Apenas vivendo o sonho! (Just Living the Dream!)

Living The Dream

If you know me well enough, you know I have a bug for traveling and exploring the world. I love stepping out of my comfort zone and seeing new things, and thanks to Hawkeye Community College, I was able to live the dream down in Brazil!

We departed from Cedar Rapids, Iowa and I have to admit I didn't really know any of the other students that well, but by the end of the trip we were all best friends and probably knew more about each other than ourselves! From Cedar Rapids we flew to North Carolina, then Miami and then a long 9 1/2 hour trip to Brasilia, Brazil. On the flight to Brazil, I sat next to an older Brazilian couple, who knew English thankfully. When you fly into another country you have to fill out paperwork, and thanks to them they lend me a pen and sat and chatted with me for a little bit. I could tell right away that the Brazilians were wonderful, courteous people. Thankfully the long flight was a night flight, so I fell asleep during the entire flight after I talked with the nice couple. When we landed in Brasilia, it was around morning time, and we were already off to adventures that day. When you think of Brazil, you think its going to be super hot and unbearable, but honestly stepping off the plane It wasn't all that hot, it was dry and warm, but felt so nice after being stuck in cold Iowa.
For the first few days we traveled around the capital of Brazil, which is called Brasilia. Brasilia is one of the very few capitals that was "planned." It was founded in 1960, which also makes it one of the youngest capitals of a country in the world. In Brasilia, we ventured out and saw capital buildings, presidents house, cathedrals, malls, ministry of Ag, Universities, Code VASF, museum and ate at fantastic restaurants.
I love American food, but Brazil's food was amazing! They are known for their Brazilian steakhouses, and I can see why now. At one of the Brazilian steakhouses I tried some new food, which included lamb and the hump on cattle and it tasted great. One of my other favorite restaurants was, Pizza de Bessa. This pizza restaurant was alive with happy, ecstatic people, and the servers bring around dozens and dozens of different types of pizza's all night. Brazil is also known for all the fruit they grow, and the fresh fruit every day was the best. It was a wonderful experience, and I still to this day, miss the food!
We all boarded the van and loaded up and headed towards Goiania. Though on the way to Goiania, we stopped at Pirenopolis I feel in love with this smaller town! In Pirenopolis we went hiking in the country, which led us to beautiful waterfalls that we could swim in and jump off of. It was very beautiful and that memory will stick with me for the rest of my life. Also in Pirenopolis we ate and grabbed some homemade ice cream, along with toured the city's beautiful architecture.

In Goiania and Intumbiara we visited a Pioneer plant, organic farm, Embrapa (research crop and livestock farm), huge dairy farm, sugarcane fields, cotton fields and plants, agriculture farms, Universities, local food and clothing markets, and several agribusinesses. On top of learning about agriculture In Brazil, I also learned a lot about their culture. It was a great time listening to live music, dancing and talking with new Brazilian friends during the night life. One of the last days we were in Brazil, a great friend of ours, took us out on his boat in Intumbiara and we jammed out to music and did a little swimming. On top of that, we went to a hot water park. This water park is heated naturally, because it sits on top of a inactive volcano underground. This was a blast! When I went to Brazil, I was a little worried about not being able to communicate well with the Brazilians, but a lot of the Brazilians actually know some English language. I plan on going to Brazil again in the future, and I will defiantly have to learn more Portuguese.

I could go on and on about all the amazing things we learned and saw, but you would have to travel there to fully understand and know the experience I endured. I am forever grateful for all the friends and memories I made, along with the knowledge I brought back. I miss Brazil so much already, and hope that one day soon I can travel there again!