Our First Day Off!

Laura and I after the festival- I got a new headband!

So today was our official first day off! YAY! We did have an assignment due at 10 am but most of us finished it Friday night so we could sleep in for once. It was a pretty calm day at first with a late breakfast and then a trip to the pool - only to find overcast weather and the potential for rain. However Kelly and I made the best of it and "laid out" for 3 hours in some sunlight and basically took a nap. Then Kayla, Kelly and I visited the restaurant we first went to when we got to Brazil - and realized how much better food is when you are not paying for it (the first time we went there Dr. Spears paid) it was still good - but not as good as before. The fun part came when we all decided to take a walk on the beach and wanted to use our new cover ups........ so all three of us had Brazilian flags on our bodies as we walk around the beach and the people setting up the weekend festival.
Looking like tourist - we kept getting honked at and cat called from cars, trucks and even a couple buses.... only to realize that there was a Brazilian soccer game today at 4pm. Brazil versus Japan. Brazil ended up winning 3-0 in a very good game that we all watched crowed into one room in our hotel. After getting dinner at the festival and doing some shopping ( no Lou I will not tell you what I got you) we came back to the to the hotel to a pleasant surprise. A local engineering student who has been helping us in our service project offered to show us a true Brazilian night life, so we said yes.....
I have never been to a Brazilian night club and I will never go again. After walking into the club and seeing the 50 foot ceilings there are at least 700 people in this night club. Traditional Brazilian dances were done on the floor, by paid dancers but also by locals who knew them. Then there was a live band who played and got the crowd going. After a while, Kayla got pulled up on stage to dance with the band. The night ended with DJ and American music filling the room.
This place was so chaotic and full of dancing and drunk people (who would stop and state when they heard us speak english) anyways we had a great time and I will NEVER go there again but it was a great experience and will be something I never forget. We are all at the hotel now, safe and sound and gearing up for our interviews tomorrow. Until next time!
Alexis