Submitted by Ben Sekowski on the 2024 Winter PLSC program in Brazil …
After being in Rio for a week I started knowing all the ins and outs of the area, from restaurants, laundry, banks, and pharmacy. On Wednesday we woke up early to have breakfast at our hotel and then we headed over to our third and final watercolor lesson. Throughout our watercolor lessons I learned to be patient and you can still fix your mistakes, for they are not permanent. At the end of the day everyone went to a Brazilian Steakhouse, which was really fun and plenty of good food came around. I got to try new foods like chicken hearts, which were pretty tasty.
The next day we took a van ride to Petropolis to visit an Imperial Palace, which was cool to see. We also saw the Santos Dumont House Museum, which was an inventor’s house. I learned that Santos Dumont invented the first plane to fly by self propulsion. We then rode about six more hours to Brumadinho to stay at a hotel. The next morning we visited Inhotim, an art museum. There were many cool art pieces and displays to see at Inhotim. After Inhotim we headed back to Rio.
On Saturday we had a free day so I went to Copacabana beach with a few friends. We then had dinner at a poke place. Then on Sunday the class went on a bike ride around Rio towards Flamengo Park. Flamengo park was a cool area for it had recreational activities, a beach, and plenty of shaded spaces to sit. Unfortunately we didn’t get to stay there long. The bike ride to Flamengo park was fun, however the ride back was against the wind and the streets started to get crowded, which made it not so fun. On Monday though we had a fun hike on a mountain. Overall, this week in Brazil was full of good weather and great times with friends. (Submitted on January 23, 2024)
The Last Few Days
The last few days have been such fun, but as the days flew by the more it was hard to let go. On the 23rd we took the metro to the city and then a tram to Santa Teresa. It was a very rainy day. On the 24th, another rainy day, we went to the Museum of Tomorrow, which had some cool exhibits. Then we took a ferry to an art museum, which I think was cooler than the first museum that we went to that day. There were some cool art displays and for one of our sketching assignments we had to draw a display.
On the 25th I woke up with a cold, so I stayed in for the day. The next few days we did some last minute shopping and worked on our final projects. We also went out to some fancy lunches and dinners to celebrate our amazing trip. On the last day we went to the Hippie Fair for the last time and hung around the hotel’s rooftop pool until our flight home at midnight. This study abroad trip was truly an amazing experience. (Submitted on January 31, 2024)
