By haleymb
After three months of waiting and watching friends begin their semesters both at GW and abroad, my time has finally come. Ola, Brazil! In my brief day and half in Brazil plus my 28 hours of travel time, I have had quite the experience. My first shock came at the Orlando airport; when waiting in line at the TAM Airlines counter, everyone was speaking Portuguese. I hadn't thought this through when imagining my trip in the past weeks, and with only a few words of Portuguese under my belt, I was completely caught off guard and incredibly scared when this happened. I called my mom, questioning my ability to go through the program. I finally arrived in Salvador and met the others on my program. Everyone was so kind and joyful, my fears immediately melted away...literally - the bright sun and humidity immediately brought pools of sweat to my skin.
On Sunday evening, I meet and move in with my host family. My extremely limited Portuguese and American culture makes me nervous, yet excited to embrace a new way of life. Beyond living with a new family who I cannot communicate with, I have a lot of adjusting to do, including being more cautious about my surroundings and health issues (i.e. tap water, purchasing more bug spray, etc.). I'm looking forward to beginning Portuguese classes so that I can communicate more smoothly.
The beauty and size of the city took my breath as soon as I left the airport. Bright colors, tropical plants, music, and animals flow through the streets. At the beach today, we danced to the samba music playing loudly from the restaurants. How amazing is it that unlike the US beaches that play the same music to try to make it feel more tropical, this is truly the culture here? All of these things give me confidence and excitement to overcome the challenges that I know I will face next week when orientation ends and I actually have to move about the city on my own.