Brasilia!!!

First and foremost- I would like to give a shout-out to my roommate Emily, who brings me coffee in the morning and woke me up because I slept through my alarm... That was probably due to the fact that Joanne, Kendra and I stayed up until 4 a.m. talking. We had a serious bonding sesh haha.

I would also like to make known that I am the only person who likes how it smells here. Granted there are times it reeks of trash, but other than that I like how it smells so tropical. It's definitely different.

The wildlife here is inexplicable and I can hardly wait to go to the Museu tomorrow. I want to see an anaconda in the WORST way!!! Today was only the beginning to an awesome adventure.

We went to the arboretum where we saw birds, butterflies, turtles and lots of plant life. We also went to a boat museum or exhibit, which was part of the arboretum.

Next, we went to the top of a tower where we were able to see the most beautiful view of Belém. Good news is I have a lot of pictures, especially from this spot. My favorite picture is one of me and the lady who controlled the elevator. When the elevator doors opened, I leaped right next to her and snapped a picture. Luckily, she was really friendly and enjoy my goofy humor.

As we went to go see the birds, our group got attacked my ants. You could hear people saying "ooh" and "ahh" almost repeatedly. The birds were cool, but what I really enjoyed were the butterflies. They were so beautiful! I kid you not- there were butterflies EVERYWHERE! They would come land on your face then flutter away. Some of us got to even see two butterflies mating. It looked as though they were fighting and like one had killed the other.

The turtles were the funniest creatures in the arboretum. Seeing them try to get onto land and climb over one another was amusing. I loved the flowers and plants we saw as well. Although many of the orchids were not blooming, the one's that had were an amazing site. The colors here seem more vibrant in wildlife that in the states.

We also went shopping today! We were dropped off at a giant mall and given over an hour to eat and shop. Joanne and I went on a mission to find her some shoes and some bikinis for me. We had some good finds. I also got an adorable Brazilian bikini for my sister, Marissa. I hope it fits.

After shopping around we realized we needed to eat before the van arrived to take us to the university. We went to Bob's Burgers (gross). Ordering was ridiculous, as always. The fact no one speaks English in Belém makes it so difficult to communicate. If it weren't for this wonderful Brazilian lady, Joanne and I would've probably gotten some weird crazy creation of food. The woman spoke really good English, which is something very rare in Belem. She invited us to eat lunch with her and her friend and told us she teaches English at a school. No wonder she spoke so well. After eating Joanne and I rushed to the van where we headed on over to the University.

When our class arrived at the university, we were greeted with chuckles and stares from the local students. We all thought they were making fun of us until a young girl and boy came to us asking us questions about the states and what we were doing here. They were so incredibly nice and even sat in on our lecture. They were accompanied by many of their friends who are also students at the university. Most of them studied Communications and Journalism so their English was understandable. It turns out that people in Brazil actually do like American's. I was under the impression yesterday that they despised us. It was really neat having the local students sit in on our lecture because I presented today. Presenting in front of a bunch of people who don't know what you are saying was quite an experience. I felt like they had no idea what I was talking about. Now come to think of it... they probably didn't.

After class, the students asked us if we would like to accompany them on Sunday for an event at the Estação das Docas. Our class was so excite that people our age wanted to take us out with them. Of course we agreed and exchanged e-mail address' to keep in contact. They also told us that on Thursday is Brazil's version of Valentine's Day. It's also considered a holiday so Professor Reís canceled our class.

When we got back to the hotel, a few of us went to the Yyamada, which is like our version of Costco in the states. My main mission was to find my dad a Brazilian soccer jersey, but sadly they didn't have any. However, I bought another bikini. The funny thing about this bikini is that I had bought the same exact one in a different color in the Victoria's Secret magazine and paid about $100 for it. The exact bikini here cost the equivalent to $15 in the U.S. I was so MAD!!! I got over it though.

Tonight we're ordering in food. I hope it's good because I'm STARVING! My dear roommate Emily is running around the hotel, gathering everyone's orders and collecting people's money. She also bought me a Bohemia. I was the only person who didn't go out last night because I had a presentation today and a bunch of work to do so I'm going to try to make up for lost time tonight.

Anyways, I must have entry come to an end because I'm tired and have to do more work. Hopefully I'll be able to go to bed early so I can be rested for the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi! Until then boa noite!