Settling Into Cape Town

From March 30

After the blur and business and intense learning of the last twenty-four hours, I can tell that the next five weeks of my life are going to absolutely fly by.

After taking a melatonin pill last night to ensure that I didn’t wake up at 4 in the morning (which would be about 11 PM Brazilian time), I conked out and didn’t wake up until… the alarm of somebody else which sounded an hour and a half before I wanted to arise. Awesome. I took advantage of the extra time to delve into Infinite Jest, a thousand-page odyssey set in Boston, Massachusetts that I began two weeks ago and had hoped to finish before coming to South Africa. Tough luck, but hopefully I will finish it quickly now that I have extremely limited distractions—but more about that in a bit.

In every other country to which we’ve travelled, we have been afforded at least eighteen hours of uninterrupted chill and rest before programming begins. Not so with Cape Town. As I said, we were shepherded around town all of yesterday, then given an 8:30 AM call-time with the expectation that we would have “recovered” from jetlag. LOL YA OK.

But, we all composed ourselves and mustered some excitement for the scavenger-hunt-like activity this morning. We were given a one-page list of walking instructions and leading questions then allowed to roam the city center in groups of seven. My group happened upon some fascinating sights, including:

• The former sight of the Racial Classification Board, a governmental organization that decided the designation of “white,” “colored,” “black,” and numerous other sickening labels that would decide everything about the rights and lives of the citizens. I have yet to find out how apartheid differed from Jim Crow in the South—or whether it did at all—but it was still jarring to see the relics of two benches, one with the inscription “Whites Only,” the other with the inscription “Non-Whites Only.”
•  The site of the first public library in South AfricaThe Centre of the Book, an institution dedicated to cultivating a love of reading in South Africa
• The Supreme Court of South Africa—fascinating, as I hope to one day work at (or across the street/town from) its American equivalent *wink wink*
• Cape Town’s City Hall—the site of Nelson Mandela’s very first speech. Actually, the balcony on which he spoke was blocked from the public behind locked gates, but after explaining our identities and situation to a few people inside of the building, we were taken on a private tour by one of the higher-ups through the hallways and out onto the actual balcony. SO cool!!
• We then nabbed a quick lunch (not Indian, phew), then headed to a public library for class. I had to be cajoled through the numerous stacks of fascinating books, as I almost halted in the middle of the library to check out like fifteen novels. We sat through about four and a half more hours of class—which I would have fallen asleep in were it not for the fascinating material and my determined resolution to really and truly make the most of Cape Town

A few days ago, I realized with a start that my time on this study abroad program is almost over and that I have not nearly begun to make of it what I hope to. In India, I was overwhelmed—emotionally, sensorally, psychologically—and it was personally impossible for me to invest my full attention and intellect in the academia and culture. I was simply too exhausted and too busy trying to survive with my sanity intact. In Sao Paulo, I fell in love with the city and with my host family. I visited museums and went to a few nightclubs (okay, only one) and hung out with my host sister and niece. However, I played Sudoku in class and spent too much time rolling my eyes at boring, repetitive lectures. Cape Town, I’ve decided, is my place. I will do every reading (or almost every reading); I will think critically about the issues with which I am presented; I will explore the nooks and crannies of the nature, the museums, the clubs, and the stores of this city with excitement and an open mind. (Starting tomorrow, because I opted for an early night of sleep in lieu of a jazz festival. I’m jetlagged, okay!??!)

After class, we drove a short distance to Bo’Kaap, a Muslim neighborhood in the city centre and our homes for the next ten days. Yes—ten days. We have two homestays here in Cape Town, meaning two partners, two families, two households, two sets of rules, two types of cooking, etc. etc. My homestay mother—whom I call Mama—calls Savannah and I her “darlings” and cooked us a delicious dinner and showed us her stunning view of the city of Cape Town (two amazing views in a row—I’m so lucky!!). My homestay dad, Papa, bought me delicious ice cream from a nearby market, so clearly, they already know me well.

There’s no WiFi in my homestay, which I strangely and kind of shockingly was hoping for. I think that in Sao Paulo, I checked Facebook/Snapchat/Twitter too often; that I thought of who was messaging me or who wasn’t messaging me with an unhealthy mindset; that I obsessed over the mundane and petty back home and back at school too heartily. It made me uneasy. I want to totally devote my attention and energy to Cape Town, and I hope to return to the contemplative, inflective state that I’d acquired in India.

I never would have imagined that I’d forgo WiFi happily and eagerly. I never would have thought that I’d breathe a sigh of relief in finding I had no Internet. And that makes me wonder—have I changed? I’ve attributed all of my new qualities—a recognition of certain inequalities; attentiveness to detail; more intellectual and meaningful observation and conversation; a fiery resolution to stick by my ideals; an invasive negativity that can cloud my shiny, naïve optimism; uneasiness with going out on the town; and many more that I’m just beginning to realize as I actually list them—to my surroundings; I’ve recognized them as temporary, fleeting mechanisms with which to cope with these foreign environments. But what if that’s me now? What if I return to America, to California and Boston, and realize that I’ve carried with me these new outlooks and ideas and ways of approaching the world? Or perhaps, in a potentially scarier outcome, what if I shed these traits and slip back comfortably into the life of the Aubrey that departed for New York two and a half months ago? I feel so in flux, and I wonder if others will think that I have changed when I come back home.

I will be finding out soon, though, because this program really is almost over. I almost teared up today, thinking of saying goodbye to Sally, Jenn, and Caitlin. I honestly don’t know how I’ll function without their constant presence—I already miss Sally’s laugh, and it’s only been four hours since I’ve seen her!!! Excepting one weekend in India, this is probably the furthest I’ve been from her for a period longer than three or four hours, considering we were homestay partners then neighbors then spring break buddies. How absurd that I’ve grown so close so quickly to these lovely people and that we will never be so physically close for such a long time ever again. UGH but wait I have another month and I don’t want to cry on my first night in this homestay!!! So, I think I’ll end this post right about now, and reaffirm my gratefulness for this opportunity, my joy in recognizing how lucky I am, and my determination to make the most of Cape Town and really reflect on what I’ve accomplished so far.

Lots of love,

Aubrey

BR --> SA

At the moment, I am quite literally dizzy with exhaustion, given my draining transatlantic travels and the incessant, immediate “go, go, go” attitude of our South Africa country coordinator. So, this will be a rather shorter post, but hopefully I cover enough in the next few paragraphs to encompass my current excitement, disappointment, confusion, and longing.

On Monday, I woke up late and lounged around the hotel until lunchtime, at which point I dropped off ten more postcards at the nearby post office (be on the lookout!!!). We gathered for a quick intro session on South Africa and then hopped on a bus to head to the airport.

While it felt ridiculous that we were leaving four whole hours before our plane's departure, we ended up having only twenty minutes to scarf down a quick dinner before boarding. Upon finding our seats, we realized that our program had been interspersed with the professional South African men's soccer team. It was exciting, I suppose, but they kept messing with me when I was trying to read my book, so that wasn't too fun. Our in-flight entertainment system was completely broken on this flight, so we made a bit of a ruckus due to our boredom. We were yelled at multiple times by our flight attendants (and I mean yelled), and at one point they turned on the seatbelt sign due to "turbulence" but I'm pretty sure it was just because they wanted us to stop congregating with one another.

I only got about 2-3 hours of sleep on this "red-eye" and was utterly delirious coming into Johannesburg. Due to South Africa's customs system, we had to go through customs, collect our baggage, re-check our bags, and go through security once again to make our connecting flight to Cape Town. It was a little bit too close for comfort, and I was pretty positive we were going to miss it, but I got another stamp and we got on the plane, so things worked out.

We landed in Cape Town around noon and proceeded to another bus that would take us to a look-out point over the city. While on the ride from the Sao Paulo airport to the city center, I remember being absolutely overjoyed, practically euphoric, at all of the sights and newness. I didn't really feel that this afternoon, and it worried me for a few reasons.

1) I've been looking forward to visiting South Africa for years. It has always been one of my top travel destinations, and I expected to feel some sense of fulfillment upon reaching this country I've dreamed about for so long.

2) It's a new country!!! I love to travel!!! Why am I not stoked out of my mind???!

And perhaps most disconcerting of all,

3) Shouldn't I feel some sense of returning home? According to some DNA tests taken by my family recently, I am almost a quarter West African. I thought that touching down in the continent that served as home to a quarter of my ancestors would feel comforting or revelationary. But I just feel tired and confused and lost. It doesn't seem familiar in the way that New Orleans did when I went there a few years ago, and I sort of expected it would.

BUT, I'm trying to cut myself some slack. So, rebuttals to my three anxieties.

1) I have only been lucid in Cape Town daylight for about two hours. Plus, I've always dreamed of going on a safari or something, not necessarily staying in a city. So, I have to give myself some time to explore and grow to appreciate this other part of South Africa.

2) I'm exhausted. I have been travelling for about fourteen straight hours, and I have been living out of a suitcase for almost three months now. (Actually, including Costa Rica, it'll be three straight months in three days.) This is my last country before home, and as excited as I am to be in this incredible, thought-provoking, wonderful place, it's hard to be ecstatic when in the back of my mind I"m counting down the hours to my flight to JFK. 

3) Perhaps it was foolish of me to even think this in the first place. But I've struggled with my identity so much on this program and in life, and I've felt rejected by people that I consider peers, and perhaps I was just hoping that the land itself would accept me in a way that would mitigate all of the turned backs and disbelieving glares. Maybe I was attempting to misplace a burden on a continent that I instead will have to deal with personally and internally. And maybe it's like going to Toronto when you have Aztec ancestors and expecting to feel connected to the location. I guess I won't really know until I get to know South Africa and until I get the opportunity to travel to West Africa.

So, as I'm dealing with all of this psychological and emotional trauma, our director is chattering away, taking us up to a mountain to go on a short "walk" and listen to a half-hour talk about the city in the windy, dreary weather. We were absolutely not having it, to be honest.

But not to worry!!! We got TWO WHOLE HOURS to rest before our hour-long safety talk and twenty-minute dinner that was--wait for it--Indian food.

I can't even talk about it.

In every other country, we've been given at least a day to recover from jetlag and culture shock, and in some cases, three days go by before our first class. But not here. We have NINE HOURS of class tomorrow before moving into our first homestay. 

I feel like I'm gonna vomit. No, actually. I'm so tired that it's turned into nausea and I think I may pass out. Hopefully I don't roll off my top bunk...

Anyway. I'm looking forward to getting to know the city, and I'm hoping that my feelings of disappointment and lethargy are simply symptoms of my insane need to get to sleep.

If I go to sleep at this minute, Ill get about nine hours--so, I'm gonna conk out. 

Good night friends.

With love, from South Africa,

Aubs

PS--I will have extremely limited WiFi here most likely, so posts may have to come in weekly clumps of three to four posts!!

Bye-Bye, Spring Break

It's difficult to believe that spring break has come to an official end, and it's even more wild that I have less than twenty-four hours left in the only other country I'd consider living in (so far, at least).

As amazing as my time in Brazil has been, I had no trouble leaving the country yesterday for a quick foray into neighboring Argentina. Well... "no" trouble may be too strong. Our program strictly and unequivocally forbids leaving our host country at any time. So while Sally and Jenn were super nonchalant and brave and like--

I was cowering in the corner of the taxi like--

I have been and probably always will be too much of an authority-respecting rule follower to enjoy engaging in illicit activity. But most of my fear evaporated once I got that big, blue, beautiful Argentina stamp on my passport. Though Sally printed out forty or so pages of evidence in both Spanish and English to prove that yes, indeed, Obama DID visit Argentina and that no, we as American citizens do NOT need to pay a reciprocity fee, we ended up not needing them. We pulled up in our taxi to the Argentinian passport office and our driver (and true homie/fab friend) Giovanni speedily explained the situation in Spanish and the Argentinian border patrol officer simply responded (in a yell) "OBAMA!!!' And let us through. WOO.

I was overjoyed at entering Argentina for multiple reasons: the euphoria in international travel, seeing Spanish (a language I can almost understand!), and getting another stamp (wahoo!). We withdrew some pesos in order to pay for our entrance fee, and then we entered Iguassu from the Argentinian side! We had heard from multiple sources that the Argentinian side is much better than the Brazilian, and while it's difficult to compare two views of perfection, I can understand what they meant. While Brazil provided more panoramic views of the Falls, Argentina allowed you to be practically in the waterfalls.

Stunning, right?

We hiked up and down the waterfalls for about five hours, avoiding the gorge of crowds that filled the park on what was apparently the "busiest" weekend of the entire year! Wow! Sally, Jenn, and I were absolutely awed by Mother Nature's power and beauty. We headed back to Brazil in the early afternoon in Giovanni's car (he is such a homie, you guys) and quickly crashed in our fluffy beds, recovering from the excitement of our day. We woke up in time to watch Eclipse (you know, the Twilight movie) in Portuguese, and then we raced down to the buffet once again to partake in the deliciousness of Brazilian food. We once again gorged ourselves on bread, salad, tenderloin, and white wine sangria, and then took on the dessert table. We decided it'd be an absolute waste to allow our full stomachs to dissuade us from taking advantage of the all-inclusive sweets, so we literally snagged about twenty pieces of brigadeiro (a Brazilian fudge candy) to both eat on the plane and to hand out to employees that helped us on Easter. They appreciated it.

We woke up around 6:45 AM and rushed to pack, brush our teeth, pay the bill, and eat some breakfast before hopping into Giovanni's cab and heading to the airport.

Goodbye to paradise ):

Today was honestly a blur of sleeping, taxiing, and eating delicious ramen, but I'd love to take a moment to discuss the two families that I had the pleasure of celebrating Easter with today. First, my Brazilian host family. They truly welcomed me into their home and made me their family. I consider Maria Luisa to be my niece (that cutie pie) and Liza to be my honorary sister. I had the lovely opportunity to say one last goodbye today due to my forgetfulness (I had to grab my straightener from the house). They are seriously so wonderful. It's not easy to call a place a "home" after only four weeks, and yet, today it felt like I was going home. I also got to "see" my real fam today over Skype!!! Though I was extremely jealous of their Easter gumbo dinner, I loved seeing their faces and laughing at Sierra's hysterical jokes.

Well, I'm currently watching some South African movies on Netflix in order to prepare for tomorrow--I can call that homework, right? I can't believe my time here is ending!!!! I can't wait for my next adventure(:

On to the next,
Aubs

Iguassu Falls! (Brazil)

WOW WOW WOW! What a wonderful two days!!! As exciting and beautiful as Rio was, I think that the past thirty-six hours have been my favorite of spring break so far. The growing closeness to Sal and Jen, the luxe comfort of our hotel, and the unbelievable breathtaking marvelous show of natural power and wonder that is Iguassu Falls!!!

Our flights yesterday to Iguassu from Rio were minorly uneventful, considering my usual track record--only one last-minute gate change and one accidental exit from the airport and rush through security to get to our other flight (k the last one was like 85% my fault). When we got to the quaint Iguassu Airport (after meeting a lovely flight attendant who seemed to appreciate America more than any foreigner I've seen since Haifa, Israel, and gave me six packs of plane snacks, as well as a super amazing Brazilian English translator who gave me her card and said to call her if I ever went down to Southern Brazil), we rushed through the rain to baggage claim then out to grab a taxi.

Upon arrival to the five-star resort that Mrs. Lindsay booked for us (shout-out to the best friend's mom ever!!!), I stealthily slouched into the lobby, separate from Jenn and Sally. Though we'd reserved a large suite, we'd only booked it for two people, saving us about eighty dollars a night. I, with my experience in Tiberias, Israel at that stupid hotel that charged an extra like $100 because of an extra person, was not about to accept such a ridiculous fee, so I kept my distance until the girls had checked in and Jenn surreptitiously whispered the room number in my ear.

I kept my seat for a few extra minutes, just to be safe, then nonchalantly strolled into the elevator up to the fourth floor. Only problem--I'd blanked on the room number.

Jesus, Aubrey, get it together.

I remembered that there was a four? and an eight I think? and maybe a three? in the number, so I knocked hopefully on 438 and was greeted by a 70+ year old man.

"Sorry, wrong room!!!" I chirped cheerfully, then swiveled and ran before he could wonder why I wouldn't know my own room number. Maids and bellboys crowded the hallways, making me too nervous to set out on a true investigation, but I softly knocked on all the rooms ending in the number eight, hoping that either Jenn or Sally would rush over and open the door. Almost all of the rooms were empty, so I desperately pulled out my phone to text the girls. Of course, right as I sent "OMG I forgot the room number, please find me," my phone ran out of credits. Anddd the WiFi had a password.

Awesome.

I sat there in front of the elevators, praying that after some time, Jenn or Sally would get worried enough to go searching for me, but after ten minutes, I was still desperate. I threw a Hail Mary, literally just shouting "Sally!?" into the hallway, then jumping in an elevator and cruising back down to the main lobby.

By this point, I like really had to pee, and I was feeling really stressed, when, lo and behold, bestpalsalgal waltzed in through some sliding glass doors. Turns out, our room was in another hotel building altogether, hence my inability to find them. We were reunited and settled into our fluffy beds for eight hours of Portuguese television, room service (four times), and female bonding. Ugh, so lovely. We also enjoyed the warm thermal spring pools and a deliciously steamy sauna in which we alternatively complained about the heat and discussed how great the heat felt. Saunas are my new fave thing, btw.

This morning we woke up before 9 AM in order to enjoy the full breakfast buffet downstairs before beginning our rainforest waterfall adventure. You could probs tell we were the only Americans in the room, because we complained about how small the plates were and proceeded to fill up two each with mounds of food. Jenn also suggested that we smuggle some bread, cheese, and deli meat out of the buffet so that we wouldn't have to pay for lunch. Sally and I readily agreed, packing some sandwiches for the road. Ya know, I'm proud to be friends with these ladies for so many reasons, but this instance has to be in the top ten.

We headed to the falls with driver Giovanni, after bargaining our way down from a R$210 ($60) fee to one of about R$35 (about $10). Yeah, I don't really know how we did it either, but go with it. Included in that fee was some AMAZING advice that legit improved our visit to the Falls a thousand times over. Giovanni suggested that we do the activities backwards, so that we'd avoid lines and crowds. So, we did this super sick safari first, which took us on a tram through the rainforest then on this boat ride that went RIGHT UP against the waterfalls and completely soaked us. Though it would have cost about 40-50 US dollars to buy the DVD video and pictures, we bargained with an Argentinian family to send us the photos and video of us for only $10. Win-win, am I right? Then, we took a tram to the end of the walking trail, ate our soggy sandwiches as rain started pouring from the sky, and began our trek on the panoramic path right as the sun came out, clearing the skies. Talk about timing!!!!

The views were breathtaking and awesome, to say the least. Iguassu Falls is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, and let me tell ya, it makes sense. They are MASSIVE and such a marvelous showcase of Mother Nature's prowess. Dozens of crashing, thundering, swirling waterfalls make us this beautiful masterpiece of the earth, and listening to the deafening roar of gallons and gallons and GALLONS of water pound into a whirlpool of a river overwhelmed me with appreciation and respect for nature. I was literally overjoyed, and I couldn't stop beaming the entire day--I felt wowed and impressed with the world, and there's nothing better than being reminded of how beautiful this earth really is. I truly believe that the best way to thank God or nature or science or whatever creative being in which you hold faith is to travel. To explore every crevice and valley and mountaintop on this planet, to appreciate and savor and exalt in the views that something or Someone has sculpted is such a mutual blessing. It is a shout of gratefulness across whatever void separates us from It (whatever It is), saying "thank you thank you THANK you, for giving me such a beautiful earth to discover and love and hold dear," And perhaps that's just my way of creating a cognitive bias to deal with some internal guilt at my own privilege in being able to travel this awesome, wonderful world, but hey, I'm gonna fool myself into believing in and I'll ensure that I don't take a single moment of my journey in life for granted.

I feel like I've become way more intellectual and self-aware and thoughtful on this program, and I don't know what exactly has caused it. However, I'm so grateful that I have such inquisitive and patient and intelligent individuals with me on this program that listen to my musings and actually take them seriously and respond in such a profound and mature manner that I am forced to continuously reexamine and reconfigure and justify my beliefs. Being away from those twenty-six other people for the past week has really only deepened my respect for them--and made me love Sally and Jenn all the more for being such patient, hilarious, compassionate women that I don't need to be apart from them to adore them!

The solemnity of that above paragraph shall be offset with the hilarious experience post-Falls that the three of us had in the pools at our resort. I'm pretty sure we are the only three individuals over the age of twelve and under the age of forty staying in this place, and we are constantly surrounded by families and elderly couples. We took it in stride today, enjoying not only the pools and swim-up bar geared toward the adult crowd but also (thanks to Sally's cajoling and encouragement) the children's water park in the middle of the resort. We waded in a pool that was likely at least half-composed of urine and cackled/screamed while waiting for a giant bucket of water to pour on our heads (that last one was 80% Sally). We made friends with some of the seven-year olds, and then sauntered off to the sauna to release the toxins from our pores (idk that's just what the brochure said). We partook in a R$79 ($22) buffet in which I had five (yes, five) helpings and listened to a one-man band over which I completely fangirled and ran up to saying he was "wonderful." I'm gonna make such a great over-enthusiastic old person.

Okay, another great story. We were planning on heading to the Argentinian side of the Falls tomorrow, which is HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended by all TripAdvisor reviews and EXTREMELY EXTREMELY EXTREMELY forbidden by IHP rules (hehe woops). Our plans were about foiled, though, when we found out that we have to pay a $160 reciprocity fee in order to get into the country. UGH EXCUSE ME? Much too expensive for a day trip. So, Jenn and I resigned ourselves to a day of sun-bathing and spa-enjoying while Sally perused the government's site in order to investigate the process.

BUT, LO AND BEHOLD, MY FRIENDS. Due to Obama's recent (and I mean, literally two-days-past) visit to Argentina, and his dealing with the Argentinian president, fees against US citizens have been WAIVED as of MARCH 24TH--THAT'S YESTERDAY, PEOPLE!! Literally, as of THURSDAY, it is FREE for American citizens to cross over into Argentina from Brazil--oh my god!!!!! It's fate!!!! How exciting is that!? I mean, we HAVE to go now. So, we printed out about twenty-sheets-worth of proof from the Argentinian and American government sites to show that we don't have to pay a cent to cross over the border. We also called up our good friend Giovanni (holla @ ya, Gio) and negotiated a sweet deal to get us to Argentina. Basically, we are on cloud nine and couldn't be happier.

Well.

I am pretty homesick, honestly. I really miss my cousin Austin, who's currently on his Mormon mission in Mexico City. Reading his weekly letter home today actually left me in tears. I also miss my family like crazy, including my grandmother (who is my absolute hero) and her husband, whose jokes I miss a ton. I miss my dogs, I miss Californian beaches, I miss the Pledge of Allegiance and bacon. Being away for so long is hard, and living out of a suitcase in foreign countries for two straight months has worn on me. But, my adventure is not yet over, and I intend to savor its novelty and life lessons and memories for the next ~month.

Well, I'm preparing to go to sleep, as it's midnight, but apparently the eight-year-old's giggling and running in the hallway outside my door aren't quite ready yet. Have I mentioned that there are these three pre-adolescent girls in this hotel that travel around exclusively on hoverboards? They were literally in the buffet lines on these flammable devices that look like the prequel to Wall-E. Ugh, children.

Keep me in your thoughts and prayers, and message/email/mail me messages full of love and happiness and anti-Trump propaganda! Miss you all. Oh and thank you for getting through a whole post without GIFs--not too great of WiFi in this hotel. But check out my pictures!!!

soaked and happy!!

wow--only a small part of the falls

right against the water!

"Devil's Throat"--this is close to where we were boating!

I may look pensive, but I'm actually giving the lady next to me a sassy look

Fall-ing for South America (haha get it),
Aubrey Noelle

Spring Break

Writing this during my last few hours in Brazil, listening to the pouring rain and booming thunder outside, thanking my lucky stars that I'm escaping this soggy beach town just in time!

These past two days have been fabulous, though. We began our Tuesday with an "early" wake-up around 10:30 AM and walked over to Copacabana Beach. I was sporting my new, revealing, very nerve-wracking Brazilian bathing suit, slightly anxious but excited to show off, when--because it's me--my bottoms came completely undone.

I stood there frozen completely mortified, and Jenn, after taking a few seconds to practically pee her pants laughing, rushed to my side to hide my white booty while I quickly retied my suit.

Minor setback, though, because I determinedly relaxed and settled onto the sand to soak up the sun while munching on an acai bowl (aka the definition of heaven).

While Copacabana was more picturesque and quainter than Ipanema Beach, the water was frankly disgusting. Tons of debri and trash and dead plants swirled in the crashing waves, and I desperately swam way out into the ocean attempting to escape the nastiness. This, of course, worked until I had to wade back in, and I got covered in all of the blech. But the crisp coolness of the water was too seductive while laying in the +90 degree weather, so I took the dirtiness in stride.

yay, sunshine!

After multiple hours of tanning (burning) and relaxing, us ladies headed back to our apartment to get ready for the sunset at Sugarloaf Mountain! Unfortunately, I was distracted by this ridiculous situation with a restaurant that double-charged me, so I was on the phone with Portuguese speakers, using google translate to attempt to communicate my problem and understand their responses like,

My bank, on the other hand, was like "lol ya sorry, not our prob," and I literally was shocked at their inability to help me in my one time of need.

But I got assurance from the manager that the refund would be coming by the next morning.

So, I jumped in the shower to rinse off all of the ick from Copa, ran to a Mickey D's for some nommy picnic food (and dealt with unbelievably awful customer service I may add), then hopped in a cab with the four others to enjoy Pao de Acucar, 

Stupidly, I didn't bring my student ID to the mountain so I paid twice as much as everybody else for a ticket and gave the quite strict ticket lady a *subtle* look--

Then breathed deeply and rode up the mountain in these cool glass gondolas. We reached the top right as the sun sank into the water, which allowed us to watch the lights in Rio lazily twinkle in the hazy dusk. It was breathtaking--dreamy and far-away and lovely.

We roamed around the mountain for about an hour, then we rushed back to Ipanema Beach for a Rio-style bar crawl. We dropped by three bars and one very empty club that was playing super sick music until a random Brazilian folk band came on stage with a banjo and what looked like a cheese grater to make some music.

Today, the five of us IHPers met up once again to take on Rio via bicycle. We rented some bikes, and I swore to them all that I was going to eat it and fall, but they refused to listen, ugh. We saw some STUNNING views, including a beautiful lake--

The mansion at which Snoop Dogg filmed his music video "Beautiful"--

And Jenn!

hi, Jenn!!!

While Sally, Michael, and Takudzwa visited Rio's botanical gardens, Jenn and I marched back to the double-charging restaurant, because, despite the promises, I had not yet been reimbursed. I barged into the classy eating establishment wearing only Spandex and a sweaty bathing suit top, like--

They quickly got me on the phone with their manager, and I got slightly aggressive, but appropriately threatening.

This time, she really promised it'd be taken care of, and sure enough, within a few hours, I had a *driver* drop off two hundred fifty reals and 55 cents at my doorstop. It felt slightly illicit...

But I rolled with it.

After biking, Jenn and I walked home to relax and shower while the other three continued their adventures. Jenny from the Block and I gorged ourselves again on the most delicious burger in the world along with frieds, guava ketchup (better than it sounds), and thick, creamy milkshakes. Sally met up with us, and we walked to the beach for a street market. Just as we were in the midst of shopping, the sky opened up and poured rain (surprisingly not helping to abate the smell of rotten fish) while giant lightning bolts flashed above us, illuminating the storm clouds.

We hurried home (after finishing scouring the market for souvenirs) and took refuge in our apartment. We are currently packing up and cleaning up (recalling my housekeeper days, throwback to 2013) and, of course, watching VEEP and listening to JBiebs. It's a pretty classic spring break.

Tomorrow, we head to one of the natural wonders of the world, Iguassu Falls! I couldn't be more excited!!!

Tata, Rio, you've been good to us! Thanks for the sun!

~~Red and Tan Aubs

100

RIOOOOO! Spring break is wonderful, relaxing, amazing, awesome. So far, it's honestly been everything I've needed!

Yesterday, we woke up around 11 AM--late, since we decided to crash a hotel party on Saturday night and needed to rest up. We dressed quickly, and I donned my California-summer attire for the first time in much too long!!! (aka a bathing suit top and flowy skirt)

We visited this cool hippie market with lots of souvenirs and crafts, but I was too distracted by the crash of the waves only a few streets away to focus too hard on bargaining and shopping.

After just a few hours, though, my greatest desire was fulfilled--WE WENT TO THE BEACH. (Ipanema, to be exact.) The beaches are completely filled with Speedo-clad men and thong-bikini-clad women. Umbrellas cover the sand, and it's almost harder to find a sunny spot than it is a shady one! We laid out, though, and finally got some nice color (I mean, red is technically a COLOR). The water was perfectly chilly and crisp, refreshing us whenever we jumped in for a dip. There are also these vendors that walk up and down the beach, between the sun-bathers, selling everything from caipirinhas to bathing suits to acai bowls. It's really cool that you don't even have to get up from your towel in order to enjoy some refreshments! We enjoyed the sun and heat and shouts of the vendors for about three hours before settling onto a ledge for a view of the stunning sunset.

I mean, it's honestly difficult to wow me--I'm from California, sunset destination of the world--but I was pretty impressed. 

We showered and relaxed before eating a delicious Italian dinner and bonding with a really cute dog on the sidewalk (k, the last one was 80% me). We also really enjoyed the cool architecture that actually reminds me a lot of New Orleans with its bright colors and iron-wrought balconies.

While Jenn and Sally set off for a walk around Copacabana Beach, I pled out and settled into bed, savoring air conditioning for the first time in a full month.

This morning, we woke up around 9 AM in order to meet Taku and Michael for a tour of central Rio. I think I learned more from my Sao Paulo tour a few weeks ago, but seeing some beautiful buildings in Rio and enjoying a quick refresher of Brazilian history was pretty cool.

We also loved seeing these colorful steps towards the end of the tour that include tiles from multiple cities/states/countries around the entire world!

better pics on their way via Taku's camera

I couldn't find one from Anaheim, but I did find one from San Francisco, one from India, and one from Cape Town! V cool.

Then... off to our most exciting destination... Christ the Redeemer!!! EEP!

Due to some confusion, we bought tickets for a tram ticket for the ride an hour and a half later than we desired. However, thanks to Sally's awesome persistence and sunny attitude, we jumped on a way earlier tram and sped up to Cristo Redentor.

We soared above the city (2300 feet, to be exact) and were in all honesty more wowed by the view than by the statue itself.

the view

the statue + the best view of all (me)

Okay, in complete and total honesty, this is the only "wonder of the world" that I've visited that I haven't been in complete and total wonder of. Like we saw it and marveled for a few minutes and then were like...

Seriously though, with the other three wonders of the world that I've seen, I've been overwhelmed with awe. They've been amazing. But I really cannot figure out why the third-largest Jesus statue in the world is one of the Wonders... If you find out, pls lmk.

After more enjoyment of the views of the city and ocean, we hopped in a cab back to Ipanema. We enjoyed one of the best burgers in my entire life with guava ketchup (which was unbelievable!!!) then came back to the room to relax. I've been enjoying Veep (my new fave show, thanks to SalGal) and chilling out with the girls.

Even though this has been a rather tame post, I have some exciting news for you... This is my hundredth post on Wanderlust! Covering my adventures in seven different countries in four different continents, over the course of about seven months, this blog has kept me sane/connected to home/accountable to my own expectations of adventure/overjoyed. There have been days in which I've felt that if I didn't write, I'd go absolutely crazy. I've loved writing these blogs, knowing that loved ones back home are reading them and keeping up with me. There have been days in which I think, "if I don't explore today, I'm not going to have anything to write about!!"--so I push myself to break through any lethargy, or homesickness, or sadness to try out that museum, or that beach, or that new city. And finally, brainstorming and using silly gifs and pouring out my emotions has made me blissfully, wonderfully, undeniably happy. Both writing and travelling the world have been distant, seemingly impossible, wishes of mine since I was just a little girl, and here I am, fulfilling both at the age of nineteen. My internship and this program have been the journeys of a lifetime, and I don't want you to think for even a moment that I take them for granted or forget how lucky and blessed and grateful I am. My adventures--and this blog--are literally dreams come true. Thank you all so, so much, for joining me. I am so appreciative of every single one of you. 

Cheers to 100. And here's to hundreds more.

Aubrey Noelle

Riooooooo

So... I'll give you one hint as to where I am right now...

(PS: the title of this song is "Girl From Ipanema")

YES THAT'S RIGHT!! I'm at Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro for what is about to be the best best best spring break of all time! After weeks and weeks of stressful site visits, lecture after lecture after lecture, and constant mental engagement, it is FINALLY vacation and it's time to enjoyyyyy.

(and sleep)

Getting to this point of total freedom from responsibility was, however, not quite easy; these past two days were packed full of hair-pulling stress, nerve-wracking warnings, and cut-it-with-a-steak-knife tension. Just to give you some idea:

STRESS:

30% of our grade for one class and 30% of our grade for another were due within 24 hours of one another and could only be done between Thursday and Friday night due to information/research restraints. So, while the assignments were quite interesting, attempting to complete them while also worrying about packing and trying to finish two classes midterms at once was kind of stressful. I didn't even watch Netflix for like two days.

WARNINGS:

Yesterday, after finishing one of our midterms, our country guide sat us down in order to explain to us the strong likelihood of an abrupt and tragic disaster due to political, medical, and/or personal factors. First off, we were told that she doesn't "trust our judgement" as we have shown her that we cannot take good care of ourselves.

my reaction tbh

Turns out she wasn't talking about me specifically but instead a group of peers who'd happened to get sick and lose a few important items (including one passport). But it was still kind of mean in my opinion, and I was like--

But then, we got into the real warnings that really freaked me out.

For example, Zika (which I like definitely have). They warned us that this is the PRIME TIME for mosquitoes, and should we experience any of the symptoms (which I absolutely have) we should contact a doctor immediately even though we may have to wait for hours in the office. I kind of sunk down, trying to hide my joint pain/fever/headache like--

But just as I was really investing my worry in Zika, we were alerted about another great source of fear--civil war!!!!

So as you may or may not know, Brazil is in the middle of this crazy political moment in which millions of Brazilians are calling for the impeachment of a corrupt president. Brazil's democracy is only 28 years old, so many fear that such a diversion from the democratic process could endanger the entire governmental structure of Brazil. Fun awesome yay! So we were warned not to wear the colors red, green, or yellow, because we may accidentally align ourselves with one side of the movement or the other and risk attracting "uncontrollable" aggression.

But don't worry, we have an excellent evacuation plan in case of the outbreak of civil war... which we haven't yet been told... We'll worry about that when we get there, apparently.

TENSION:

Ten weeks of constant (and I mean constant) interaction, has put all of us on edge a tiny bit. I feel like we are just one "can you move just a little bit so I can see the PowerPoint?" away from--

Sally made a great point in that we all have multiple "selves" in different contexts. These include the classroom self, the home self, the India/Brazil/America self, the site visit self, etc. etc. And it's gotten really hard to navigate all these selves and form a sense of identity when you are constantly in contact with everyone else in all of these different contexts. So I think we are all getting *slightly* tense, and that spring break came at just the right time.

~~

Sally, Jenn, and I hopped on our plane to Rio and endured the very short ride to a beautiful, compact airport at which we immediately got our bags and drove to our awesome Airbnb! We have views of two different beaches, and we are literally one minute away from the beach that inspired the above song. We are currently relaxing and napping, because we each (for three different reasons) slept for only three hours last night. Then, it'll be time to scarf down some Mexican food (yaaas @ guac), try some Rio caipirinhas, and enjoy some nightlife!!

So excited to explore another city in the country I've come to love!!!!

Feeling ~decidedly~ unstressed, unworried, and untense,

Spring Break Aubrey!!!

Do I Have Zika?, And Other Questions (With Answers)

Hello, and welcome to a Thursday night/Friday morning edition of "Rhetorical Question and Actual Answer with Aubrey Stoddard." I'm your host, Aubrey Stoddard. Let's get started, shall we?

How well can I waste away an entire morning?

Very well! Something I excel at, actually.

Though I had complete faith in my ability, I decided to retest myself yesterday when I didn't have to get out of the house until 2:30 PM. I managed to lounge around, press snooze multiple times, drink copious amounts of coffee, and go on a (very, very short) run before skipping out of the house and making my way to an interview with a very inspiring high school student.

How difficult is it to put together an entire midterm presentation in less than two days?

Not as difficult as I imagined, actually! Especially when you're privy to especially talented and inspiring individuals like those that I met yesterday and today. This past winter, hundreds of high school students in the state of Sao Paulo (yes, Sao Paulo is a city and a state--like New York. Come on, keep up!!) participated in a giant protest against governmental reorganization of their schools. They staged months-long occupations of their school buildings, prohibiting officials from entering and maintaining 24-hour watch and protection of the area in order to show teachers, police, and the government their ideal school. They organized cleaning schedules, cooking schedules, sleeping schedules, activities and lessons taught by world-renowned professionals and experts.

But more on those students in just a moment. The presentation took a total of two hours after about eight hours of gathering evidence and conducting interviews.

Exactly how long can I sleep?

Twelve hours is the current record. Last night, I managed to sleep from 9:30 PM to 9:30 AM with only one phone check in those entire hours. There were, however, countless moments of half-dreaming, half-lucid moments in which I thought a civil war had begun outside my window due to some car backfires and motorcycle revvings. Did I wake up refreshed?

Instead, I turned to Sam, and immediately complained,

What can we learn from these protesting students?

Okay, in all honesty, it's a little difficult to make me feel really bad about myself. Maybe I'm only being this honest because it's 12:30 AM and I'm procrastinating on a midterm, but it's true--I'm pretty self-confident. Meeting these sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds, though, made me feel like screaming--

These teens were wearing super edgy jewelry and smoking cigarettes, and like I've taken all the "Just Say No" classes, but they somehow made smoking look really, really cool, like--

And I was just like--

woah.

Okay, seriously though. These students had noticed an injustice in their educational systems, and they refused to remain passive. Instead, they gathered together in a unified movement and literally took over their schools. They disregarded the police, their principals, and mainstream society and instead took impassioned control of their own futures.

That's pretty f*cking sick.

I hope that if I see my own future jeopardized in such a way, I have the courage and fortitude and strength of self to voice my opinions and use whatever means necessary to defend my rights, like these awesome teens.

How do I always manage to turn into a caricature in my homestays?

Okay, this one doesn't really have a good answer, because I don't really know. Maybe it's my effusively joyous and excited personality, or maybe it's just my addiction to certain foods, but I literally become like this cartoon character in my homestays with super definable qualities.

I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well, but I'll try. In my Indian homestay, my homestay mom spoke basically no English. Sure, a few isolated words here and there, but for all intents and purposes, zilch.

So, when I got really sick and was throwing up, she began offering all sorts of foods (because obv that's what I love). "Rice? Grapes? Kurd?" She inquired.

No, no, and what no absolutely not.

So, she resorted to the dependable favorite. "Chocolate ice cream?"

I considered for a moment then, feeling my stomach ache in protest, responded "No thank you."

Her reaction:

That's when she knew I was really sick.

Also, when numerous family members came to visit my home stay mom the day that Sally and I were set to leave, she would rattle off in Gujarati for minutes and, when she finished talking, they would turn to me with a smile and comment, "She says you LOVE chocolate."

That's it. That's what she got from a month of inhabiting with me.

My current homestay knows a few more of my obsessions because the language gap isn't quite as large.

1) Coffee. After a few days of consistently begging for more coffee after their pot would run low--

My host mom started making about three times as much coffee as she usually does. Now, she's made a kind of song out of my addiction that she will sing to the baby as she brews my coffee. It's kind of like a humming "Aubrey loves cooooffee, coffee for Auuuubreyyy, la la la."

I wish I was kidding.

2) Food in general, but especially desserts. I already talked about my "pregnancy scare"--

just fat

but my host sis has continued to inquire about my quote "devastating hunger" (exact words) and told me that after eating an entire sleeve of chocolate cookies today, she thought of me. Trust me, I love her; I find it hilarious that she knows me so well after only three and a half weeks. But honestly, all this talk of my obsession with food only two days before spring break has got me like--

3) Distinctive clothing. This one is a lot less problematic than the first two, thank God. I am well-known on Harv's campus and within the IHP circle for my crop top and skirt/shorts combo--it's kind of my trademark--but now even my host fam knows! My host sis said she saw "colorful pants" in a store window and thought of me.

So, sometimes being a caricature isn't too terrible. Maybe it just means I know myself like really really well--so everybody else knows me pretty well, too!

And finally, the question you've been waiting for--

Do I have Zika?????

I mean.... potentially. Symptoms are fever (check), headache (yup), fatigue (twelve hours of sleep--so yes), and muscle ache (I mean yes, but it could be my short-lived flurry of exercise to shed the pounds before spring break). But Zika actually isn't too big a deal if you don't get pregnant within two years. So yes, I may have Zika, but it's not as scary as you think!!!

Well that's all for this edition of "Rhetorical Questions and Actual Answers With Aubrey Stoddard." I'm Aubrey Stoddard, and I'll see you next time--post-midterm presentation and potentially in Rio!!!

Tchau, dearies,
Aubs