Fresh like the First Day of School

School has now gone into full swing…well kind of. Its very nice for me because it takes me less than five minutes to walk to school and classes start on Brazilian time (late). My host mom held me by the arm and walked me to school on the first day too, she is so sweet! We took a placement test for Portuguese and I have switched up from beginner to intermediate (no biggy), at least I think so. We were learning the alphabet in the first class and now I am doing full words so I think that fits accordingly. We also started our Brazilian history/sociology type course where the T.A. scolded us for being rich Americans and told us we live in the bubble of Salvador and we haven’t experienced the real Brazil. I wasn’t sure if we were supposed to apologize but it looks like its going to be a great class. He does have a point though. Our neighborhood does seem very nice, especially considering Salvador is the poorest city in Brazil (which says a lot). There are other nice parts though. Last night, I went with some of the other kids from school to the Pelourinho district of the city, which is like the old colonial section, and they had a band playing and food and drink stands all along the street with lots of people out. It was kind of sketchy but relatively safe at the same time. I feel like that pretty much could describe my experience here all together so far. Oh and I’m trying to get tickets to watch the Brazilian national team take on Chile in something for the World Cup I’m pretty sure. They never play in Salvador either so people are getting extra excited for the game…wish me luck!