Welcome to Rio de Janeiro!

“ If there is a heaven, it has to be here”

A quote that was said by my brother João while we were travelling in the Rio de Janeiro. At the time I really thought this was the most intelligent thing anyone can ever say. Because there is just something about this city that makes it so true. The view of the Christ redeemer and surrounds the whole city on the mountains of Rio. I mean it’s a Catholic thing, so whether your into religious things or not, it’s simply beautiful and it gives off an energy, and it makes this place so magical!

I remember flying to Rio and I was extremely excited and curious at the same time of what it’s gonna be like, and how different it will be compared to my city Brasilia. And let me tell you… was completely different!!

As soon as the plane landed and we were going to meet our family, and then go to the desk to pick up the rental car, my brother João said to me, “ Larissa, when we get in the car were gonna put on the air conditioner don’t worry, but just don’t roll down the window, ok?”

I was kind of confused and shocked but it is a safety thing. And you can imagine my city has 2 million people, and Rio has 6 million- a big difference. Climate is another thing compared to rio’s climate is 10x more tropical, my city may be 20–37 degrees on average, and rio is 28+ it can get 45 degrees at times. So far as safety and climate is completely different. It’s just normal safety precautions you need to take in any city- don’t take out your cell phone on the streets, hide your wallet, avoid walking alone, try not to speak your own language to avoid anyone trying to take advantage of you, knowing your a tourist. It’s normal. You just need to be aware all the time of who is around you.

I recommend to all of you to once and your life go here! The beaches are so beautiful the main places such as Ipanema, Copacabana. The beaches at night was a fantastic view; all the lights on the mountains but the lights were actually favelas ( which is not beautiful but the view is at night) all the homes are so crowded and people turning on there lights that sometimes it looks like a huge Christmas tree.

The beach I went to in Rio was amazing, I put my feet in the sand and just stopped and felt like this is my country, this will be my home forever, I wanted to only sleep on the beach and lay down in the sand, and stare at the sky and count the stars. The water in Ipanema beach at night was like aqua bike with a tint of lime green, I never seen water like this. Speechless ; without words to describe. Everything this night felt like a dream.

How is it possible a foreigner from Brasil came for just a six month exchange to Canada and within a year we see each other again, and I then experience living in a different part of the world. It’s funny how a six month friendship turns into your family. The whole family are now like my own family. It will never change, I have became so close with everyone that everyday I think to myself that this was a gift from God that gave me another family forever.’ I’m also so lucky, because now I gained three crazy brothers that I love very much. It’s the dream for someone who has wanted a brother, for them to do the typical things, tease you 24 hours a day about EVERYTHING. I am loving every minute of it!!

This was a vacation that I will forever remember, the laughs, craziness, energy, jokes from everything we did; and all the time we spent together. Eternally forever grateful. A great blessing.

A new culture, what does it do to our bodies?

Being thrown into a new culture

When you start to land you wander into curiosity, adventure and the most amazing feeling your soul can feel, the feeling of pure happiness.

Now we can all say that when you are doing things in your life that are new and aren’t familiar, maybe a place we have never went to, you feel overwhelmed with the thoughts, where am I about to go? What should I expect? Or what did I get myself into? A million thoughts are racing, and often we create fear in our heads that is not needed for our bodies. What I will tell you about travel, you always need to go with the attitude to expect nothing, to just relax and enjoy the adventure; whatever happens, deal with it in the moment. But the major key is to just be calm and relax your thoughts and trust yourself.

If something doesn’t feel good in your stomach the “ intstincts” get out of this situation as fast as you can, because most time the whisperer of your soul is true to what they are saying.

Exhaustion

For the first two months I was always feeling tired, and I could never figure out why, but after I learned that when you are changing everything your body has its own way to react, when I went from a transition of English to Brasilian Portugeuse, it was mentally exhausting because your mind is trying to always understand what the people are saying and believe me at first it was extremely difficult, but with time your body adjusts to the language, climate, food, people, etc… everything

Comfort

Your body can take time to adjust to the new cultures way of greeting someone , Brasil, a country that when you meet someone it’s common to kiss them on the cheek and a hug; show a lot of affection with each other which I think Is beautiful . This can feel awkward at first coming from a totally different culture where we may not be só affectionate with everyone. But in this case you learn that stepping out of your personal culture of what your use to, is good for yourself.

Time

In my opinion I love Brasilian people they have a special way, they always want to make sure you are ok, if there is a way something they can do to help you, very loving, happy, generous people & the culture that most people are extremely laid back, Brasilians don’t always plan out there day, they just do what they want and when they want, they’ll go. I believe it’s important to be less scheduled with our lives, because without the schedule we are enjoying more, not só concerned with time. A life lesson.

I want to finish by explaining that how important it is to recognize your bodies signs of change to new things; and how normal it is, but they key with not just travelling but all things is to slow down and let yourself adjust.