Sao Paulo, one of the biggest cities in the world, and I got the pleasure of getting a tour round it… 

The weekend actually started a day early for me, there was a music festival being held in sao Paulo on the Friday and seeing as my host mother is a music teacher, we had to go, not that I’m complaining or anything, I got to skip a day off school :D after a much needed lie in and late breakfast my host mother, father and I were on our way. The music festival was held in a massive auditorium with hundreds of little stalls selling everything musical. I found a cute little stall that sold little musical instruments trinkets. I bought myself a necklace with a treble clef and a little clarinet pin to add to my blazer of badges.

me and other exchange 
students at the music festival

The tour of Sao Paulo was on a Saturday and because it took so long for me to actually get to Sao Paulo, I was going to be having a sleepover with a fellow exchange student. We met her and her family at the music festival and I left with them. Us being typical girls we stayed up late doing hair and talking about all things girly. It probably wasn’t the best of ideas but it was a great sleepover.



We met all the other exchange students at the tube station, we had to get the tube to get to the start of the tour,  it was pretty funny because I started to panic because the women only have me two tickets. Me coming from England and used to having the put a ticket into a machine to get both IN and OUT of a station didn’t realise that you only have to put the ticket in the machine once in brazil. A lot of people laughed at me because of that :$ 

after managing to get though the metro system alive we arrived at our first point on the tour, it was a huge church, and inside it was so beautiful. They even had a shop selling gifts specifically from that church.

the huge church

 We walked and walked through Sao Paulo, being shown all the weird and interesting things the city had to offer. One of the most amazing things we saw was the Sao Paulo skyline. We went to the top of a massive building, with about 34 floors and I have to admit, it was actually breathtaking. Sao Paulo is soo hugeee!!! It looked like it was went on forever.



sao paulos amazing skyline

The rest of the day went on with us being shown more and more wonderful things. At about five o’clock it was time for us to go home, saying goodbye was especially hard because we knew we wouldn’t be seeing each other in a while, but it was okay because absent makes the heart grow stronger right? I’m kidding!! But it will definatly be more special went I finally meet up with the other exchanges again :’)

Oh and I nearly forgot to say, this day was extra extra special because I saw my fellow English exchanger Millie! I hadn’t seen her since the day we parted at the airport, and I didn’t know I would be seeing her until the day before the actual tour. As I got to the train station I heard a scream and saw this little bundle of English-ness running towards me which was Millie! I think we stood their hugging and screaming each other for like ten minutes!

me and millie!

So yeah, that’s what happened on the day that I went to Sao Paulo city :D

The day I joined the dance academy...

Just like every other little girl I used to do ballet when I was younger,  what I didn’t realise was that I would be needing to use these skills in Brazil…

a couple of weeks back I went to a talent show hosted by my rotary club, it was pretty amazing, they had everything, from magicians to singers and of course they had dancers. There were these incredible dancers from a dance club called Apollo. They offer classes for hip hop, jazz and ballet. Because so many of her students were taking part the dance show the principle of the dance academy was there. She bumped into my host mum and I and we got chatting. She was amazed that I was an exchange student living in the area for a year. My host mum mentioned that I did gymnastics in the area and that I was into dancing, she then offered to let me train at her academy free of charge! The following Monday I went to the academy to see if any of the classes were for me. After a couple of sessions I made friends with a lovely group of girls who invited me to join them in their dance classes, thy danced all three disciplines, ballets, jazz and hip hop. It seemed like the perfect idea so I accepted the offer. They also invited me to take part in their Christmas presentation in December so in order to learn the new choreography I train Monday to Thursday in ballet and jazz :’)

The day I went to Holumbra...

37 exchange students, 5 Rotarians, 3 Rotex chaperons and 1 very beautiful city, sounds like an amazing day? It so was! 

exchange students from
 england, america and canada :)

The day started when all the exchange students got together again, after a lot of excited hugging and catching up with each other it was time for a quick breakfast. After a quick breakfast all the exchange students were treated to a talk from a guy from “belo brasil” belo brasil is the tour company that i'm travelling with in January and may. The guy who was talking was pretty special. There were five girls sitting in the front row, two Americans, me, a girl from Denmark and a girl from Austria. The guy went around the room asking us our names and what country we can from. He greeted me and the two Americans in English of course, but when it came to the girl from Denmark, he spoke to her in Danish! He then when on to talk to the girl from Austria in her native language. But he did not stop there, he spoke to the girl from France in French, the girl from Russia in Russian, the boy from Germany in German and the kids from Mexico in Spanish, he even spoke Taiwanese to the kids from Taiwan. I don’t know about you but someone who can hold a conversation in more than four languages is a PRETTY amazing person >.<

after the talk it was time for the tour around Holumbra. It’s the city that people from Holland migrated to when they arrived in Brazil. They even have phone boxes shaped like shoes!? After the tour it was time to take part in the parade. Every year the exchange students bring their countries flag and every year the exchange student’s march in the parade. And with over 15 countries trying to prove that their country is the best it was a pretty loud parade to be part of!

on our way to the parade

the platform with the flowers

The end of the parade finished in a large field. In the middle of the large field was a massive platform and from that platform, it rained flowers, like actual rose petals!! There was also flowers be thrown from a helicopter which was flying above us, it was sooo pretty! I managed to catch a rose petal and take it home with me, sad I know >.< the day ended with all the exchange students having the biggest flower petal fight EVER!

a very fierce petal fight
 between england and canada >.<

me and my petal :)

all of the exchange students

Oh and just something a little funny, the flag I’m holding actually isn’t mine, someone bought it and gave it to me because I’m British! How thoughtful of them >.<