A Very Beautiful Carnaval

So Maria, Lauren and I just got back (last Wednesday) from a very happy, beautiful, relaxing Carnaval in Ilhabela. Ilhabela is Brazil's largest island and it was quite the mission to get there. First, the Metro to the bus station; then the bus to Sao Sebastiao; then the ferry to Ilhabela; and then the bus to our Pousada. It was A LOT of traveling - but totally worth it. We had 5 full days of sand and sun! My favorite souvenirs are my new pieces of funky jewelry and my tan. My least favorite are my 9 million bug bites.

Other highlights include:

Plenty of relaxing on the beach.

Beautiful beach views from the backseat of our buggy...

Multiple adventures involving our rented buggy.

Plenty of açai!

So much traveling!!!

More Carnaval pics here!

And here!

On a different note - I cannot believe we only have 2 weeks left here. This trip has FLOWN by. We are going to have to REALLY try to soak up these last few days. Ok, I have to stop blogging now. I am getting too sad :(

- Elyse

Capoeira!

Monica clapping in the roda!

Maria posing next to the school's sign.

Lauren fake kicking Monica!

Luiz kicking butt in the roda.

The musicians of the roda! Awesome.

Monday night we went with Monica and Luiz to their capoeira class! I had been to a few capoeira classes before back in the U.S. but it was a whole new world for Lauren and Maria. Lauren was even brave enough to borrow some pants and a t-shirt - and practiced right along with the yellow belts.

For those of you who don't know, capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martian art. A fusion of fighting and playing, requiring strength, balance, flexibility and complete concentration.

It was awesome!  There were a couple of times I thought someone was going to get kicked in the face - but that didn't happen. The instructor was very patient with Lauren and taught her how to "ginga" and do a bunch of kicks. At the end, Lauren even went into the roda - that was my favorite part. I love the music and the clapping. There is just so much energy and spirit! I told Luiz I would go again and try next week.

Tomorrow, Lauren, Maria and I are doing a girls weekend in Ilhabela. Our bus leaves at 9am and we are all very excited.

Hard to Focus...

So last week was VERY eventful!!! A quick recap. Last week, we:

Went with Ruivo to "O Melhor Bolo De Chocolate Do Mundo."

And tried "The Best Chocolate Cake in the World" which really hit the spot on a rainy Sunday afternoon

I wore my new Melissa shoes!

Went to a recording studio with Ericko, Bob, Travis, Lauren and Maria...

And had a GREAT time!

Made Jell-O shots and sang Shakira!

Got a bunch of happy, sweet Valentine's due to a successful Friday Distraction called "Mailbox"

Partied with some of our favorite people in Sao Paulo at our apartment party!

LOVED being on the patio (yay for ONE night of no rain)

Realized how AWESOME Fabio is! WHY DID WE NEVER HANG OUT WITH HIM BEFORE TONIGHT?

Had an overall AWESOME time!

Saturday night was fun with Luiz and Maria Amelia - after a Wild Goose Chase, and 30 minutes in the worst club ever (Trash 80s - I swear to God they played "I Got the Power" and were SEVERELY abusing the strobe lights), we all went to New Dog and I had the best milkshake of my life (coconut flavored, of course). Sunday, Maria and I went to the MASP (Museum of Art of Sao Paulo) and walked around the Avenida Paulista area - walked around the little craft fair, got some delicious linner (half lunch, half dinner) and watched The Emperor's New Groove during a thunderstorm.

So Friday Carnival begins and I can already tell it is going to be hard to focus. As Mondays usually are, this morning has been one conversation after another of "How was your weekend? What did you do?" This weekend there was particularly a lot of questions to ask since Rafa got married! I asked Ericko and Bruno how it was and they both said it was very beautiful and very happy. AWWWWWWWWWW :)

Maybe I should try to focus now....

- Elyse

Confessions of Some Shopaholics

Shoes!!!! Melissa shoes, too <3 <3
I may or may not have gone a lil crazy at the Havaiana store...
Me, Monica and Maria posing...
Us and our goodies!
Monica and Maria with the BEST popsicles in the WHOLE world.

This weekend us girls were very, very, bad :)

We went with Monica Saturday morning to Jose Paulino street - this unbelievable street in SP with just clothing store after clothing store after clothing store for about 20 blocks. The clothes are wonderfully cheap. We're talking 30$R for a dress (ahem, $15). There IS a catch though (well, a few catches, really). A) There are NO dressing rooms. The clothes are all mass produced and you cannot try them on before you purchase, and B) There are roughly 19 million people who live in SP - and it felt like HALF of them were on this street. Seriously, it was INSANE! So Monica, Lauren, Maria and I all had an exhausting day but got some GREAT buys.

After 6 hours of scavenging, we went back to our 'hood and walked down Oscar Freide street. I may or may not have gone a lil crazy in the Haviana store - and we all had a blast at the Melissa store too. Yay for shopping! Double yay for the exchange rate!

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing, errand running and just recovering from our crazy shopping extravaganza (my legs were definitely a little sore - out of shape?) In the evening, Ruivo took us to this little bakery called "The Best Chocolate Cake in the World" - which was a lovely contrast to the otherwise dreary, rainy afternoon.

I have NO idea how I am going to get all my stuff home...

- Elyse

Why You Should Apply to Sao Paulo for Quarter Away

A brief message from your friendly, neighborhood interns - featuring a few cute locals!

- Elyse

What do Miles Young, Lamen Noodles and Samba All Have in Common?

Lauren, the professional "Lamen" eater!
Ricardo approves.
Me and Ricardo.
Maria breaking her arm trying to figure out how to eat this stuff.
Ruivo making fun of her.
Leo and Maria at samba!
I have no idea what's going on here. But I like it!
Me and Natalia!
SAMBA!!!!!!!!!!
Leo, Maria, Lauren and me!

So, what DO Miles Young, lamen noodles and samba all have in common?

We experienced all three this week.

1) Miles Young: The new worldwide CEO of Ogilvy + Mather came to visit the Sao Paolo office on Thursday and it was quite exciting! The entire agency gathered around to hear Miles speak about his own personal journey as well as his commitment to the Ogilvy brand. Everyone was stoked to see him in person and it truly was quite the experience.

2) Lamen: Wednesday night Lauren, Maria, Natalia and I went to Liberdade with Ruivo and Ricardo to eat Lamen noodles. It was quite the challenge since many of us are not fluent with chopsticks - but it was still yummy. I got a hardboiled egg and butter in mine (I took Ricardo's recommendation) and my overall opinion was: fun meal, but definitely not the most delicious food I've had here. Others disagreed. {{Lauren's opinion:  The Ramen was very good BUT there were not enough options and the bowls were not big enough.}} After dinner, the guys took us to this amazing bakery called Bella Paulista. It was huge and PACKED! You could get any dessert you wanted - from cakes and pies to brownies, cookies, ice cream and milkshakes. I was happy because they sold my favorite candy here (paçoca) in GIANT packs - so I bought one to take home to my family. So happy!!!!!

3) SAMBA: Ok. I have a confession. I have fallen in love while I've been here in Brazil - I am completely in love with samba. I adore samba music and my agency friends have only been encouraging this torrid affair. I listen to it all day at my desk and look forward to going, constantly. I'd go every night if I could. This week Leo took us to a samba club called Traço de Uniao and it was great! Leo thought the singers were not that great, but I disagreed! It was so much fun dancing and drinking (I had 3 capirinhas with vodka and morango - my favorite)! P.S. the way women move their hips here puts Shakira to shame).

In other news, Travis might have a future profession in doing voiceovers here in Brazil. He was asked to help do a voiceover yesterday and did so great, he might be getting future gigs! And getting paid! Looks like someone found a backup career.

This weekend our plans are still up in the air. We have a lot of errands to do (boring, yes but completely necessary - NONE of us have any clean clothes left). Saturday morning we are going shopping with Monica and who knows what the rest of the weekend will hold!

- Elyse

Ubatuba, Ubatuba

Fuku, Leo, me, Maria Amelia and Luiz waiting for the gang to go to the beach!

Me eating açai!!! Yum!

Lauren & Maria with their sunscreen - they were in too much pain to rub it in.

Me, Maria, Maria Emelia, Luiz and Leo on Beach Day #2

The Interns!

More pics here!

The WORST part about going to Ubatuba beach this weekend was the fact that I kept singing the name to the song "Come on Eileen" (you know the "Tura lura" part?) "UBA-TUBA UBA-TUBA YEAHHHHHHH."  Yeah, I'm lame.

This weekend, we all went with some agency guys (Fuku, Luiz and Leo - and Luiz's amazing girlfriend Maria Emelia) to Ubatuba beach. It was so much fun! We got in late Friday night and taught the Brazilians how to play "Bullshit" and they taught us how to play "Slaps" - a game the last quarter interns taught them. We stayed up drinking and playing until 5:30am.

The next morning we lazily got up around 11:30 and moseyed our way to the beach. 

The ocean was amazing! So clean and blue. Felt totally refreshing. The hot Brazilian sun kicked our asses though. Even after multiple rounds of sunscreen application, we STILL got burned. HOW is that scientifically possible? I think it was all my complaining about the rain in Sao Paolo - God heard and thought "I'll show her!"

We tried açai for the first time Saturday afternoon - this really cool, frozen, sugary treat served with fruit and granola! It is my new favorite thing. Açai is REALLY trendy in the States right now (I am constantly bombarded by Facebook ads with Oprah promoting the stuff - and I SWEAR I saw açai flavored gummy bears in Whole Foods for $7 back home). Anyway, it made my teeth very purple, and my heart very happy.

Saturday night the boys cooked us a FEAST of delicious fish, beef and sausage. Fuku and Luiz manned the grill, while Leo played bartender and taught us how to make the perfect capirinha! Travis and Maria also fell in love. NOT with each other! But with this tennis racket shaped electric bug zapper. They LOVED killing the bugs clustering around the lights outside - and we loved watching them. 

Sunday was beach day round 2 - we went to a larger beach with bigger waves and more surfers. Travis couldn't come though because he was SO BURNT from beach day round 1. I actually liked this beach better - mostly because we set up camp next to a little restaurant so all we had to do was wave, and this enthusiastic waiter would pop up out of no where and take our orders. We got shrimp, chicken nuggets, Coca-Colas and capirinhas. The ladies all bought beautiful earrings sold by a man with no shoes and a lot of tattoos. A big trend here in Brazil is wearing only one earring - I am excited to wear it in the States and have people tell me "You're missing an earring, you know..." Anyway, the earrings are beautiful and all of the girls got one.

At the end of Sunday we took a stroll down this "boardwalk" type area - a street with a lot of tents selling "coisas toscas" (a phrase Fuku taught me). We took photos on this little pier and drank coconut milk straight out of the coconut! We got back home to Sao Paolo around 1am and instantly uploaded all of our pictures (AND videos). Tonight I am going to edit our video footage and try to make a little ad for more MAS students to apply to Quarter Away here in Sao Paolo.

Even though the beach trip was short, we all had an amazing time. I was talking with Lauren earlier - and I said that if this weekend was the last fun thing we did the whole rest of our time here, I would say the whole trip was worth it. THAT'S how much fun I had. Obviously, we are going to have a lot more adventures in the next 6 weeks - but I REALLY enjoyed myself this weekend. It also reaffirmed my greatest Brazilian stereotype - that Brazilians are the most accepting, fun and life-loving people in the world. Their lives are awesome! Surrounded by beaches, gorgeous people and delicious food - what is there to be worried or stressed about?

And with that, we start another work week.

- Elyse