Fellow Stories

Rain Reflections

Julia-Braunig

2018-09-14

The water is pouring down from the sky as if there’s no tomorrow. The buses here are confusing. With broken portuguese I try to find my way home to “Ingleses” at the North of the Island. The sun is setting very early and shortly after six the whole world is dark. If it weren’t for...

Blog #3

Stephanie Duarte-Pedrosa

2018-09-14

Oi! I’ve now been with my host family for one week. It’s been beautiful. My Portuguese vocabulary has expanded exponentially and I’m excited to share the three best words that l learned this week: 1. sinuca – pool (the game not the body of water) 2. botas de chuva – gum boots 3. mamâo –...

Cheap, Cheap Giggles

Sintra Nichols

2018-09-14

A fun thing about the English language is that, for some reason, it sells like hotcakes in many parts of the world where English is seldom even spoken or understood. One of these locations is Florianópolis, Brazil apparently. And since the English language is rarely understood, the intricacies of its grammar, which us Americans tend...

*Swedish* – Morgonen, 8 september

Ida Nydelius

2018-09-13

Hejsan familj och vänner, en liten historia skriven under första morgonen i min värdfamilj. En familj jag, på fredag, har bott hos i en vecka. Ser framemot att presentera dem för er! Man kan säga att jag trivs som fisken i vattnet. Trevlig läsning, Ida *8 September 2018* Gravitationen gungar mig sakta i hammocken när...

Murphy’s Law and Earning my Cumin: Flight.

Rebecca Rose

2018-09-13

I used to love airports, firmly holding onto a Love Actually-esque romanticized view of hubs for gravity-defying transit, international exchange, and simply harmonious human coexistence. Below is, well, not that. There’s no deep meaning. No profound analyzation. Just a bafflingly long insight into the experience of a chronic schlimazel. Read at your own will. Part...

Communicating Without Words

Ara Vickers

2018-09-12

To preface this, my current knowledge of Portuguese is at or a peg below a native toddlers (although I’ve met some 4 year olds with a significantly broader vocabulary). I can safely navigate conversations discussing food & how hot/cold it is, but any other topic pushes me into my stretch zone. In order to communicate...

The Complexities of Being an American Abroad

Natalie Glick

2018-09-12

Today is 9/11. It’s a day that is normally filled with remembrance, a day I personally don’t remember all that well, but it still holds a deep place in my heart. 9/11 was a day that changed The United States of American forever. 17 years ago today 3,201 people lost their lives to a terrorist...

Luzia

Laura Harvey

2018-09-11

In three weeks of orientation, I’ve carried my notebook, pen and water bottle around my fair share of classrooms, lecture halls and conference rooms. I carried them around the Tufts and Stanford Campuses and the Morros Das Pedras Hotel in my tote bag, somewhat obnoxiously adorned with a print of Botticelli’s Primavera. I could derive...

Suitcase

Rutendo Magade

2018-09-08

You don't need much for this trip, just one suitcase should be enough. Somewhere to pack a pair of jeans, a few shirts, and maybe a swimsuit. I hear the weather will be nice out. Maybe we could immerse ourselves in the ocean, let the salt stick onto our bodies, then when we wash it...

Lessons from a History Lost Forever

David Jiang

2018-09-07

Lessons from a History Forever Lost Sunday, September 2, 2018. For me, the date will always be remembered as a happy one: the start to an exciting eight month bridge-year odyssey. Yet, in the meantime, to the hundreds of millions of Brazilians around the world, September 2 will forever be a day marked by unfathomable...

Reflections on the Unknown: Afundar ou Nadar

Rebecca Rose

2018-09-07

I'm on my way to my host family right now. I wish I could say I wasn't sweating it. I wish I could say I was cool as a cucumber, secure in my knowledge of the Portuguese I devoutly studied. Confident in my ability to navigate this new city, eager to connect with my host...

New York to Stanford to Florianópolis to Barra da Lagoa

Lynn Drescher

2018-09-06