Hey Bahia, You're Alright

I was going to name this post “I’m on a Boat!” for reasons soon to be discovered because I think my blog hasn’t had enough played out pop culture references, but I thought that would be too easy. How about a nice Wassssssssssssssssssssssssup! to get us going. Man, I also miss 7-Up’s zany advertising campaigns. Anyways, I’m not going to lie, I have been putting on a brave face for this blog because I didn’t want to use it to complain (disregard complaints about girls from the last post), but coming to Brazil has not been all great. I’ve been having fun but not this crazy awesome experience you often hear about from people who study abroad. These past few days have definitely started to bring me around though.

It started with our program director, Clara, offering us free tickets to see this guitarist and singer play. My naturally frugal nature could not resist free tickets, so I accepted not really knowing what the concert would be like. I ended up meeting some people from school in the packed theater and within minutes this guitarist came out and started rocking some flamenco guitar like I have never heard. He gave one of the best guitar performances I have seen and was then accompanied by another man and woman who sang and clapped, which sounds weird but their claps went surprising well with the guitar. At the end the woman started doing this stomp dance to the guitar and was getting really into it while people from the audience were cheering her on. They really brought down the house and it was a unique Latin American experience I’m glad I didn’t pass on a whim.

As cool as it was, that whole affair was overshadowed by going with my entire class of 50-some people on a boat tour around the bay. I can honestly say it was one of the most fun times I’ve had. We left early in the morning and got on this huge boat that took us to two different islands with basically no one on them. At the first island, we just jumped off the ship and swam to shore. We played soccer for about an hour and somehow ended up in a game of boys versus girls. The boys obviously won based on the scientific principle of boys rule, girls drool but I think I upset some girls after I scored my second goal and started into my usual routine of “sorry, we are playing sports not vacuuming” and “there is no Title 9 in Brazil, maybe you should just start getting my dinner ready” among others. People are still getting a grasp on my sense of humor. Fortunately, my speedo prevented me from running too much so my competitive nature did not go overboard.

Right before we got to the next island, they stopped the boat and everyone jumped off the boat and swam for about half an hour. Then we got to the next island which was completely deserted and ate a huge lunch of chicken, rice and beans and hung out on the beach for a few more hours. Oh I forgot to mention that the ship had a huge cooler and stereo system which led to a constant party the whole day. The drinks came out early and it didn’t take long for speedos to envelope the boat. My personal pick of bright blue on pale will be all the rage on Paris runways this spring, just wait. It was just so much fun, I can’t get over it. On the way back, as I was finishing the last of my many drinks, we caught the sunset and some genius put in a power mix of “Can I Kick It?” by Tribe and a series of Lauryn Hill/ Fugees jams which broke all attempts I had made to maintain myself. It was such a perfect end to a fun day which culminated in me somehow getting back to my apartment, walking in screaming “Boa!” and giving thumbs up to my host mom and passing out in my speedo. I would just like to take this time to reiterate how much fun this trip was and that everyone should have the pleasure of waking up confused in an excessively bright speedo after sailing around tropical islands all day.

Oh, there was lots of bikinis too if you are questioning why I mentioned speedos so much in this blog. Maybe I just like the freedom, I’m not trying to wear pajamas on the beach I was looking at the bikinis I swear no you’re gay!