One week in Brazil down, four to go!

These past seven days has been filled learning Portuguese, understanding the culture and politics, meeting new people, and adapting to the food. When traveling to another country you don’t know much about, try not to make too many assumptions or have many expectations. The idea you have in your mind may be tainted because you are seeing it from the perspective of your home country. I took a music class that went over Brazilian music and the culture, so I had a small understanding of it and didn’t hold much expectations when coming here. The only thing I did have grand expectations for was the food. For some reason I expected it to be a certain way, but it wasn’t. Not to say the food is terrible, no quite the opposite. I’m lactose-intolerant and a picky eater so finding something appealing to eat was difficult. If you’re the kind of person that likes everything then you wouldn’t have a problem.

Sunday
Arrived at 10-something in and met our TA's. 

Got in a taxi- that driver was wild in the streets! I was scared, but everyone else on the roads drove the same way.

Arrived at the hotel which looks really cool.

Met up with the group later and introduced ourselves.

Went grocery shopping.
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Monday
In our class we have twenty-nine Brazilian students (mostly grad students) and ten of us U.S. students from my school. The first day of class was very interesting. Before class we had orientation. We learned about the nonprofit organization called Criola that runs this study abroad program. We touched different definitions of black diaspora and discussed differences between Brazil and the U.S. in terms of race and racism. Afterwards, I went back to our hotel to rest and head out to Copacabana beach with another student.

Tuesday
We got our metro cards.

Took the subway to eat lunch and watch the world cup. Okay, so lunch was delicious. I ordered rice with broccoli, French fries, and beef in steak from a restaurant called Galeto I think? The game between Nigeria and Argentina was playing on huge TV’s in multiple restaurants outside.

Went to the mall that had EIGHT floors with sit-in dining restaurants and fast food shops like McDonald’s and a movie theater on the top view. Oh, there was a beautiful view of the water and the street too.

Then I came home to write part of this post.

Wednesday
Bought fruit and habanero peppers from the farmer’s market.

Registered and paid for my sim card while watching the hilarious match between South Korea and Germany in the phone store.

Took a nap.

Read the text for class and took notes.

Thursday
Went to class. We discussed masculinity and what it means for/to black men and black transmen.

Almost took the wrong metro home.

Bought Tapioca with coconut and chicken.

Went grocery shopping.

Watching a thriller with my roommate.

Wrote a little for this post.

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*​Photo by Agustín Diaz on Unsplash

It's SUMMER VACATION!!
2 things:

As I said in my update post, I am doing a study abroad program in Brazil and I leave today. This quarter has been fun, but hectic. I learned so much from my classes that can actually be applied to the real world (I know shocking). It's a long flight to Rio, an early morning for orientation the next day after we arrive, then five weeks of learning and exploration. I may not be on here as much, but I will try to share bits and pieces of my experience abroad.

I finished the first round of editing for Our Father after seven months. Though, I only worked on it during winter, spring, and a little bit of summer break. The focus was on taking out scenes and sentences that didn't fit and replacing it with words that expressed what was going on. The edits were color coded for organization.
Purple: Explain something that is too vague
Red: Take out
Green: Add description/detail
Orange: Move a sentence or paragraph somewhere else
Blue: Change wording

I printed out my entire manuscript and went page by page cringing, laughing, and yelling at my characters. That took me about two weeks during winter break. Then, I made corrections to the typed version on my computer and a week ago. After my trip, the second round of editing will commence.

*Photo by Herson Rodriguez 

Hello again! I've been gone for a long time due to school and other projects so here's an update post. This summer I will be going to Brazil, yes THE Brazil for five weeks. It's a study abroad program and we'll stay in Rio at a apartment style hotel. I am very excited for this opportunity and will definitely post pictures and short blogs about it during the trip. When I return, get ready for more posts about my novels including the editing stage, characters, and beta readers!