.
Cafe do Forte (Copacabana restaurant right by the water!!)
During their first couple days, we walked all along Copacabana and Ipanema beach, got acai, ate GOOD dinners (amazing view at Forte de Copacabana), explored the really nice areas in Ipanema, shopped for Havaianas, saw Flamengo (my area), and went to Lapa. When we got to Búzios, we really made it a vacation. We rented a very interesting but cool Airbnb in the downtown area, and we walked everywhere the whole time we were there (we didn't drive the rental car once!). We found a “beach club” on our second day, which was really nice because in the area that we were at, there wasn’t much beach. So, the beach club gave us a deck to lay out on right over the ocean!! It reminded us of Mamma Mia because of how cute it was decorated inside. And, we were the only ones there all day (it’s low season for Brazil right now). We found sooo many Chileans in Búzios who were on vacation too, and we even got to eat at a little Chilean restaurant which we of course loved :). At the same time we were there, there was a huge group of Eagles fans who came to Brazil for the NFL game. It was so funny to see so many Americans. On our last night, we went to a place to listen to live music and met a lot of people from a lot of places. We ended up dancing the whole night and had the best time!!
All in all, of course their trip here felt too short but I’m so grateful that they could come see my life!! My family got to sight see a little bit more while I was in school, and they also all got to visit São Paulo before/after their trip in Rio.
Walking through the beach club
The beach area in Búzios! The beach club that we went to is the building/house on the right!
A cute restaurant in downtown Búzios
I find these flowers EVERYWHERE! This one was on the ground somewhere in Búzios :)
After my family left it took a day or two to get adjusted back into my normal life here, but once I did, it really only got better! I feel like I have a routine now, I'm busy, and having a lot of fun with my friends that I’m closest to. I finally signed up for an official membership at one of the workout classes on Flamengo beach!! It’s about a 10 minute walk from where I live, and the vibes are awesome. So many fun people, fun music, and they have so much equipment to design SUCH GOOD workouts for us on the sand and grass. The workout consists of a lot of circuit training with each class being a completely different workout. Every workout is also designed to hit the full body, so we do a lot of weights, running on sand between sets, quick transition exercises, and cardio. There is a huge space that they use to set up the “beach gym”, so we have a lot of room to workout!! The instructors are the best too, and it’s really so much fun- can’t say enough good things about it and how fulfilling it’s been so far this semester!! I also have still been going to volleyball practice through my university, so it’s been another fun opportunity to move, be around other girls my age, and be a part of a team (which I’ve missed since high school). My friend and I were recently saying that the TRUE Rio experience HAS to involve moving/working out. Everyone here is genuinely so active, so it has been really motivating!! With the weather, the beach, and the culture, it’s impossible to not want to be outside and be active. On Flamengo beach, the same beach that has the workout class, we have also gotten to try some local food at different stands! One of our favorites was Brazilian barbeque! They packed it with pico, farofa, beans, rice, multiple types of meats, and potato salad (all for $4).
One of the manyyy post workout pics that TFF takes of us
"Zona Sul" is a grocery store, and they do a really affortable breakfast buffet everyday!! This has become a little Friday tradition for us to get breakfast together after our beach workout :) They also have VEGAN MILK for coffee which is rare here!!
More food- BBQ stand!! Tessa and I got BBQ before watching a gamecock football game with friends.
Next up for updates- I finally started working at EduMais! I talked about this in a previous blog, but to sum it up I am an English teacher for underprivileged kids living in two specific favela communities in Rio. I go once a week and help teach 3 classes to students in middle school and high school. It’s been good practice for my Portuguese, and hopefully it’s been good practice for their English too. :) This is a non profit volunteer position, and it was recommended to us by the older IBEA cohort. So, after applying and doing an interview, we were good to go and teach! I don’t have pictures of this experience because I keep my phone put away, but maybe one week I can take a picture of the school because it is super colorful with a lot of character! This week our lesson plans revolved around music, jobs, and movies! Here’s the website for EduMais if you want to learn more: https://edumais.org/pt-br/
Lastly, I want to recommend a new hike that we did!! On Sunday we hiked up “Pedra Bonita” mountain. Super pretty view, and definitely worth it. There’s a really steep walk to get to the entrance of the hike, but once you get there it’s a normal trail and at the top of the mountain there’s a huge area to hang out, have picnics, take pictures, and look at the view. You can see people paragliding from a nearby mountain too-really cool.
The view from the top!
Overall, Rio is a super busy city with lots to stay active with. I’ve found what I enjoy doing here, so I've been doing it a lot. :) School wise, we end this “quarter” in two weeks, then we have a break, and then we start “T4” which will be a completely new load of classes. Today we are having our official consulting project kickoff for IBEA! I will find out my company, and we will hit the ground running with a lot of work in the next 2.5 months. Excited for another consulting experience with a Brazilian company!
That's it for this week, thank you for reading I appreciate you!!!
Much love,
Brigitte <3
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