Waking Up -June 21, 2007

So I start the day by waking up believe it or not, and I get this feeling that by now I've gotten more than once. Recently dormant to dreams of friends, family and home I wake up to a completely different setting. Now on a strange bed my brain first captures the image of a tall brick wall that encircles some apartments through the open curtains of a double door size window. As the sunlight wakes my mind I then see the rest of a strange room filled with two other guys! Immediately, I remember I'm in Brazil and that its time to get up and catch some breakfast. I wake up at about 8:45 to dress, eat and be in class at 9:30. As I get up slowly, my roommate wakes up at the same time and is always out first. After breakfast, which is a buffet of sweet bread, toast, sandwiches, cereal, coffee, and fruits, I try to hitch a ride with the professor or make the ten minute walk to campus. While we're at school the maids usually do our room- they must have gotten used to the times we're gone.
That day after class we met up to go to another news station. This time the news station would feature print articles such as local newspapers and magazines. An interesting part of the trip though was that it was on the mainland, meaning for the first time we would be going out of the island. It was interesting to cross the bridge that connects the island of Florianopolis to the mainland. Out of the island you didn't get the hills with houses or the coast of hotels, but you still got a good look at the water. In fact, the main road was located next to the ocean and the building we visited was just across the street. In this news station the building architecture was shaped like a spiral in the center, while the rooms out on the edge were slowly leveled out. Truthfully, it was a bit tiring making the upward climb and the tour wasn't as exciting as the day before but it was worth it to go nonetheless. We saw the popular state newspaper, Diario Catarinense, and other print/web services they provided.
As we reached the end of the tour, we went out a final door that lead to the smoking patio. I could only imagine the great relaxation of going up to such nice scenery whenever things got stressing- it would probably make me want to take up smoking. At view, you could see the vast ocean to the left and the populous city on the right.

That night we all ended up staying to study for the upcoming midterm. I spent over two hours just reading at a random place at the university since the library seemed closed. I later found out it was on strike and that there are few places to study on campus. Being there, I got to study not only my material but also the people who walked by and the strange faces they gave me when they noticed I was staring. On the whole, I got to feel like a local student who was simply studying at a state university somewhere down South in a country called Brazil.