Thursday 12 January 2017

November

To start off the month of November, I went on my first exchange trip. Myself and 27 other exchange students travelled from Sao Paulo to Pantanal and Bonito. This trip was one of the best experiences of my life, and definitely one of the top highlights of my exchange. The trip started off with a 15 hour long bus ride. The busses were really nice. They had a lot of space, water and were air conditioned. The 15 hours gave everyone a lot of time to get to know each other. We played uno, talked, ate and watched movies together. Uno was a lot more complicated than you would think. I had no idea there were so many different rules around the world. For example, in Czech Republic, if someone plays a 9 everyone has to put their hand on the card and the last person to do so has to pick up 2 cards. That being said, it took more time explaining all of the rules to everyone than actually playing. Although the bus ride was really long, the scenery was beautiful. The sky was blue with fluffy clouds, and everything else was so green. Everything looked really alive. Lots of hills, forests, crops and free roaming cows. Pantanal is the world's largest tropical wetland. It covers parts of: Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul (Brazilian states), Paraguay and Bolivia. It is home to 3500 known plant species, 1000 bird species, 400 fish species, 300 mammalian species, 480 reptile species and over 9000 different subspecies of invertebrates. In Pantanal, we stayed at a farm for 3 days. We went on a two safaris, walking and in a truck, went horseback riding, piranha fishing and camped out one night. Between activities everyone hungout in the pool, game room or hammocks. After the 3 days we set off to Bonito. Bonito is a small city in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. What makes the city special is its ecology and natural environment. We spent 6 days in Bonito doing lots of tours. We went rafting, snorkelling, zip lining, tubing, visited a local school, held snakes, swam under waterfalls and went to the Blue Lagoon. This was honestly one of my favourite weeks of exchange. Spending it with exchange students from all around the world, sharing all of our stories- good and bad, and just having fun. During that trip I made amazing friends and it was incredibly difficult to say goodbye. During the rest of November I attended school, went out for açai with friends, and participated in the Catholic practice, Novena. Novena is a tradition that only certain churches hold. For nine days my family and I went to mass for 1 hour at at 5:30am. The tradition celebrates Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary.
Pantanal
On the bus!
Cows
View from the pool 
Horseback riding!
Piranha fishing
Jacaré (alligator)
Lucie (France), Sophie and Sarah (Denmark)
Armadillo at the farm


Holding an Olympic torch
Getting ready to go snorkelling
Chiau (Taiwan) and Sarah (Denmark)
Climbing through trees 15m in the air!
Archery
Carina (Canada) and I
Sophie (Denmark), Lucie (France), Carina (Canada), Nath (Brazil), Sarah (Denmark), Tilman (Germany), Joana (Germany), Morgan (USA), Ben (USA), Bailey (Australia)

Enjoying the tub of ice cream that we bought
Finely (USA), Lucie (France), Isa (Mexico), Sarah (Denmark), Genelise (USA), Chiau (Taiwan), Carina (Canada)
Gruta do Lago Azul (Blue Lagoon) 
How the light enters the caves causes the water to appear so blue. This picture wasn't edited or anything. It was truly breathtaking!
The group!! 
First host mom and I celebrating my "4 months in Brazil"








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