Beach

Ilha do Mel

Beach, beach soccer, Boats, Brazil, Bus trip, Cool People, Exchange Students, Friends

Stands for HONEY ISLAND…

Beachy Sunsets!

It takes exactly an hour and a half by car and 30 minutes by boat to this island from Curitiba. It’s known as the prettiest beaches in PARANA. This island is the farthest my Brazilian families travel to get away for vacation. When I mention I have been to Northeast, Falls Iguazu and Santa Catalina they are shocked because some of them have never traveled out of Parana. Compared to all the beaches I have been to in Brazil this island is beautiful, but there’s nothing super special about it.

Lean on me!

We the Bomb.com

On the first day we walked 17 kilometers… we live for the motto “do it for the picture!”

We walked 17 kilometers between the fort and lighthouse. The second day, we found a beach cove to lay out in the sun or play soccer!

Most of you must think Brasil must be made up of beaches because that’s all I write about, but as far the exchangers, it doesn’t feel like Brasil unless we are back in Curitiba. The local Brazilians disagree, they think Brasil is everywhere but Curitiba because the weather is so bipolar and colder than every other city in the country.

Funny faces

Paradise – Paraiso Bahiano

Beach, Brazil, Cool People, Family, Friends, Places, Stories, Tour, Travel

Itacare has the most amazing beach on our trip! Along with the crystal blue water, very green hills, bright red and pink flowers and huge palm trees, we scored with a spot with lounge chairs and shade made from leaves threaded together at Paraiso Bahiano.

That day there was not a cloud in the sky. The sun shined all day long and kept heating up the sand causing us to sprint on our tippy toes just to get to the ocean. The boys attempted at making a sandcastle, but it was washed away by the high tide. Meanwhile, all the girls walked down the beach to have a photoshoot. If you stand in the right spot you could see hot rocks, crashing waves, the sky, and the palm trees all in one picture. This place had everything, I am coming back again soon!

And so it begins… 2017

Beach, Brazil, Exchange year, Holidays, host families, Rotary, Stories, Travel

A normal New Year’s resolution usually is about traveling to the city of your dreams AND I got to start the New Year in the Country of my dreams. How lucky am I? A year ago I didn’t know this city even existed and now everything in my life happens here.

Today is my 147th day in Brazil! I am told by the people around me that I am growing up to be someone more wise, mature, outgoing and friendlier than the person I was 5 months ago. I think it’s the amazing people that surround me, and the time spent with each and every day with that has had a huge influence on who I have become.

I enjoy meeting new people and building all kinds of different relationships. My connection with all the other inbound students in Brazil started because we are all students exploring a foreign country, learning a new language and culture. The connections I have with friends in SUMMIT is built amongst everyday hobbies, class, sports (etc…) we have in common. The friendships are both important but built on different experiences.

Traveling makes it easy to see different cultures, but to have a relationship with the culture is special. I might post pictures like a total tourist, but I have stories behind them that say otherwise. The touristic side and local sides are very opposite. I think sharing the holidays with my host families makes a huge impact on my experience. In my opinion, the way you spend holidays with your parents would stay the same where ever you might be to spend it. But to celebrate with your host parents you really get the feeling of the another culture and new traditions.

The best news to finishing out 2016 was our host parent’s surprise was to spend New Years at the beach here in Parana. It’s not ideal paradise, but we made the most of it. It recently had a hard rainstorm that wiped out most of the sidewalk along the beach and knocked out the cellphone signal. For the last 4 days of the year, If we weren’t laying out in the sun at the beach in Mathinos, we were playing cards, cooking delicious fish or churrasco and listened to Brazilian music. Each day the beach got more and more crowded with families visiting for the holiday. It was tough taking photos without someone standing in the background!

Here in Brazil, it’s a tradition to wear all white representing peace with colored underwear representing how you are feeling. For example loved = pink, happiness = yellow, lucky = green. Everyone stays up until midnight then heads down to the beach to pop some champagne while you watch the fireworks. After doing so, you think of 7 wishes for the new year and jump 7 waves for good luck.

Fireworks

She was my Mid-night Kiss

3… JUMP

2016 Highlights:

The greatest lesson I learned, your best friends will be the ones that notice when you’re gone and miss you but more importantly can’t wait until I get home!

The most difficult thing of 2016 was letting go of my past so I could stop being defined by past mistakes and start living for the new challenges and strive to be a better me.

Favorite memory would be my school trip to Spain only because that was the first time I flew overseas without my family. That was the first time I lived with a host family. The first time I got super close to new people both from my school and in Spain!

I will never forget meeting all the other exchange students that are living in Curitiba. Our friendships are built off the experiences we face together during these incredible 10 months aboard.

Looking ahead to 2017:

Right now, I am looking forward to my Northeast trip that will start at the top of Brazil and continue down the coast to Rio in a bus with all the exchange students from my district.

I want to learn how to Zumba dance and cook my favorite Brazilian meal before I leave.

For school, I want to get these online classes out of the way so I can enjoy my exchange!

On a personal level, I want to be spiritually grounded.

My motto to be a good person, but don’t waste time proving it!

Beach Life

Beach, Brazil, Exchange year, Host family, Travel

On September 7th it was Brazil’s Independence Day so everyone got a long weekend break. My family took me to the beach for four days. I had the time of my life, the weather was beautiful, the food was delicious and can never get sick of sun tanning on the sand! It’s just starting to feel like spring here so I couldn’t get enough of wearing shorts and tank tops at least majority of the week. When I come home I am going to be so TAN!

We scored a nice place to stay in Matinhos all week. My dad works for the Caixa Bank and his work hooked us up with a place to stay where there was a pool, a buffet of food served all day long and a patio with ping pong tables and Foosball. This place was not anything fancy but only 3 blocks from the beach satisfied me!

On the second to last day we took a little road trip to another beach town. This town was called Guaratuba and there are two ways you can get there. The shorter way is to take a ferry boat that ports cars and big trucks across as well. Guaratuba is not an island but coming from Matinhos the ferry is the smarter way to go because there’s no time wasted. That day was my favorite out of the whole vacation because we walked up to a famous statue up on the hill that looks over the whole beach town. The view was gorgeous and a perfect place to take photos.

After getting some lunch we went to the beach and laid in the sun, listened to music and had a photo shoot to update our profile pictures:) There’s no better way I would have ended my first vacation away from the city!

Tanote in Koh Tao, Thailand

Beach, Family, koh tao, motorbikes, Places, tanote bay, Thailand, Travel

Jumping on the back of a motor scooter my sister was driving and listening to her say how she has had a little experience on one of these. I really didn’t have experience driving one at all. Coming down one of the alleys following my mom and her boyfriend, I noticed they took a sharp turn up the hill towards a gas station. My sister guns it a little to much and we head toward a pancake stand on the corner scaring two thai ladies who were running the stand and all there customers. They remembered us every time we drove by and they probably shared looks of warning as they saw us approach.

We rented motorbikes so we were able to go to multiple bays in one day. We went to about 7 to 8 bays for the amount of time we spent on that island. My favorite bay was Tanote. Tanote had so much to do, we spent the most time there. The first thing we did was jump off a rock out in the deep water. The way to get up there was to shuffle your hands up a rope. The rock was about a 60 meter foot jump. Climbing up was easy, but jumping off was harder then I thought after peeking over the side. I was up there tripping about jumping off incorrectly long enough my sister told me I didn’t have to pay her back for what I owed her and my mom would give me money to get a temporary tattoo or my hair braided with beads at the end. I finally got the nerve to jump off and not be a looser and climb back down the way I got up there. Now I can say I jumped off a 60 meter rock in Koh Tao,Thailand. The advice I give you today, is jump off the rock at Tanote Bay. Plus your only in the air with butterflies flying all over in your stomach for 5 seconds and it gives you something to brag about to your friends. Just know climbing up there means you have to jump off in order to get down.

Another activity we did at the same bay was snorkeling. This island is known for scuba diving but my mom is the only one PADI certified. That was the first time we went snorkeling on our own for this trip. I enjoy snorkeling for about 15 minute at a time. Every time I have gone the mask doesn’t fit very well and I am the type of person that breaths out of my nose not the mouth. So to breath out of my mouth for a long period of time is challenging. The fish were very interesting and colorful, the coral was coming back to life so there were spots of purple, pink and green. Coming up for the last adjustment of my mask, out of the corner of my eye I noticed there was a beach volleyball court, net and ball. Nudging my sister asking if she wanted to go play. Both of us were sick of seeing to same fish over and over so we swam back in to play volleyball. Don’t get me wrong, coming from winter wonder land (Breckenridge Colorado) where I live, swimming in the ocean looking at all the fish is amazing but after a while you get bored.

Finally getting to the volleyball court, we passed the ball back and forth. Not being used to it, our arms turned out to be red as the celebrity red carpet. After my mom and her boyfriend returned the rented snorkeling masks they joined us for a 2 on 2 adults against kids game. For sure the kids obviously won. This bay has so many activities to do for so many different types of people I recommend going there in a heart beat. Check my “How i see it” page for more photos.

Beach Soccer Railay Beach, Thailand

Beach, beach soccer, Cool People, Places, railay, Stories, Thai People, Thailand

After a long day hanging out at one of the three beaches. Heading back towards our bungalows to shower, we noticed there was a lovely sunset. Enjoying the moment, out of the corner of my eye I saw older men playing soccer. The field was dependent on the low tide, everyday was different so some nights they played at 5 other nights at 5:30. The goals were about 5ft tall and wide made of little wooden branches and netting.

After watching them for a while we noticed our resort manager named Ann was out there. It was very educational for me to watch them play. The field was not long but it was wide so it didn’t have as many players running down the field dribbling, but give and goes towards the goal. Lots of the men had good foot work and could do all the different moves to get around you. The men would just randomly come from areas when ever and join the game. They would come as soon as work was over and just jumped right in. In fact, not only can you show up when ever but you can take a break or leave at anytime all so.

We left right before dark to get to the other side of the island while we could see. Walking back to the bungalows the manager passed us and I asked him if I could play with them tomorrow. He asked me if I played soccer. I said yes, thats my favorite sport. He replied, show up tomorrow around 5 with tennis shoes and sport clothes and we will figure out team. How do you guys assign teams questioned Jeff my moms boyfriend. One team is shirts one team is skins.

following afternoon…………

I showed up all ready having butterflies in my stomach thinking how am i suppose to comunicate with my teammates if i dont even know thai. as well as noticing ann wasnt there yet. turning around seeing ann running towards me grabbing my hand and dragging me out there. pausing the game telling the guys i was going to play with them and deciding which team i should be on to even it out. the first impression i had with them was they wanted my to take off my shirt and play on the skins team. as i was slowly taking it off they all were laughing because it was a joke. they ended up apologizing and having a guy from the shirts team change to skins so i was on shirt. i was not used to there game so it took me awhile to get used to it. the final score was 4-9, sadly I was on the team that did not win. but winning wasnt what it was all about. it was the fact that i could communicate with thai men that didnt speak english by knowing the basics of soccer and how they played. as well as being the only white american 13 year old girl to have the guts to get out there. Towards the middle of the game some other americans came but I got the feeling they only came because I was out there first. I am glad i did nit miss the chance and chicken out to do it. it was an amazing experience and i would recommend attempting to do a hobby of yours in a different country if you get the chance. Even if you look weird or crazy maybe stupid just remember you will probably never see these people again.

(see photos on “How i see it” page).

Deep Water Soloing – Railay Beach, Thailand

Beach, Boats, Places, Thailand, Travel

Have you ever heard of Deep Water Soloing?

Deep Water Soloing is where you rock climb without a harness or tied to a rope so you can really just climb on you own at your own risk. Getting up high on the rock is easy. It’s getting down that is the challenge.

Soaking in the warm water

If it wasn’t for one of my favorite Math/PE teachers, Mrs. Kirkland, I probably wouldn’t have heard of this. In doing so, I asked my mom go and investigate where we could find deep water soloing. It was the best experience I have had on this trip. So far, it was my favorite day out of all the activities.

Our guide, Jason, from South Africa gave us the rules and instructions. As we all put on the climbing shoes, he promptly dove in the water to enjoy the climbing for himself. As soon as I looked up he was already at the top. Then I asked my mom to take a jumping shot of me and my sister off the boat. Chilling in the nice cool salty water watching everyone else attempt the wall I decided to try it myself. Following my moms boyfriend Jeff up the sketchy rope ladder grabbing on to the chalky wet slipper rocks. Making it across the rock wall to the steep stair case part watching jeff not being able to do it, my competitive nature kicked in and I was determined to get feather then Jeff. Jason, our guide, helped me along the way telling me exactly where to put my feet and hands.

Making it higher then half the men in the group was surprising to everyone. It felt awesome! My mom wanted to get a jumping shot before she tried it herself.

i would do this again in a heart beat, would also recommend it to my friends.

(check out my photo gallery on the “how I see it” page.)