Day 1: August 11, 2014

Greetings All,

This is my first blog post after landing in Brazil.  I had arrived yesterday, August 11, in Florianopolis after spending almost 14 hours in the air.  I started my journey in Washington D.C., taking connecting flights in Miami and Sao Paolo to finally arrive in Florianopolis.  The change of flights in Sao Paolo was very hectic, having to check out and recheck my bags.  Only having an hour to between flights, and it taking an extremely long time for my suitcase to come out on the baggage claim, I almost missed my flight!  Luckily for me, I had met up with my fellow classmate Jessica in Washington D.C. and we travelled together the entire way to Florianopolis, making the whole flying experience much more enjoyable and less stressful.

Myself, Jessica and Summer, being among the first three people from the program to arrive in Florianopolis we decide to take advantage of early arrival and take a look around the city, walking all the way down to shore line and grabbing a bite to eat at a local restaurant.

View of the shore from Downtown Florianopolis.

After meeting up with the rest of students participating in the program, we had orientation and ate dinner together at another nearby restaurant.  Following dinner, myself along with a number of other students decided to further adventure a little more, exploring the city and trying the local drink Caipirinha.

Caipirinha

Aryel, Elijah and Myself