Guilty Feet

Home Safe!

2006-07-29T14:49:00.000-07:00

I'm home safe and happy to be here, but missing Floripa and the friends I made.

This trip changed my life, and left me with memories that I will always remember. I learned so much about myself and the world, and was forced to grow up REALLY fast with all of the traveling and airport shinnanegans.

Matt, Jannette, and Grant-- I look forward to seeing you around the LB! Thanks for everything!

XOXOXOX
Meg

Our CRAZY Night in Sao Paulo

2006-07-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

Instead of being sad, and depressed because we've now been in the airport for 15 hours straight. We decided to show ourselves around Sao Paulo for the night!

Scary city!!! We found a bar close to our hotel with live music and met some people, which led to the CRAZIEST night of MY LIFE!

We partied ALL night, went to the grocery store with our new friends, brought them back to our room and then KICKED THEM OUT!!!

The most interesting part was waking up late, (because our alarm didn't go off, and we didn't want to miss our flight that had already been delayed for 2 DAYS) to find 6 bottles of Cashasa (sp?), pudding packs, a case Beer, wierd potato things that Jannette wants to cook back home, chips, and other random thing that I can't remember.

We did make it to the airport and get on the plane!

Fighting with the Airline...

2006-07-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

We get to Sao Paulo and, to make a LONG story short, the airline we're supposed to fly on is closed, and they can't do anything but put us in a hotel for the night.

I fought with who-ever I could on this for HOURS, but besides scoring us some free meals, I didn't have much luck!

While I fought and negotiated with every english speaking person in the airport, Janette was in charge of watching our bags and BUYING BEER for us to drink while we waited! There she goes again!

We made the best of it, that's for sure!

The LONG way home!

2006-07-20T10:19:00.000-07:00

Janette and I found out that we fly home together! We were sad to leave Floripa, but excited for our final roomie adventure!

We were the LAST of the group to fly out, which is fine... It gave us some extra time to say goodbye to friends who met us at the airport. Jannette bought a duty free bottle of Vodka, andwas planning on playing bartender and mixing it with soda for the plane ride. (She's SUCH a bad influence on me!)

The flight attendant told us "NO" and hated us from the begining of the flight. This just meant that our trip to Sao Paulo wouldn't be as much fun... We still had the LONG trip to Los Angeles to look forward to!

A day with Howlie!

2006-07-02T15:55:00.000-07:00

Raul took us around to more beaches and lagoons! I'm so glad i finally got to see everything!
Wow! I love this place...

We did the whole south side of the island... and more, and eventually ended up in Barra de Lagoa where we watched the sunset and sat on the beach.

We checked out a hostil called "BACKPACKERS" which was very cool to see, Jannette and Matt stayed for the night, that meant NO samba dancing, sad!

We stopped at lagoa on the way back for a drink to avoid traffic. Rad place!

2 mellow nights in a row... But we ordered food from the hotel, pigged out and i fell asleep quickly!

My Brazilian "WALK OF SHAME" Barefoot..carrying my "Dirty Boots"

2006-07-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

After a rough night at the club, Matt is missing and I have no way home. I end up taking scary taxi ride with a cabbie who doesn´t speak english. Oy!

I stayed on gutos couch (for PART of the night), and woke up to a great veiw of the lagoon...

After an adventure and finally getting back to the hotel, safe...I took off with all the girls, to get "lost"...and by that, I mean "lost" on purpose.

I hate busses! I'm not really feeling too well, im in a crowded bus, standing, no...swaying, and there is NO ventilation. We eventually maKe it to centro, we lost Christina, and had a VERY hard time finding a bank. We finally found our way to Campeche to watch the Brasil/France game which was our original goal for the day.

Campeche is gorgeous! We have to get over to that island tues or wed next week, for sure!

Brazil loses! and it's VERY sad..... i didnt think i was going to be that bummed, but when the whole city is involved, how can you not be?? We ate, and ate some more, and drank, and ate... what a day! A good little girls day...

Instead of heading back to the hotel after we found our way to lagoa, (on busses again of course) We decided to push it through the night, MORE samba dancing and FANTASTIC music at Santa Catarina, which is a bar across from peperoni... we had a blast!

Ohhh.... and we met a brazilian guy named robert (cutie!) with and austrailian accent. Interesting to say the least. He explained that he had learned english while studying in Sydney, he kept saying "mate." Again, the whole situation was pretty comical... He was proabably lying.

Story #2, MÓLE beach...

2006-06-30T17:40:00.000-07:00

I finished my story on mole beach....

Beautiful surfers, great waves, white sand, rocks to climb on and bars to hang out and catch the futbol games at... if there´s one on...

Sergio showed us the dragon and the indian. (Picture) The locals tell these stories aboutrock formations on the beach ... it's pretty cool.

I could sit there forever... and i probably will for a whole day this coming weekend!

Téo´s Birthday!

2006-06-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

Dinner at Peperoni, obviously my favorite place to eat. It's the only restaurant in the whole damn town where i know what im gonna get when i order. And in lagoa, even better. PLUS! Our waiter this time lived in Encino, CA (right down the road from me) for 10 years! Heck yah!

Almost the whole crew came out and we hooked up with some friends that we met last week. Guto( who lived in Seattle) and Brent (from Texas)... Big dinner! Salad, steak, big schooners of beer, shots of tequilla, glasses breaking, desserts... THAAAANK GOD, im finnaly full... I feel like i've been hungry for 2 weeks.

My athsma is getting worse and worse from all the freaking smoking that people do here.... Death!

Anyway, Matt and i ended up going to Cafe de Sol with Guto and Brent, met some Irish kids, saw the German people from last friday, and got split up.... Figures! Great night tho, besides the freaking club making me take my hat off, AGAIN!

I'm confused!

2006-06-29T11:20:00.000-07:00

OK, i have some days mixed up.. Thursday... I THINK we went to Galileo's, weird bar, ok music, It was "different."

Friday was Teo's Birthday and Peperoni, Cafe de Sol and running into Guto and Brent... and then I'm pretty sure SATURDAY was the Bus trip campeche and the brazil/ france game....

Got it....! Maybe...?? Ha ha ha!

More Dancing!

2006-06-28T12:22:00.000-07:00

Foja? foe-ha? I have a feeling its spelled forra....? maybe!?? Am I right? R's making an H sound?? Who knew?

Anyway....The moral is: We went dancing last night and it was SOOOOO much fun, Matt met a bunch of ladies and we just had a good time with the homeys.

Here is some girl in the bathroom, i wasn't on camera duty so it was a picture less night for me. Kind of... ( Most of them were NOT appropriate!) Oops!

A BIG day with the locals!

2006-06-27T11:32:00.000-07:00

Early wake upcall today. Eeew! We had class at 9:30 and plans to watch the game at 12:00

I called alex and we all squeezed in a cab to get to ranch de jacky so he could come pick us up to go to Pedros bbq. We get there and hang out with his buddies... His house is rad and its a beautiful day...

I made "friends" with tiago. Fun, to say the least... Drinking, eating, brazil vs. ghana, beer runs, car rides, music, mixing music (he had a turn table set-up), food, and then Mr. Sergio showed up. Yikes! I'm caught! :O)

We went to eat in lagoa. Mexican.... and its quite the party. Then foha dancing again back at the same place we samba´d a few nights ago. It was even better this time. Happy happy, and no drama.

Just bob´s baby...the perfect end to any night...

Brazilian BBQ

2006-06-26T11:23:00.000-07:00

Today, I ate lunch with Jannete and Erica. We had class at 2. We couldnt get a hold of ANY of our new friends today, what to do? what to do?!

We decided to nap. and EAT, again! Jannete, Matt, Christina and I went to an all-you-can-eat buffet and BBQ. Wow. Chicken hearts, boar, wild ox, baked pineapple, salad (a normal one)... and LOTS of wine. It was SO nice to have a nice dinner! Thanks Matt! ("Father Figure")

"SERGIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

He´s sick of us, for sure. Most likely ME, specifically... Hahaha!

But whatever, we have george michael and i've got guilty feet baby... (We discovered that we're both fans today, that should explain ALL of the George Michael references)

LYRICS! George Michael---- Careless Whispers!

and
I'm never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
Though it's easy to pretend
I know your not a fool
Should've known better than to cheat a friend
And waste the chance that I'd been given
So I'm never gonna dance again
The way I danced with you
Time can never mend The careless whispers of a good friend
To the heart and mind Ignorance is kind
There's no comfort in the truth Pain is all you'll find

Molé Molé Molé

2006-06-25T11:14:00.001-07:00

Sergio came to get us again for a day at the beach. We met alex at Praia Mole and just sat at the beach all day. This beach was absolutely beautiful, big roks, great waves, amazing sand. We sat and chatted at a bar called natural mystic something. I napped, yet again.

I snapped at Vince, oops, and it was too complicated when we all trying to go home, and figure our lives out... I think we were all a bit frustrated with eachother, at this point it sort of feels like "REAL WORLD, Florianopolis."

Sergio took Jannette and Vince back to the hotel, and Matt and I went with Alex to peperoni in lagoa to eat and go by Alex's house so he could change and drop of his surf board.

When we got back, Sergio was there with everybody. I guess he changed his mind!? there's no resting when we´re in brazil baby!

SAMBA DANCING! Wooohoooo!

It was amazing, and BY FAR my favorite thing so far. It was crowded, sweaty, people bumping in to eachother, live traditional samba music, Brazilian guys harrassing me with their terrible english. Wow. What a night! Not the harrassment part specifically, but the whole samba thing.

Thurnderstorms started around 2ish, it was absolutely crazy, the lighting was SCARY and it was just POURING! yikes!

Drama drama drama with Mr. Sergio...

:O) BUT I'll leave that to your imagination. It's proabably BEST that I leave my guilty feet out of this blog...

Jannette and I talked all night, like girls do, and really got into some deep stuff...
God, life is crazy, but so good. i cant stop smiling...

Dinner and Dancing...

2006-06-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

We ate a great dinner in sambaqui and watched the Argentina/Mexico game after i had kind of recovered from my BIG fall. All i wanted was tequila to drown my sorrows away, but no one in freaking Brazil has tequila when you want it! I'm not an alcoholic.... (I swear!) It's a bit of a running joke...

The plan for the night was to go to El Divino... a club on the same side of the island.

So much fun! We danced all night! There were several bands, dancers, A LOT techno. It was almost like a rave, and we ALL had too much to drink....of course we ended up at Bob´s again, where we made a big scene, AGAIN, and Sergio helped translate for Matt and the ladies he was schmoozing with.

I heard that Matt even proposed to someone!?? I'm NOT surprised.
Take it easy buddy!

Sambaqui

2006-06-24T09:27:00.000-07:00

Beautiful!!!! The pefect day... besides almost killing myself...

We had dinner by the beach, drove around, walked around some small towns, visited a few churches, and met some locals...

Nap time with the dogs....

2006-06-24T09:24:00.000-07:00

Ya, I fell asleep on the beach... Matt took a little nap too.and this stray dog curled up right next to us, it was pretty cool... He just sort of hung out with us all day... Whoever took this picture is BRILLIANT!

Praia Inglesias

2006-06-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

At the beach!
A few beers, a few friends...

Great Day so far!

The car ride....

2006-06-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

We're in brazil!

...and just driving around was amazing!

Thanks Sergio!

Drama at SUNSET

2006-06-23T12:29:00.000-07:00

After having dinner in Sambaqui, the sunset was gorgeous, just like they ALL have been. We were all climbing down a couple of rocks to get some good pictures. This shouldnt be a huge feat for a 21 year old girl to acomplish. BUT, after Janette and Matt made it out there safely, i managed to slip, flip and slide down the damn rocks into the water, bring Matt down with me. Sorry Matt!!! Thanks for trying to help a sister out!

...And aparently, in Matt's version of the stroy, i screamed "im gonna die!" on the way down. Hahaha! Atleast i didn´t. That story wouldnt be as funny as this one...

Sad monkey! and i know that I am NEVER going to hear the end of it...

My poor knees and legs wouldn't stop bleeding...

Beach Day #1

2006-06-23T09:12:00.000-07:00

Sergio picked us up and we headed to the north side of the island to see some beaches! Praia Brava was first... I broke my freaking sandal dancing in the sand and had to walk aroud all day with no shoes....

No class! June Fest!!!

2006-06-23T08:55:00.000-07:00

After finishing our stories that were due today, we headed to a party at the architecture building! June fest! Which, I NOW know is a Traditional Brazilian party to celebrate the saints. Cashasa (sp?) shots mixed with honey that look like sausages! Yikes!??? We got there way too early, so we killed some time at Cats, a bar down the street. What a Good party!

Until...

The Accident

2006-06-22T23:06:00.000-07:00

Horrible horrible horrible....

We were all at a HUGE party on campus, having a blast, dancing, eating and drinking crazy traditional things. They were celebrating a Saint, I can't remember what the holiday is called??At around 10 or 11, We all heard a big crash. It was DEFINITELY the strangest noise I have ever heard. Shortly after, the whole party of 1500 people or more, took off to check it out....

We found out later that a drunk driver crashed and hit 2 girls that were walking across the street. The people at the party dragged the guy out of his car after kicking it to pieces to then kick the crap out of HIM. They then proceeded to roll his car down a hill. The police got there right before it got too out of hand... We obviously went home immediately...

Heres what his car looked like after the roll...

New Friends

2006-06-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

Jannette and Matt disapeared last night with some guy that they hitched a ride from, or convinced to drive them around the island. The boys come over to hang out again, and we´re all going out to dance baby! Again... the begining of a non stop party. Ney and Gui (The guys Jannette and Matt took off with) hung out at the hotel for a while and we all sat around the pool singing sublime songs while Gui played the guitar. Oi! A little CHEESY!

We have a blast dancing all night and making a big scene at LATITUDE cuz we are the only ones in the place who are OBVIOUSLY American. but we made alot of friends. A cute little boy Gustavo, Gorgeous Guto (who used to live in seattle), his friend from texas, Brent...and some other randoms! Not necessarily good ones either...

Bob's was our next stop. The Brazilian McDonalds. So good! Most like ONLY after a few drinks... Yup. We were THOSE people... just getting done with the night around 6 am, hanging out in the fast food joint.... we had an absolute BLAST!

Side note: Beyonce "check up on it" is now Matt's theme song, FOREVER....

Dance party 2006!

2006-06-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

Wednesday... woah!

Class was at 2, thank god we can alternate and persuade raul to switch it up, its nice to sleep in...

When i got back to the hotel.. i had a little suprise. Vince let me know that Sergio and Alex had stopped by trying to find me... thats so cute!

So now, they were waiting at IEGAs which is a bar down the street from the hotel....

Heck yah! Party time! I went at sat with them for about 5 hours, only intending to stop by, but they are way cool and it was fun getting to know more about the city through them. Everyone came and met us for some beer and to watch the game... We figured out some plans for the night and the 2 boys came back to the hotel while we promised to get ready quickly!

We went to Mascena´s, a club in centro right by sergios house and we just danced ALL NIGHT! it got a little crazy at moments and to be honest, Grant, Michlle and I were ALL OVER THE PLACE, not really dancing, it would better if we clasified it as flailing... i think all of us had a little too much to drink. Whatever? It happens, and it was a good bonding experience for the group. A nice "ice breaker", if you will...

FIRE at Bica d´ Agua!

2006-06-21T00:35:00.000-07:00

So its tuesday.... we finished with class around 10 am, Everyone kindof split up today... which i think we all needed. too much of the same people is NOT GOOD. I cruized around campus by myself for a while, took it all in.

Anywhoo. I gave myself a tour of the campus, sat by the journalismos building for a bit. It was a beautiful day, hot, sunny... I ended up sitting in the sun for quite a while and made some english-speaking friends.

2 guys approached me trying to get me to sign up with a bank here in brazil, which is obviously NOT necessary for me to do at the moment, so i kind of just laughed, explained my situation and in the process, found out they both speak english. Perfect!!

Friends, finally, i was begining to get worried... Alesandro (Alex) and Sergio.

Got back to the hotel and Grant and I kinda just talked about nothing and everything for about 5 hours which was pretty nice.

We all went to dinner, and all i can remember is that somehow, in Grant´s head, Tuesday means the week is almost over....? hmmmmmm? WEIRDO!

After a long day and a LONG nap, choas with electronics, technical difficaulties, missing roomates and such, I am finally falling asleep, and I wake up to screaming and banging noises echoing down the halls of Quinta d´ Bica Da Agua. Fantastic!!

"Fire!" is the phrase that we were hearing. "Grab the fire extinguisher! Hurry!" As everyone was running out in their PJs and a Brazilian lady is screaming words we obviously cannot understand. I could do nothing but laugh. AND, of course, worry about what i was going to save first. My clothes, my computer? I grabbed my passport and money, and all of my computer gear first. But, I also made sure to open up my 1st floor balcony doors so i could get back in to throw my clothes to safety if necessary.

In the midst of all of this, I am laughing histerically, Christina is trying to explain to the screaming lady that "everything is ok" (in spanish), and its really NOT working, because ... as we have learned so far, our spanish is not really getting us very far here.

Besides those shinnanegans.... We are all getting used to the island, making friends and feeling more comfortable walking around and meeting people on our own. Well, I am.

The group is better and more comfortable than we were at first and Brazil is definitely growing on ME. I had no preconcieved notions coming here so i am just going with the flow, life is good! Im in Brazil!

Nice Shades..

2006-06-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

So, i was battling with myself about the whole portugese thing, its the same problem I had when I studied in greece, i dont want to speak, at all... in fear of sounding like an idiot... and today, i realized that the reason i feel this way is because when the people here in brazil try to help us out and give english a try... they sound pretty funny too...

All in all, I had a good day.

Off to another great night im sure, with plenty of good stories and phrases to repeat more than we probably should...

I''ll be back with another strange and uneecessary blog tomorrow.
Hope that its not based around pizza or pasta! I'm getting sick of writing about it!

Yikes!

2006-06-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

So... I missed my first flight from LAX to Sao Paulo, and even better, My worst nightmare, they LOST MY BAGS! We got here safe and it is GORGEOUS!

SO for three straight days, I am wearing clothes i haven´t worn since 8th grade, i was just trying to be comfy on the VERY LONG flight and now i'm stuck in this homeless gear. I'm making it work, not really complaining , using what I have to make different articles of clothing each day, I'm actually very impressed with my creativityat this point... Oh... and borrowing from classmates and struggling with the language barrier... YIKES!

It's a BIG city, but it doesn´t seem like there is too much to do right around our hotel, so I am definitely looking forward to taking a few weekend trips. Its an eclectic group, which is fun, but I am dying with the locals and not being able to communicate, it is the hardest time i have ever had while traveling.

Watching the soccer games is fun, im actually getting into it, which is a shock! Finding food that is familiar and is quite the adventure, we have some vegetarians here though and i thank god every meal that I am not one of them. It looks like im gonna be easting alot of pizza and pasta and probably going back to the same 3 spots once i find my favorites...

Everything will be ok, but the first few days HAVE been a little rough adapting....

A Little Tour!

2006-06-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

RAUL TOOK US AROUND A LITTLE BIT TODAY. It's a gorgeous day and the whole crew is together. We headed over to the mall for a while to eat and our 1st class is at 2! I met some students at UFSC! This is going to be absolutely AMAZING....I can tell already.

Go Brazil!

2006-06-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

The whole class has finally arrived by today. Matt, Jannette, Grant and I watch the Australia/Brazil game down at Peperoni in lagoa. It is absolutely nutz! People are everywhere and more passionate about this than we are about ANYTHING in the US. It feels good! All I remember is that I had a GREAT salad for lunch! THANK GOD! Something kind of familiar!

First Impressions. Ooops!

2006-06-17T00:28:00.000-07:00

Long plane ride... I missed my first flight, the lost my luggage. The Hotel is BEAUTIFUL. Quinta d Bica da Agua! Jannette´s my roomie. Grant is rad. Matt is a pretty funny dude! We all had dinner with Raul in lagoa! It was sort-of a crazy first night, a couple of the crew had a little too much to drink! It got a bit INTENSE! Sorry haulie! We had an "OK" dinner, so, NOW I'm a little nervous about the food here.