Brazil Here I Am -June 11, 2007

Segunda-feira. It means monday in Portuguese, although some people simply call it Segunda.
The flight was lengthy but it definitely made it to our final destination in Florianopolis. There we gladly met the professor who drove our luggage to our new home and sent us on a wild taxi drive back to the hotel. Once there we settled in took showers and went to sleep.
Monday was officially the first day of our course (JOUR 312) and marked the beginning of our three week stay. The hotel as we soon noticed is beautiful! Its a large residence with an exotic trail, a distinct restaurant, a remote hill, and a cold pool. We all sleep with two people making it four rooms of three. I share my room with the only two other guys in the class and we get along just fine. On the lower level of the rooms we discovered a commons room which some call our living room. There we can watch movies or just hang out and be loud. The hotel also provides free breakfast buffet featuring different juices, milk, coffee, egg, breads, cakes, cereal, and ham- different types of em.
Well, Monday was our first visit to the university. Florianopolis is the name of island we are residing in and is also the capital city of its province or state, Santa Catarina. The university is called Universidad Federal de Santa Catarina and we are to have classes daily among the journalism department. The first class was mostly an introduction and we met two students who will later be transferring to our university for a semester. The university is a large campus that enrolls over 20 thousand students for free.
After class six of us went shopping for groceries in a small local market, surely making our appearance as the new turists in town. Once we regrouped, the professor took us to the municipal market which had an array of shops and featured a wide street that reminded me of China due to its overcrowded streets. Then, we made our way to the Hercilio Luz Bridge which is unique in its steel architecture. Currently not transporting anyone, it connects the mainland of Santa Catarina to the island of Florianopolis and will later open to pedestrian crossers.

The day finished with the twelve of us going to a local bar/restaurant. Bars here are more common in the sense that they are not just for drinking. It was quite funny for the Portuguese waiters understood none of our English and we hardly spoke Portuguese let alone understood anything on the menu. Hence, we all ordered and waited for our surprise meals, which we later eat with no trouble.
The day was long and language was a definite barrier, but we were together 12 young Americans ready for adventure. Here commenced three weeks of life in Brazil.