The north east trip was an amazing month. There were 101 exchange students from 23 countries. In every city you were on a different bus, one time it might be yellow and blue in one bus then the next city it switched, so you were always with new people. We also had new roommates in every city. During the trip we played this game we played, a lot like games you play at camp. They have a giant baby pacifier you can wear around your neck and every night we tell funny stories that happened during the day. The person with the funniest story wins the pacifier and has to wear it for 24 hours. As a “revenge” one time during the day they get to yell a phrase in Portuguese and all the other exchange students fall over on the ground and start screaming and waving their arms and legs in the air. This happened almost every day and we got some pretty funny looks for it. It happened at rest stops, at the Christ statue in Rio and in the middle of the street one day too. We started in Brasilia, where we had a tour of the city as well as forro lessons (forro is a traditional dance here in Brazil). We went up a mountain and when we left it was cloudy so no one put on enough sunscreen…. By 10 it was sunny and hot and we were all sun burned! The view at the top was worth the hike though. We also went to a water fall which required walking through a river. The water was strong at times and lots of people almost lost their flip flops.
In one city we got to go on a zip line, snorkeling and hike through a cave. For the zip line you started up on this rock and ended up in the water. It was so much fun when you did it but running up to the edge of the rock and jumping off was a little scary! The snorkeling was pretty fun too, but it was so dark you could hardly see anything. The hike through the cave was also really cool there were tons of neat rock formations and the guide showed us how they form fun shadows and stuff on the wall.
When we went to Fortaleza we went to two of the most beautiful beaches in Brazil. It was absolutely gorgeous. We spent a whole day at the beach swimming, laying in the sand and drinking fresh fruit juice! We also went to our first party in Fortaleza. It was a pirate party. When we went to parties we had to use shirts that terra Brazil (the tour group) gave us, but they said we could cut them and try and make them look as cute as possible. So everyone was getting ready for the party when the power went out on one of the floors of the hotel. All the girls had to go find other rooms so we had 7 or 8 girls all trying to do hair and makeup and make their shirts look cute before it was time to leave.
On the trip we also saw the biggest cashew tree in the world, it was pretty impressive too. Another day we all bought toys or candy and gave them to poor children. We also got lots of shopping done! We had to learn how to bargain because when people realize we are not Brazilian they jack the price waayyy up. In Salvador we saw capuera shows, it is a mix of dance gymnastics and karate, it is very impressive to watch.
We also went to Rio de Janeiro. We stayed at a hotel that was about 20 minutes from copa cabana beach, it is amazing! The water there is colder than the other beaches we went to and the waves were a lot stronger too. We saw the Christ statue, you have to walk up a lot of stairs to see it but it was worth it when we go to the top. I was walking back from the beach with a couple other exchange students at the end of free time and it started down pouring, so we ran most of the way back to the hotel. Everyone was laughing or pretending to cheer us on while they waited in doorways or over hangs for the rain to stop but we didn’t have time to wait since we needed to be back before dinner! We saw so many incredible things and there are hundreds of stories from the trip. It was the best vacation in my life and I will never forget the people or the memories.
RYE STUDENT UPDATE – JESSICA WEINDLIN
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