My last days in Brazil have been a complete 180 turn from Rio. Seeing other parts of the country that greatly differ from Rio and meeting amazing and beautiful, inspirational people. I wasn't blessed with wifi, though so I've been writing anyway and just waiting to post it all! Tuesday morning- Well here I am, on the plane! On my way to Brasilia. It wasn't too difficult to say goodbye, I'll see Ricardo in 9 days in San Diego. I have exciting things ahead of me ...

2 days to go... Wow! Woo! Wait... What?! Is it really coming to an end? No more mosquito bites? No more hunk-a-Junk crowded buses? No more rushing and traveling over an hour for just a 1-hour class only to have the student cancel? What am I doing my last few days? Well, besides working and trying to see my friends "one more time," Ricardo has a birthday this weekend! We changed plans like 5 times but in the end, we went to that all-you-can-eat pizza place that he...

Lessons I learned from packing: 1) I really should be more organized (pause for Mom and Rhonda to laugh) 2) I save quite useless things with crafts in mind, but realistically they dont usually happen and just take up space (you should see the mound of bottle caps, wrappers of Common Brazilian snacks, and newspapers). 3) quality beats quantity- I've gotta be cut-throat here and part ways with some old clothes. 4) gifts from travels arent always as valuable or ...

Im no expert on history but in a nutshell, Rio's is that some Portugal dudes arrived one hot-as-hell January day to take power from some French dudes who wanted to build a colony. They saw the amazon, big rocks, some water (the bay) and thought it was a river. Hence (pause for shock and amazement): Rio de Janeiro (River of January). So they set up camp, claimed power, made some stone roads and Im guessing hung out and drank coconut water. Independence, although i...

Ive had over 3 months to observe and talk to Cariocas (I don't want to say Brazilians because Rio is a small piece of the pie) and I've found both interesting and strange things. There are some ideas or concepts that I love but others that quite frankly, I don't know if I can ever understand. The list is endless to be honest, but I chose a good chunk just to give you an idea. Things I'll never get used to: They love Justin Bieber- really?! This ridiculous bee-...