The Beginning of Becoming a Brazilian

How Did I Get Here?

Okay, let's begin. I am a Rotary Exchange Student. Which means a Rotary club in Australia and a Rotary club in Brazil are sponsoring me. My specific clubs are Moranbah Rotary in Queensland, Australia and São Paulo Norte in São Paulo, Brazil. Through Rotary I now have the chance to stay in a foreign country for a year, January 2013 to January 2014. They provide host families and homes, organise your visas and your passport, your plane tickets and everything that you will possibly need. And to better represent Australia, they supply you with blazers and badges, a special little thing Rotary does, so you can swap badges with fellow students from other countries. They even take measures to ensure the safety of every student by providing personal councillors for every student. I would highly recommend doing an exchange through this program!  Now, onto the exciting stuff! 

Also, I will warn, if you are looking forward to my usual potty mouth antics, I am sorry to say that family and family friends are also following this so I must make this family friendly. But... I will make sure to keep it funny as hell and entertaining and informative! ENJOY. 

Life So Far

Seeing I have started this blog a month into my exchange I shall post all that I have done so far in a big fat juicy chunk all at once, and after this, hopefully I should be posting daily or weekly! Also, I'm going to skip over all the boring stuff... Because, well, no body likes to read a crazy lady rambling on about boring stuff. It's quite boring. 

Well, I left Moranbah on the 15th of January and spent the night in Brisbane. It was a good night! We went to Hogs Breath for dinner and were amazed when the smell of a joint drifted through the restaurant. Hmm... Interesting last night. I also got to see my lovely, and most fabulous cousin Christopher before I left, which was nice, I hadn't seen him in ages! 'twas an early night.. Seeing as I had to wake up at 3am the next morning. Egh. Yuck. Only now I realise how amazing that steaks was. I haven't had one since being here! Oh the horror! 

My 16th of January quite literally went for 48 hours. Gosh I was pooped when I finally got here. I left Brisbane at 3am and arrived in São Paulo at about 11pm-ish, with stop overs in Sydney and Santiago, Chile. I also met some really nice people! There are about 28 Australians in Brazil at the moment, dang... We overtaking the joint yo! When I arrived in São Paulo, only my host mother and sister where there to greet me as the other members of the family went home. They to me to a burger place for dinner 'Casa do Hamburger'. I ordered a burger and when it came out I though to myself "Oh.. So I'm just having cholesterol and fat between so buns? That's cool." Swear to god the oiliness thing I've ever seen before. But at that moment I seriously did not give a flying poo, I hadn't eaten a normal meal since leaving Brisbane. FOOD IS AMAZING. 

Monday 21st my host mother Suze took Flor (the short term Argentinian exchange student) and I to a park called Horto Florestal and had a walk around and then took us on the subway  for the first time. All I can say is it turns out I am paranoid as all hell. I was like 'someone gonna steal me!' Haha oh god. Dat paranoia. 

On Wednesady the 23rd, my second host dad (who is currently hosting an America girl, Hannah) came over and asked if Flor and I wanted to go to a football game. No. Not rugby or AFL. Soccer. I went to a soccer game. It was São Paulo vs. Bolivia... São Paulo won. But dang. The referees were escorted on and off the field by none other than the RIOT POLICE. Goddamn riot police people! Haha intense. 

26th January! AUSTRALIA DAY! And... Lauren's 20th birthday. I am a bit peeved off that I missed this fantabulous day. So... T celebrate from afar I woke up and had a Vegemite sandwich. So good. Later that day my host father (that whom shall not be named) took us to Catavento Cultural e Educational centre today. It was kind of like a high school science display, nothing that impressive. But the building? Dat some damn fine architecture.