My first few weeks in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, have been outstanding.
The Cidade Maravilhosa – the Marvelous City – is gorgeous and has breathtaking views from just about any of its mountaintops. The beaches are warm and quite full (though not so full of cariocas, who find 70 degree weather to be really cold).
I’ll discuss some of my first impressions of the city, culture, and the Portuguese language. First, the city has beautiful sites, but it is also staggeringly socially divided. The difference in wealth between the northern and southern parts of the city are obvious as one goes further from Centro to Zona Sul. Each of the city’s neighborhoods in around the area I’m in also have distinct characteristics: Centro, Botafogo, Urca, Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon, and Barra. The streets are almost always full of pedestrians, casually dressed and going about their day.
Brazilian culture is beautiful, and carioca culture adds another layer of a cultural experience. People are in general extremely friendly and welcoming here. I have been surprised by how often strangers are willing to talk with me, especially once they find out I am not Brazilian. I have met many people in restaurants, on the streets, really anywhere, just through casual conversation. It is even better that those conversations have been in Portuguese!
I love the classes that I have taken in Portuguese through Rio&Learn. Surprisingly, I am the youngest student, but many professors are only a few years older than I am. Everyone is friendly, engaging, and eager to teach. I switch professors every other day, which is helpful for adapting to different Brazilian accents. I have learned the language quite quickly because the focus of the school is to put our words in action; they take us to the subway, restaurants, tourist areas, etc, to make sure that we know how to practically apply the language. As a result, I’ve found myself actually speaking Portuguese all day – with my professors, my classmate, and my host mom. I’ve been able to interview a political candidate because of my interest in local elections, and I have been able to pick up social justice language in Portuguese to talk about problems Brazilians face and solutions they envision. The first week was definitely a struggle to learn the language, but I remember that there came a point during the second week that I got into a passionate debate about a political topic (capitalism) when I realized I was actually speaking really fast and quite proficiently. I was at that moment proud of myself and also grateful to SLA for allowing me to invest in a program that has taught me a language so quickly.