Carnival

My very first carnival. It was so new and full of excitement as it happens once a year, the locals are so enthused about this national holiday too very much. On my first day of carnival I went downtown with friends to look at what this cultural experience will be like which I found to be really energetic as the sound system almost made my ears bleed as i was moving amongst the multitude of people with my friends yet the locals we were getting past were just having an alcohol fuelled good time. Once we reached where we wanted to go we were just overlooking the crowd from where we were.on our little journey we met up with friends and began hanging out watching at one point what seemed to be a fight on the edges of the crowd.its getting late and now I catch the bus to the beach house .

On the next day my host mother and I organised some exchange students to come over for a BBQ and to participate in the local carnival parade that was about to take place that day. When they came over they started pulling out their cameras once we all got our official carnival shirts and wrist band that allowed us into an exclusive carnival festival party with the locals where the drinks and food were free. The place was cool they had good sounds and everybody was dancing so some of us exchange students got the nerve to go and dance with each other like myself. The day pushed on and crowd began moving on down the street with a truck that had a cow decoration over it. We all paraded across main st whilst the parade had their band that made all of us really cheerful parading around looking at the bystanders and us at them just all having a good time. We returned the same way we left dancing and trying to sumba all the way back to the place we left. We stayed their till night fall then the others decided enough so we walked back to the beach house which wasnt to far and once we got back played cards and gossiped a little bit before some of the parents came to pick up the students except this German guy Lars who stayed over the night.

Today me and my friend Lars went to town where we looked around the markets a bit before he went home and so we went to the bus terminal and before he left i rang up some other friends who were going to do something that night so i told them I will meet them at one of their host families house as they were at the other friends house and now i had to seek direction from my friend Lars before he left on his bus and I on mine. I got there just fine in the end but once I got to the house I was early though but I was familier with the family and just let my self be known and waited there, where I was invited to swim in the pool while i waited which I did. When they got here we hung out a bit and even played video games, our plans were to go to another carnival in the neighbourhood of Santinho but the rain changed our plans entirely as it was really heavy with lightning so now its a little late I got directions from one of my friends and made a safe journey by bus to my host parents beach house where i settled down for the day to ready for tomorrow.

Tomorrow came and I prep myself for the day because now is the last day of Carnival and firstly i make arrangements to stay at the my friend Lars house becuse to get back to the beach house it takes about an hour and a half because from central florianopolis I would have to go to three bus terminals, where is if I was able to stay at Lars host parents house with him we only have to catch one bus meaning i could stay longer and enjoy myself that little bit more with the others. And now that I had set the plan with my host parents I took a bus directly into centrol downtown where I would find the others. We found each other after a little bit there was about five of us including an American university exchange student but some others were still coming by bus so then we decided to go to the show grounds made especially for carnival floats and sumba formations, it was really cool the costumes and vibrations the band were giving off was such a cultural experience. The time pushed a little and finaly my other friends were about to arrive so I went to the central bus terminal to pick them up and show them where all the other exchange students were but before we went to the showgrounds we got something to eat which was satisfying then it was off to find the rest of the friends. Now that we found them it was good that we were altogether and now there were more exchange students to meet who were being hosted in the state of Parana but they decided to spend their last night in Florianopolis which was fun to meet more people from Germany,Australia and Mexico. We all were having a good time on our exchange alot of laughs and stories were shared under all the noise of the music and crowds of people. The night was geting late so we decided to call it a night, first to go were the bus people like us exchange students here in Florianopolis because they had a taxi cab fome otr them for the whole night so they carried on with the festivities we had to wine down and go back home otherwise we would have missed our bus.

Florianopolis

My 3 hour delayed flight from Sao Paulo to Florianopolis was good as i sat next to a guy from Argentina and he new just a little english but was a cool bloke. Once we had arrived i went to get my baggage, when i seen my new host family and the parents of my host mother, the father of my host mother was my councellor which will be a huge advantage towards my stay here. The first week here has been pretty exhausting, once we got to the beach house in Inglesses beach north side of the Island i met alot of people including my host fathers parents, his sister and sister's partner and their family of 3 boys. This night i just settled myself in by joing in and playing the new game of poker that was about to begin which was relaxing. A couple of photos then i started to lose the game which was going for a long time, then it was of to bed for the next day. I woke at about 8.30am to go for a run which was tiring but i got to have a look at the beach because the house is just a 2 minute walk away. I came back to shower and spend my company with everyone over breakfast, then it was of for a swim at the beach with everyone and we spent the whole day there but would return for lunch which is always a mighty spread for the multitude of people that are here. At night I would enjoy games like Uno with the youngens as they loved to play games, i learnt alot from playing games with them as they helped me to develop a better vocabulary of Portuguese. The next day we went to the beach in the morning then i would go with my host mother to central to look at the apartment they lived in and go to the mall to buy me a TIM chip for my phone which was cool because the mall is much bigger than i have ever seen and there is always so many people. Once these things were taken care of we returned to the beach house where i returned to the beach for a cool down. Now its dark I play more games with the kids then its off for some shut eye. Up in the morning I go with my host parents to drop of my host father at work then my host mother and I go looking around stores for an adapter for mylaptop which we manage to find then we go back to the apartment where I must stay whilst my host other does some things around town which suits me as i can use the wireless internet in their house and manage some personal things online. She come back so we can go for linch which is a buffet place, it was packed with people and the way you grab your food was so new but it made an perfect example of hygene as we had to where a plastic glove to serve our plates and when we were ready to go to sit and eat wehad to weigh our meals before we could enjoy what was on our plates which was amazing, never before had I enjoyed such a great experience, it was realy worth remembering as all the food were catered for by chefs which gave me a sweet, sweet satisfaction of how wonderful this place is. Now that I had sabered this moment it had come to that time that we must depart this place and drop of my host father at work again and head back to the apartment with a full stomach and enjoy some sounds and wireless internet whilst My host mother does some things around town until we go and pick up my host father up from work then its back to the house for dinner and some down time till bed. Up in the before noon and im invited to a exchange student Balam from Mexico's birthday. I preped myself and went to another beach called Jurere where they were at and i met up with a guy from Canada called Devon who was the person who told me to come along and so we both went together to Balams house and when we got there it was just us because the others got the call to come at about 5.30pm. It was just us so we went for a walk downtown to buy a couple of 2 litre bottles of Guarana which is my most favourite drink and some ice because thats the best way to drink it ice cold. When we get back we play a game called Dragon ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 2 which me and Devon were boasting about who had the madest skills earlier before we went to the shops and then it was agreed that a challenge had been set between us 2 to fight for supremacy which lead to me having the last victory as i lost the first couple but began winning in the end. We played up until the exchange student from Ausrtia came as she only lived in the neighbourhood unlike the others who lived a long way like myself but they had to go by bus as I got a ride by my host mother. We swam a little afterwards and played pool games like volley ball which i had the upper hand on by winning a-lot and just hung about until the rest of the invites came like a french girl Claire, 2 mexicans Haime and Ulonda and the american Chris whos a bit of a character. Its nightfall now and the BBQ is cooking away and we all hanging out conversing about their tours and im just asking questions about them. I ask about the Amazon tour but they all replied that they all didnt go on the trip because it was to expensive for only 13 days whilst they all went on the north-east trip that was for 30 days. Now that the food is ready we all start digging in and as we are doing so the host brother of Balam has some of his friends come over and now the birthday BBQ just doubled in size. Time moves on and i get that call i was expecting and waiting for which is my ride with my host parents back to Inglesses where i have been staying at their beach house.

I hung out the next day in Inglesses just sorting out things around my personel space and going to the beach which is always so packed and tring to play my flute I brought from Chile and keep trying to learn portuguese out of my portuguese book. That night i asked if I could go go-carting becuse i had seen a indoor go-carting place along the main road from Central to Inglesses beach. It was agreed that we could go the next day and so we went there and I could still feel the effects of jet-lag on the way there as i was feeling a little sleepy but by the timme i got there and got out of the car I automaticaly jumped out and began revitalizing myself for the challenge ahead. It was a bit of a wait as my host father and I had just registered in to race as others registered by phone and came in as a group as the minimum to race was 6 and 4 others were coming to race a little later and we raced with them. Now that we had the right amount of people it was of to this room where we got the low down in portuguese of course the rules and regulations of what is to happen on the track and just how to be safe while having a good time and the whole time i was getting a little help from my host father on what these flags meant if they were shown to me blue,black, and two others that were a design different from just 1 colour. So that was over now we went to gear up with a helmet, gloves, a bib and balaclava. Now its time to find our racing machines and wait for the man to start our engines as we anticipated the race close at hand. We all done 4 easy non-competitive laps to get the feel of the track then it was of to the starting point where we were lined up about 3-4 metres away from each other then it was go time after the flag had been wiven from the man.

Away we go and im starting at 2^nd to last round and round we go the carts are chewing the gas and im just having a good time not using the brake but drifting ever corner and of course i end up becoming last place but that doesnt mind me im just having to good of a time drifting and as im doing so among my laps i ram another cart in the rear which i get spoken to about and i turn a little to sharp which ends in me facing the opposite direction and geting anther little talking to in portuguese again but im not phased and just keep doing what im enjoying at that time. The race comes to an end and we get our score sheets that reads me as dead last with the worse time for a lap reading 24.29 and my host father with the best time being first on the track reading 20.93 with the 2^nd fastest being about 2 seconds behind him. What a good afternoon now we go back to the beach house to go for a swim at the beach to close the day because both of us drenched our shirts in sweat and gave our hands and wrists a mighty work out which we both felt the previouse day.