River Boat Ride in Paris

So it was the fourth of July and along i don't feel like it is a day of celebration in France, they are dong it anyway... but i think it is just how the french are..social animals.

Anyways we went on a boat ride down the river seine in the middle of Paris. Everything was so pretty at night and we were give free chocolate bread and cheese, a true Parisian thing to eat while you are enjoying the city. Boating along we got to see the main attractions of Paris and for the first time saw the Eiffel Tower at night, it was so pretty! What shocked me the most was how friendly the Parisians were as we went along the river. So many of them were just hanging out by the river and drinking, eating, and talking and they waved to us every time we passed a new group, even under the bridges.

On Tuesday we went walking through the Jewish quarter and looking at some of the streets that Thomas Jefferson had walked on when he was in Paris. They were almost not changed but besides the fact that there are cars and a lot more people, but the buildings are the same. The Jewish area was amazing. There was so much in Hebrew and many of the people thought i was Jewish.. which is a race that i have never been mistaken for. It was a new experience. The falafels were VERY good and i would go back there just for that! Anyways i have to get up for my morning run through the Luxembourg gardens and then tomorrow is a big day! Eiffel tower, Champs Elysees and the ARc de triumph !

Je suis en Paris!

I just arrived in Paris yesterday after a awful tube ride to the street that the foyer is located. We left England around 3 and arrived in France at 6pm local time, because there is a one hour time change. It was rush hour at the underground so it was packed full of people and being tired after a trip didn't help at all either. The language barrier is okay... i mean i am not totally lost but it does help to have someone around who is fluent. WE finally got to the Foyer at around 8pm because of the traffic of people and had to immediately go to the supermarket to buy food for Sunday.

On Sunday's in Paris there is not a lot open and it will be hard to find food. So we stocked up. A huge market that had so much i was overwhelmed but it worked out okay and we went to bed around midnight. We woke up today quite early in order to go to the Louvre Museum because it is free on the first sunday of every month. It was the first time that i actually looked at Paris because yesterday i was so tired that i didn't want to take any pictures.

We took pictures in front of the famous triangle that is in the center of the palace grounds and with the mini arc de triumphe. Inside the Louvre is amazing.. there is so much to see that i must go back before i go to Spain. I also saw the famous mona lisa and the winged victory. I cant believe they have to many famous pieces of art, as well as the place itself being a peace of art. But we did get to avoid the line and get in the back way to the museum where there was nobody waiting nor guarding. It saved us about 2 hours of standing in the sunlight, which i really didn't want to do.

Afterwords we had our orientation for class, i am still not sure about how i feel about what the class is about or how it is going to be conducted. Either way i hope it is not a grueling it would be in the regular year, because i want to enjoy Paris and what it has to offer.

Exploring today was not exactly something that we could do because Parisians usually stay in on Sundays and everything is closed but we did get some reading done on the terrace of the foyer, where we are staying. it is beautiful, i still cant believe that i am here and with a view of the Eiffel tower. The food is so good as well... it feels lik i am in a dream. Europe is a place that i felt that i could never go, and never get to and now that i am here, i need to be pinched.

Transfer to Paris

I am sitting in Starbucks waiting or Kay to come and say buy to me before i go off to Paris . I have been having a great time in London. I am for sure coming back one day! I feel like although the language is technically English, it is its own language in it of its own. So many words are spelling and said differently and even used it so many different ways!

We saw platform 9 3/4... but i feel like everything in London reminds me of the harry potter movies :)

I had the famous fish and chips. and they were very good! i liked them! walking everywhere is for sure going to make my legs stronger. But i think i will get used to it. I feel like leaving london is bittersweet, i loved it here and made a lot of new friends and had so many funny times. But on the other hand i am going to paris in like 2 hours! I cant believe it! i hope that the train is nice and easy to get around in!

Paris here i come!

Londontown

So the last two days i have been wondering around london listening to the accents and all of the different kinds of people that we have in london. I went to see all of the tourist things like the Palace, changing of the guard, tower or london, the london eye, and the london dungeon. All of it was amazing and parliament and big ben are huge! i cant even image what the building looks like on the inside.

We met some cool Australian people and they hung out with us wondering the streets of london. There accents are pretty cool and just as hard to understand as the brits. although we don't have a lot of British friends we had a lot of funny and fun times there. Comparing the differences between the 3 countries is funny.

WE are going out tonight and going to see london by night. i heard that the tower and big ben look amazing. We will see, and i want to go in a british taxi!

arrival in London

Im in London! after 13 hours.. i finally made it! After one of the longest plane rides that i can remember i have made it to London. Not to say that it was easy. After our connection in Houston from sF we arrived in heathrow. Met the two others and then took the tube to st. pancreas which is where were got off to find out hostel.

TAking the subway (tube) for the first time was a little bit scary but we manged to do it and no one got hurt. We also found the hostel without a lot of problems. Then waited to check in and took turns finding food... which was close. Because we did almost the most Americans thing to do which was go to Starbucks or McDonald's.

We checked in and then showered and changed then walked around for some food and our first night in London we had falafels and then got lost around the train station and then came back. I ended up passing out at 8pm. But i was so tired that i needed it and hadn't slept for 2 days before that. I ended up sleeping for 13 hours too!

100 days in Brazil... im coming home to the USA,

So i had a eventful weekend but it feels like i have lost 2 days during the process. I ended school and then i went to the beach all Friday day and Saturday as well to be able to soak in the Brazilian sun as much as i could before i left. It was awesome beach days and so much fun but sad saying goodbye to everyone.

Friday night was the goodbye dinner. It was nice and we all ate a lot of food, because it was a churrascaria, which is Brazilian for BBQ/buffet. My brother came with me and he got to speak English with my friends so he was a little happy it seems. Some people left right after the dinner to the airport and other places, but most of us stayed around and went out together. We all went to Garotas Cariocas and we got a discount because we had so many people, it was cool. We danced a lot with everyone from the group and then i went home at around 3am. Haley had to for sure be home by 4am because she needed to pack and be ready by 6am, so i hope she wasn't to tired because she didn't sleep, but that is how Brazilians do it. They don't stop.

Saturday morning Wendy and i got into the restaurant under the hotel that we stayed in the first day. I wanted to take a picture there like i did the first day and see the difference. Longer hair, lighter hair and dark skin. It was a cool difference and way to see Brazil when i knowledge i had gained over the past 100 days. Looking at the same place was weird knowing that when i last stood there i knew nothing. So afterwords we went to the beach and saw the last beautiful sunset of Brazil, the colors were amazing! I came home showered and tried to pack but then i wanted to get acai, so i did that and met up with Wendy, Alfonso, Bryant, Tiffany, and Matt. I am going to miss Acai, it is so good and so common in Brazil, unlike the US where it is so "special". So after i went home and packed everything up and ended up going to bed at around 2am and then woke up at 7am to get ready to leave at 9am on Sunday.

My Brazilian mom took me to the airport and said bye, she was sad and really wants me to come back, and i think that i really want to but be able to travel more around Brazil rather than to stay in Salvador. So i met Bryant and said bye to his host family and then we were on our own and on our way! We had to wait a long time for Bryant to pay some fee because his bags weighted to much and then we ate some cake and got on the plane to Sao Paulo. As soon as we landed it was like a different kind of Brazil to us. It was so clean and there were a lot of Asian (Japanese im sure) everywhere and it was just weird to see them speak such fluent and perfect Portuguese. We even checked in and it was difficult to understand the guy because he talked fast in a different type of accent, but then slowed down later. Then i went to the bathroom and then i came out and Erika runs towards be through the huge crowd of Asian people. I was so excited to see her! As we waited for Bryant we then ate pizza hut, which was amazingly better than in the united states! We then helped Erika check herself in at Delta airlines and then went off to wait for ours.

We then landed in Lima, as soon as we get on the plane, we then realize that this is going to be interesting. We had been unfamiliar with Spanish for a while and have been focusing so much on Portuguese that we are confused. We get off and he goes to ask the help desk a question and pauses and looks at me and we laugh because i know he was about to speak in Portuguese when the lady works for Lan Chile and we were in Peru. Then i had to go shopping. I love llamas and they were everywhere in Peru, i simply had to buy one. Afterwords i used bryant's laptop to talk to my parents and good thing that i did because they thought i was coming back on Tuesday, which would have been bad because i arrived on Monday morning. I would have not have wanted to wait another whole day to get picked up. But they figured it out and got me.

My plane ride from Lima to SF was 9 1/2 hours but i had an open seat next to me so i got to sleep most of the time which was really cool. I was excited because i have never got to do that on a long flight before. So i woke up in just engouh time to see the first sunset in the united states after being away for 107 days and get breakfast on the plane. I landed and turned on my phone, which i almost forgot how to work and called Kay. She beat my mom and dad to the airport so i got all of my luggage into her smart car and we met everyone at the breakfast place. My brother looks older, Stephanie looks taller and mom and dad look the same. But it was weird not to be able to talk about people and have them on understand in English. Hopefully ill get used to it again but not loose my Portuguese.

So here is where i end my travels, being that i am back in the United States, in California, in my bed, im no longer traveling and i am going to go back to my "real" life here and enjoy Christmas. I still feel like i am in Brazil because i went to bed at 4:30pm here and woke up at 3:16am and i was confused on why i was so cold, i thought i was still in Brazil when i woke up, in Brazil it would be 9:40pm to 8:16am. So i close with i love Brasil, it feels like a 2nd home that i can go, and i feel comfortable there, i am for sure going to go back and see the things i didnt get to the first time. Eu TE AMO BRASIL. TCHAU EU TENHO QUE SAIR AGORA.

Jessica Amber Guditus

Done with School!

Sorry i haven't updated in a while, the past week has been crazy busy with homework. I am sure that at least everyday i had something to worry about or study for. Monday was a bit of a small break, but i did have to study a lot. Sunday after the beach i came home and did my presentation notes and then Monday i did my presentation in Portuguese. I also went over to Matt's house to hang out with everyone and we were there for 5 or 6 hours just talking about really serious topics like War, Religion, and politics. I think that was the first real adult conversation that i have had with people my own age, it was kind of cool but also very difficult to stay with the conversation, being that it moved around so much and i didn't agree with everything. So after i went home i tried to knock out my culture class paper but i only did half. So Tuesday i finished it a little more and we had our Portuguese review as well as the culture class review. And on Wednesday we had the culture class final, where after 2 hours of continuous writing was finally done with a class that i had felt uncomfortable the entire time in. In the midst of trying to study for Portuguese that night for the next day i managed to finish my paper. So yesterday at 12pm i was done!! finally the quarter that felt like it was forever (because it actually was a semester)was over and i was done! I have never felt so good to be done with a period of school, but so sad at the same time to leave my new friends and beautiful country.

Yesterday i went to the beach after class, it was so fun, we took funny pictures, ate picole, and went swimming again. I really like the beach and it is kind of sad to think that i am not going to live so close to it ever again. I wanted to go out to celebrate, but nobody really knew what they wanted to do so we all just went out to Rio Vermelho and hung out there, but over the next hour and a half we tried to find something to do while walking back and fourth between places. Mollie and I ended up going to the bar that my mom and my maid were at and it was really cool! And my maids husband played the guitar in the band too! It was really nice to see her one last time before i leave, . She was so nice and was always helpful too. I hope i get to see my other maid Vanessa, but i don't know where she is, maybe at my grandmas house.

So my mom and maid apologized for my brother girlfriends behavior towards me during the trip last night. I never said anything to anyone expect to my friends in the program but it was still nice that they noticed i felt uncomfortable. But my mom said that she is just possessive and even though Paulo (my host brother) tells her and doesn't like me in any way more than a sister, she still doesn't believe him. And although it was weird at times being totally ignored, i still managed to have a good relationship with my brother. I hope he comes to the united states, he would love it there!

Well even though i slept about 4 hours, my eyes feel tired, but my body doesn't. So i hope my beach day is productive and i have a wonderful going away dinner today ! I hope it isn't emotional, i don't cry in public. haha