After a sloppy Carnaval, I began my first "real" week of classes, and I consider my schedule to be a favorable one.
At PUC, they offer morning classes (for the rich kids that don´t work or really even need to go to college) and night classes (for the middle class kids that work during the day). Luckily, all my classes are in the afternoon or at night. As I learned this week, this is advantageous for several reasons:
a) I can get up at 10 AM everyday without feeling guilty.
b) My sleeping habits don't get throw out of whack on the weekends.
c) The students that take night classes tend to be more mature and friendly. (Probably because they haven´t been coddled all their lives like the well-off children of the SP.)
The earliest class I have all week is at 1:30 PM. I´m taking Brazilian culture, Portuguese, Brazilian music and either photojournalism or aquatic ecosystems. (I haven't decided yet.) Oh, and remember the U.S. History class where I'm the only American? Well, I convinced another American to join the class. This takes some pressure off my shoulders because now instead of the professor looking at me to know the rate of unemployment during the Depression, he looks at my American friend (who happens to speak Portuguese a million times better than me). This makes me smile inside.
Over the weekend, the clocks moved back an hour in Brazil, so now it gets dark here around 7 PM instead of 8 PM. For nearly two full days, however, I had no idea that this occurred. I showed up to my history class totally confused when no one was there (actually, I'm finding empty classrooms to be common here, but still its always confusing). Eventually, I asked a girl if we had class today, and she was like, "Yeah, at 7:40." My watch read 8:00.
Since things will be settling down a bit now that the semester has begun, I'm working on finding some extracuricular activities to fill my downtime. It' not an easy thing to do when you attend a university that caters itself to the working student (and it's illegal for me to work in this country). I've started running in the mornings during the week - my legs killed this week after having been as physically active as Porky Pig the last two months. There is a nice path in the middle of Avenida Sumaré, which is a main road near my house, where joggers and bikers can do there thing. One concern on Sumaré, however, is the exhaust from cars that pollutes the air. You can really smell it on hot afternoons. My host mom told me to run on higher ground, but I really haven't noticed much air pollution in the mornings. Polluition is a hard thing to escape in this city anyway. Another real kicker is the 152 steps that I walk up and down to get to my house. That's a nice workout on its own.
I started practicing with a basketball team made up of PUC law students this week. They practice from 11 PM to 1 AM on Thursdays. A crazy time, I know, but when you are desperate to play basketball, you show up when they tell you. The court we practiced on had hoops that were maybe nine feet tall and we spent most of the practice running drill up and down the court, but it still was fun. I instantaneously morphed from an average to a pretty darn good basketball player by coming here. I might even start referring to myself in the third-person on the court.
This weekend, I made a pilgrimmage to everyone's favorite neighborhood bar and grille. That's right ladies and gentlemen, São Paulo has an Applebee's. The food is a little pricier with the import cost, but I was able and willing to pay a little more for a slice of home. Nothing says "Made in the USA" like a double cheeseburger the size of my head - nothing. Oh, and the free refills were amazing. Yeah, don't take those for granted.
Today, the most intense soccer rivalry in the city was renewed when Palmeiras beat Corinthians 3 to 0. The Palmeiras-Corinthians rivalry is like the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry in baseball - that is, if the Yankees and Red Sox played in the same city and their fans had to be seperated by police to prevent mass chaos. I didn't watch much of the match, but I knew whenever a goal was scored because everyone in the neighborhood would run out onto their porch and give a whoop - at least every Palmeiras fan. One guy in the apartment complex next to my house would come out with a trumpet and play a nice, flat note that would echo down the street. For him, it was a joyful noise.
Since, my brother Marcus works for Universal Studios here in São Paulo, he has the largest movie collection I've ever seen. Anyway, I've been picking out some titles here and there and found one that really hit home. I know Lost in Translation was nominated for an Oscar a few years back, but I never saw it until last week. It wouldn't have made sense to me before I came here anyway. Watching it reminded me of my first few confusing and dissorienting weeks in this city. I could have used a Scarlett Johansson to cheer me up that's for sure. Today, it seems like a long time ago.
At PUC, they offer morning classes (for the rich kids that don´t work or really even need to go to college) and night classes (for the middle class kids that work during the day). Luckily, all my classes are in the afternoon or at night. As I learned this week, this is advantageous for several reasons:
a) I can get up at 10 AM everyday without feeling guilty.
b) My sleeping habits don't get throw out of whack on the weekends.
c) The students that take night classes tend to be more mature and friendly. (Probably because they haven´t been coddled all their lives like the well-off children of the SP.)
The earliest class I have all week is at 1:30 PM. I´m taking Brazilian culture, Portuguese, Brazilian music and either photojournalism or aquatic ecosystems. (I haven't decided yet.) Oh, and remember the U.S. History class where I'm the only American? Well, I convinced another American to join the class. This takes some pressure off my shoulders because now instead of the professor looking at me to know the rate of unemployment during the Depression, he looks at my American friend (who happens to speak Portuguese a million times better than me). This makes me smile inside.
Over the weekend, the clocks moved back an hour in Brazil, so now it gets dark here around 7 PM instead of 8 PM. For nearly two full days, however, I had no idea that this occurred. I showed up to my history class totally confused when no one was there (actually, I'm finding empty classrooms to be common here, but still its always confusing). Eventually, I asked a girl if we had class today, and she was like, "Yeah, at 7:40." My watch read 8:00.
Since things will be settling down a bit now that the semester has begun, I'm working on finding some extracuricular activities to fill my downtime. It' not an easy thing to do when you attend a university that caters itself to the working student (and it's illegal for me to work in this country). I've started running in the mornings during the week - my legs killed this week after having been as physically active as Porky Pig the last two months. There is a nice path in the middle of Avenida Sumaré, which is a main road near my house, where joggers and bikers can do there thing. One concern on Sumaré, however, is the exhaust from cars that pollutes the air. You can really smell it on hot afternoons. My host mom told me to run on higher ground, but I really haven't noticed much air pollution in the mornings. Polluition is a hard thing to escape in this city anyway. Another real kicker is the 152 steps that I walk up and down to get to my house. That's a nice workout on its own.
I started practicing with a basketball team made up of PUC law students this week. They practice from 11 PM to 1 AM on Thursdays. A crazy time, I know, but when you are desperate to play basketball, you show up when they tell you. The court we practiced on had hoops that were maybe nine feet tall and we spent most of the practice running drill up and down the court, but it still was fun. I instantaneously morphed from an average to a pretty darn good basketball player by coming here. I might even start referring to myself in the third-person on the court.
This weekend, I made a pilgrimmage to everyone's favorite neighborhood bar and grille. That's right ladies and gentlemen, São Paulo has an Applebee's. The food is a little pricier with the import cost, but I was able and willing to pay a little more for a slice of home. Nothing says "Made in the USA" like a double cheeseburger the size of my head - nothing. Oh, and the free refills were amazing. Yeah, don't take those for granted.
Today, the most intense soccer rivalry in the city was renewed when Palmeiras beat Corinthians 3 to 0. The Palmeiras-Corinthians rivalry is like the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry in baseball - that is, if the Yankees and Red Sox played in the same city and their fans had to be seperated by police to prevent mass chaos. I didn't watch much of the match, but I knew whenever a goal was scored because everyone in the neighborhood would run out onto their porch and give a whoop - at least every Palmeiras fan. One guy in the apartment complex next to my house would come out with a trumpet and play a nice, flat note that would echo down the street. For him, it was a joyful noise.
Since, my brother Marcus works for Universal Studios here in São Paulo, he has the largest movie collection I've ever seen. Anyway, I've been picking out some titles here and there and found one that really hit home. I know Lost in Translation was nominated for an Oscar a few years back, but I never saw it until last week. It wouldn't have made sense to me before I came here anyway. Watching it reminded me of my first few confusing and dissorienting weeks in this city. I could have used a Scarlett Johansson to cheer me up that's for sure. Today, it seems like a long time ago.
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