Favala Party and then I rocked out with JC on a Rock

We went to se JESUS! He's doing great by the way. He lives on a really tall rock at the top of a hill in Rio de Janerio.

But before we went to see Jesus, we went to a favala party. Whats a favala party you might ask? Well first you need to know what a favala is. A favala is a poor community in brazil. They usually live in one story houses and can't afford proper housing. They just patch together any materials they can find, and hope the weather doesnt get them. There are tons of Favalas all over Brazil, since most of the population is poor. Usually the favalas are on the hills, and they just keep climbing up and up as far as they can afford to go. The government owns the land, and doesnt stop the people from building because they have no where else to go. Its really sad to see them driving through the city.

They also get a really bad reputation. They are where poor people live, yes. But also, they are often run by drug gangs. If there is fighting of the gangs, sometimes stray bullets fly and people die because their houses are made of little pieces of wood and bullets just fly everywhere.

However, usually they arent that bad. Tourists are told never to go into a favala, and I can see why. People are poor and desperate, so of course there is a chance they might get robbed. But, you might also get robbed at the beach, so its really no big deal. There are some tours that go into the favala, and they are safe, and show you what life is like in a favala. I didnt go on a tour, but mariannik did and I'll wait to see how she makes out. (I decided to go to the beach that day)

Buttt, we did do something in a favala. We went to a party! Well not so much a party as it was a giant dance warehouse filled with techno music. It was nuts! We went with a tour group and stayed till 4 in the morning. I was sooo tired by that point, and I wasnt feeling so well (this whole carsick thing) so I didn't drink either. It was a great experience tho! We had a huge group of foreigners with us, and we had VIP access to the top floor overlooking the crowds.

We had great people with us, and I made some great Brit friends, and Isralie friends. I really like Isralies, they guys really looked out for the girls at the 'party' and made sure no brazillian dudes got unwantedly too close. Brazillian guys are very touchy, and wisper stuff in your ear as you walk by...(I had no idea what they were staying, but usually it gave me the creeps) One guy even went so far as to pull my hair to get my attention. All I know is if that happened in canada I think I would turn around and slap the guy. But I was well protected with my group of big strong foreign men.

So we had an awsum time! But at 4am I was more than happy to leave. The next morning I woke up at 8.30 and realised it was sunny... sooooo....

We went to visit JC! (Jesus Christ) He's often hidden behind clouds cause in brazil, theres not just one layer of clouds, but like 30. They're everywhere! We got out of bed, got ready and took a bus to the train that goes up the hill to Jesus. The train was nice, and didnt take that long to get up there. Once on top there was a ton of clouds, and I was so sad!!! I wanted some good pics with jesus! But for about 15 mins the clouds cleared and we got some shots. Of course they are on my camera where the battery is dead, so I'll post them later. But I still love Jesus!!

The End

Paraty and Rio De Janerio

Paraty is a small little town, mostly touristy, and old as the hills. In the 1700s the Portuguese came to get gold from the hills near by. They came over in ships, and started building churches and houses to show off their riches, and then they would bring the gold back to Portugal. They had slaves that they used to build their streets and houses. The best part is, when they came over they had rocks in the bottom of their ship for ballast. They would trade these rocks for gold, and the rocks were then used to create the streets.

Trading rocks for gold... sweet!

Anyhow, the streets are made of these huge rocks, and they are so hard to walk over that you cant enjoy the really nice architecture while you walk, because you are always looking down trying not to fall.

But the architecture is really nice! As was the boat tour that we took around to some beaches. They fed us some fish, and let us jump off the boat. We got a snorkel and went to see some Brazilian fishies... They mostly just looked like normal fishies that I've seen in Thailand, but still, great stuff!

The next day we met some Brits and went to a beach named Trinadade. It was great, warm, and I loved it. We had another sunny day, while back in Paraty it rained, so we def made the right choice.

The last day we had breakfast and went on a bus to Rio. We got to the bus station and took a cab to our hotel where we met one of the guys who worked there (insert name there) and he said I was grumpy. Yeah... I was sorta grumpy, as I usually am. (ask my family). But I have also been getting really carsick on the bus lately, which is horrible! So I felt sick for a while. In fact any day that I have to ride in a bus. Music helps, so does gravol. (thankgod mariannik is prepared)

Our hostel is weird. Everyone smokes, the breakfast consists of bread. There is no common areas, but there is two free computers to use! And its right next to the Copacabana. Woo woo!

Today we went to a soccer game. It was great. I will post pics. Our team (the flamingos) won. Apparently there are more Flamingo fans than Canadians. But for now I should go. The guy who works at the hostel (insert name here) is cooking us dinner, and I fully plan on eating it!

Paulista, Paulista, Paulista Jundiai

After our sad goodbyes from Gaurujã we decided to head up to a little place called Jundiai. It was north of Saõ Paulo by less than an hour. Thats where our friend Peter lives. He's also teaching english with another fellow by the name of Peter from England. We all met up that night to go see a soccer game... and got our first taste of Brazillian hail. Strange eh! Who knew they would have hail. Anyhow, the boys went nuts. England Peter lead the charge, and we met up with a crew of Paulista lovers. They were rooting for the Sao Paulo team, decked out with clothes and spirit to match. Before the game we bought some drinks at their sorta clubhouse, and then walked up to the stadium with them. They played drums, did chants, and moshed in the stands the entire game and didnt give up! Not even to watch the game.

Heres a video of the game, and all its glory!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmuy8EWh6bA&NR=1

After our little visit with the Peters, we headed out to an island named Ilhabella. It was a beautiful island, and had some nice beaches.

The first day we went to some waterfalls in the jungle. The price included bug repellent, and boy did we need it. There were TONS of bugs, but thankfully I didn't get bitten too badly. Poor Mariannik. She forgot to put bug spray on her butt, and after the 20 minutes in the jungle, she looked like she had developed a nasty STD.

The waterfalls were a blast, and you could slide down some of the rocks into the pools below. Were were some of the only people there, and I lost my bathing suit bottoms only once, and no one was the wiser. Overall, I would recommend a day at the waterfalls.

One of our first sunny days at the beach in brazil, and I wasnt about to waste it. I decided that since I've been in brazil for a month, and still I had no sigh of a tan, that I would get a litte burned to help the process out.....

Bad Idea.

Everyone always seems to forget how unbearably painful burns are, and how miserable you feel after. Well I certainly got burned, but its ok. I survived. The day at the beach was really nice tho. We ended up meeting a couple from Road Island who were there on vacation. They were really friendly and had a 6 year old daughter who was hilarious. We laied on the beach all day, and swam in the blue green water.

So that was my past few days. We are going to a place called Paraty next, and then a place called Rio De Janerio. Hmm... this adventure is shaping up nicely I'd say!!

Miss you guys!

Backpacking Adventure Begins

So there's been some big news. Lots. Mariannik and I both left Guaruja and our Jobs as well. We discussed it with our Boss and realised that financially we wouldnt be able to stay for the entire semester. That was worse than staying for a few months and leaving, since we would have developed relationships with our students, and then abandon them half way through.

So! For now I think we are going to backpack around before heading home to canada. I am really excited to see some more of Brazil.

I really don't have all that much to write on here, because I've been talking about it nonstop for the past few days, and its getting to be quite tiresome. The decision has been made, and I will forever be grateful and love and miss everyone that I have met in Guaruja. They are amazing people, and I can't thank them enough!! If you want to meet the kindest, most supportive people in the world, go to Guaruja!

Going to the Country, Gunna eat a lot of Mangoes

The Farm, chicken, coffee, beans, rice, mangos, caju

Me roasting coffee on a fire.

So I was going to write a big post about the farm, maybe I still will, but there is some bigger stuff to write about now, so I'm just going to post these pics for you to all look at, and get on to better things!

Carnival 2008

Carnival - I've seen it, I think I can come home now!

So it was carnival weekend in Brazil, and guess what we did? Mostly sit around watching tv... haha. I mean, we went to carnival!! Mariannik, Peter and myself planned on going to Sao Paulo for Carnival. It was great! I was so happy to get out of boring old Guaruja. Nothing happens here, and theres nobody our age to hang out with!

We left friday morning on the bus to Sao Pàulo and met up with Peter at the hotel. It was so great to see him again, and I was really happy to have him on the adventures with us. We decided that we should go try to find tickets for the nights events. Carnival is usually this parade thing, but in Sao Paulo its held in a place called the Sombadrome. We didn~t have tickets to go, so we decided to see if the ticket booths had any left, or maybe we could get some from some scalpers. We went to the statium, and the scene was scary. There were tons of scalpers, and the lonely planet book was right... you don't need to find them, cause they'll find you!

After being harassed by a few of them, with sketchy tickets, we decided to leave. It was probably a good thing, seeing as there was two men agruing across the street, and one seemed to have a gun. We got out of there.

We decided to grab dinner at a little resturant with an outside padio. One of the other customers sitting at a table next to us brought over a note to Mariannik. It was a love note, with his phone number on it. Eventually we got to talking to one of the guys. He spoke english well enough, and we asked if there was anything going on that night or if he knew where we could get tickets. He kindly advised us to go on to a website named http://www.google.com/ and type in "Sao Paulo Carnival".... Boy was he smart! After not taking his advice and trying to get out of there to find our own tickets, we decided to head back to the Sambadrome to try our luck. We found a scalper, and he was a pretty decent guy. He got us tickets in A section, and even walked us (the mile long distance) to the gate to be sure that we made it in ok. We ended up paying 100 reals for a 50 real ticket, but in canadian funds that was like paying 60 dollars for a 30 dollar ticket. Not too bad, and it was last minute.

We got in ok, and the place was bumpin. There is a long street with stands lining the sides, and each Samba School has a dance and a song they play over and over again until everyone in their group (say 1000 or so) is finished walking down the road. The have different groups of costumes and usually are lead by a huge float with people dancing on top. Its really sketchy to watch everyone dancing on them, because the entire float shakes with the footsteps of the people, so there always seems to be a chance that someone might fall to their death. This in my opinion, makes the show even that much better!

Its really neat, they wear different costumes, and the songs are catchy. The crowd dances and sings, and drinks beer. This lasts till about 4 in the morning, but we didn't stay that long.

We did however make some friends. The first was a group of three people who were in the parade, but now hanging out in the stands to watch the rest of the show. They were from Rio and had come uThey had their full costumes and let us try them on! How cool do we look!

The second friend was the Global TV reporter, so did an interview with us on TV!! Our coworkers saw it and everything. We are going to try to find the link to see it. Here's a pic of me and the reporter.. I am WAY too happy, as you can tell!

After a few hours, we were exhausted. We had been walking all day long, and our legs were killing us. We went back to the hotel and slept.. a lot. The next day we walked around the city, found a book store, and went to the area that the lonely planet book said was a bad place to go.

** Ok, since I keep getting terrified msgs from friends and family members, I would like to clarify that the lonely planet book said that the bad place to go was a neighbour hood next to where we were, and said that it was dangerous at night time... we were in the middle of the day with lots of people shopping and walking around, it wasn't bad... however***

I was scared, (without good reason to be) but the second we walked out of the subway, some boy with no shoes hasseled Peter for money, I was set that I wanted out of that place. It was actually really beautiful. There were parks, and nice archetecture, and I think I might have really enjoyed it if it weren't for the stupid lonely planet book killing my courage.

Horses - they always know when you have carrots..

I would like to start off this entry with all the horse sayings I know. Let's begin.

Hungry as a horse.
You can bring a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.
Hung like a horse.
Straight from the horse’s mouth.

All of these sayings have occurred to me in the last three days, out of pure reality! At my bosses ranch, he had 4 horses. Two males and two females. The females each had their own babies as well. I was more than excited to see the horses, especially since I've always wanted to ride horses since the age of... oh I don't know... 5? The most scary and best part was when my bosses brother-in-law saddled them up and we went for a spin! I got the small male horse, who in my opinion, was the best! The female horses were slow, and always had their babies following them. The mothers also likes to kick their babies, and not listen when you told them to turn right, left or go, go faster... if at all!! My horse loved to run... he'd run up the hill without me telling him to! It was great, since I seemed to have a need for speed. I was extremely bored walking along the road, when I could have been galloping! So for the past 4 days I've been horseback riding... and loved it. My ass hurts like you wouldn't believe, and I probably did damage to it, but I don't mind. I was pretty comfortable going riding other then the aftermath of my ass, but I even ended up going alone a few times. My boss had quite a bit of land, and it was nice to go climb some hills on top of a horse. I imagined myself as a cowboy in a western movie, or better yet, Ichabod Craine running through the forest at night with the headless horseman chasing me.

I was sad to leave. I wanted to stay and take care of the horses. I enjoyed brushing them, and just being near them. One of the males hurt his foot, and they had to spray some stuff on it so it could heal. He was so calm and gentle, even with a hurt foot. I know if I had a hurt foot and some guy came up to me trying to spray it with something, I would be far from gentle.. or even nice. I'd kick that sucker with the bottle of spray.

The Church, Gas Station, and Taxi Stand

So I often walk to work, in fact I always walk to work. (check me out with my adverbs of frequency) Anyhow... I always walk to work, and I walk past a lot of things. The church for one. It's this big church, and everytime anyone walks or drives by it they cross their chest. You know what I mean, they reach their hand to their head and shoulders to make the shape of a cross.

Next I walk by the Taxi stand, and I love the taxi stand. I love the taxi stand cause nobody takes taxis here. So, all the drivers get to hang out. They hang out and talk, but mostly watch tv. Haha... Theres a big tv nailed to a tree at the taxi stand. Its hilarious! So all the taxi drivers just sit around watching this big box tv thats nailed to a tree. Then, if they are lucky, and they do get a customer, they have to move their taxi's up. But why turn your car on, when you can just push the damn thing, lol. So they push their cars up. Its funny to watch.

Lastly, the gas station. They are fairly big here... sometimes they fill up their cars not at the gas tank, like the rest of the world, but under the hood somewhere. That was something to see the first time. All the hoods of the cars lifted up, with these little strange nozzles pumping gas into the car, somehow. I just don't get it! But theres an even better thing about the gas stations. They are the cool place to go... drinking! Hahha, I thought my bosses daughter was kidding when she said we were going to the gas station to hang out. Seriously. But drinking outside is legal, and drinking at the gas station is cool. Sweet eh!

Don't you just love the smell of fumes and beer?

Why I might eventually get kicked out of Brazil

It all started when when I moved into my bosses house. Well we all had heavy suitcases, and bags and such. It was a lot of stuff! And we got off the elevator and into the front door of the house... Well, there was this dog, the tiniest dog ever! Her name is Tequila, and she is a toy poodle. So... as I'm stepping in the front door, she is barking and barking and jumping and jumping. Then..she sorta got a little hit by my foot. I seriously tapped the dog, barely even touched her... but she starts crying! And wouldn't stop. She was now barking and crying and running and limping.

I'm like.. "Oh god, I dislocated the dogs leg within 20 seconds of being in my bosses house"

I was worried, I'll admit. But the dog was fine. Seriously though, I only tapped her!!!!

So this dog is small, and she has a small problem. She doesn't have a litter box, and nobody takes her outside. So, this means there is a continuous threat of stepping in dog pooh or pee. We first figured this out when we put our backpacks under the bed. I thought this was a good place to keep my pack out of the way. I was wrong. Eventually one day, I came home and my room smelled like shit... literally. UGH! The dog had pooped on my bag.

Next, you might be able to guess what happened. I was getting ready to go out for a night of fun with my bosses daughter and her friends. I was in the bathroom checking my face, brushing my teeth and such. Then I went back to my room to put some stuff in my closet... then I walked back to the bathroom, where I noticed... Poop.. everywhere. ARG, I had stepped in dog poop! and tracked it all over the house!!! Crazy... Oh, and I forgot to mention, in my new sandals!

Lastly, we were sitting around the table one night, having a cup of tea and just talking. My bosses wife comes in with the dog in one hand, and a chewed up razor head in the other. Seriously, I'm going to kill this dog! The dog somehow found my old razor head and was CHEWING IT... Seriously? yeah...

Now this dog is their pride and joy, they friggin love it! And they let it poop anywhere. If you see that I'm back in Canada before I should be.... its cause I somehow managed to kill the dog and they kicked me out of the country. Wish me luck!

The Three Big Questions

Every time we meet a Brazilian or talk to a Brazilian, they tend to ask the same things. In fact, its getting ridiculous.

Cissero's (our boss) daughter Monique arrived the other day from 2 weeks in Argentina. Shes 21. She brought her friend with her, Marianna, who is amazing. We went out to the beach on one of the few sunny days we've had and last night we went out for drinks with some of their friends. These were some well spoken Brazillian guys, young, going to school to be drs and lawyers, lol. Pretty interesting! Anyhow, we had some great discussions, on politics, world issues, and Brazil.

The night before we went out with some of the secretaries and teachers from school. They were all great, and all brought their boyfriends or husbands of 3 years or so. One girl, Nayare, is 20, she has an adorable daughter, and a husband. We drove to the bar on motorcycles...(I have never wanted to learn to drive one more than I do now)

So, these are the questions all brazillians ask us.

1) How old are you?
2) What did you think of Brazil before you came here? / What do most people think of Brazil?
3) Do you have a boyfriend?

Firstly, I don't think anyone here is our age. Its either 18 year olds, or 40 year olds.
Secondly, Brazillians are very concerned with how the world views them. The figure that the world thinks they don't have technology, or that they live in a jungle.
Lastly, yet again, I am not a person unless I have a boyfriend. And even tho I am traveling alone, and have only been in Brazil for 2 weeks, I'm expected to still not be single. Arg!!!

Anyhow, thats life south of the boarder. Life is still peachy tho!

Oh, and we are planning our trip to Sao Paulo for Carnival. I don~t know all the details yet, but the next entry should be something along those lines. Woop Woop!!

Lynds

Oh, and here are some pics from a boat ride we took over to santos, I stole them from Mariannik!

Brazillian Football Boy

For those of you who are keeping track of this blog, you are so spoiled... three posts in two days! Wow. I have a feeling I didnt tell people about this blog, so maybe I~ll try to do that after I write this entry... but I have some things I must discuss.

So like I said we were living in a hotel for two nights and then moved into Cessoros house. Yesterday afternoon we went walking on the beach and it was great... the beach is huge! But I guess the best times to go are like 7 in the morning, cause the sun isn~t too strong. By the end of the day theres garbage everywhere. As we walked, people somehow knew we were foreigners. Some teenage boys said hello to us, and a lifeguard stopped us to talk. He didn~t speak any english mind you, so he said the only thing he knew how to say "I love you" lol. He really like Mariannik, he wanted to know her name and didn~t even ask mine! lol.. I think its cause of the blonde hair... shes a true blonde with fair skin, and they know thats not brazillian.

After our walk we went back to the hotel and decided to go swimming in the pool. The pool was really just a big bathtub... but what the heck eh! We got there and just got our feet in when these 4 kids came running in with their family and started doing belly flops in the pool... so, we got out. There was a younger looking guy in the family, probably the best looking guy we had seen all day (all the guys at the beach werent that good looking). Anyhow, we left back to our room but decided to come back later. The guy was still there, with his uncle, and came over to talk to us. So my big news is, we met our FIRST brazillian soccer player! Lol. He played for the city of Sao Paulo and seemed like a good guy. He didn~t speak very well, but could get by. He said his job was only to play soccer, and he lived in a sorta dorm/gym thingy with the rest of his team, yet he was on holiday now.

So we chatted a bit, dake a few beers, but overall just a fun experience. And no, he didn~t come back to our room or anything like that. I forgot to mention how small our rooms were! Ill post a video on facebook some day. We were too tired anyhow, we fell asleep by 11:20 im sure. The hot weather, and always waking up early for breakfast was hard!!

OH! and breakfast here is halarious. Fruit (good) strong coffee (good) ham and cheese (ok...) biskets and bread rolls (strange but tasty) chocolate cake (what the..?!?) They serve an assortment of cakes. Its so weird. But the coffe is really great... its so strong, but Im starting to love it. Its not like canadian or Korean either.. so much better. I put way too much sugar in mine, and Im probably going to be addicted.

So thats all for today. Its sunday and raining, so theres not much to do, but paying for a computer cafe (or as they say lan house) isn~t my favorite thing! TTYL

Lynds

Going to the Beach... aka my new Home!

After a while, Mariannik, (the french girl I was to be placed with) arrived in the city of Belo Horizonte. Also, Peter, who was being placed north of Sao Paulo arrived as well. Together, we were team fun! I love them both! Peter is really funny, and I could laugh at Mariannik's accent all day, lol, shes a true qubecer! We got to hang out alot before we left Belo. I miss peter, it brought a sorta je ne sais quoi to the group.

We ended up switching out of Ville Emma (a hotel that our company put us up in) for a cheaper hostel that was close. The hostel O sorroso was great! Wellington owned it, he was this big black dude who was way too friendly. One night we got pizza to share and cook, but the oven didn~t work, so he let us into our house to use his! Then Mariannik droped the pizza on the floor, lol, but only half, so we ate the other! Oh, and when we had to go to the police station to get our country cards, and visa extentions, Wellington drove us, waited for us, and when we didn~t have enough money, he lent us money! How nice eh??

All the brazillians we~ve met have been so nice! We have had nothing but amazing friendly people, and I love them all. Its funny tho, waitress's and people who walk around teh street sometime seem stuckup, but then you get a laugh out of them and they are so friendly. Nobody speaks english. They just keep talking longer and longer in Portuguese, and its sooo difficult. Im susprised at how little English they have here!

Oh... so anyhow, we took the bus from Belo to Sao Paulo, and from Sao Paulo we took another bus to Gauruja (the beach city we are living in now) It was a long trip, and we were really tired when we got here. Cessoro is our Boss. He picked us up from the bus station, and I didn~t even realise it was him, because he was wearing very ordanary clothes. Its funny here, this is the only country where everyone wants to look poor, because then they won~t get robbed. If you wear jewerly, then theres more of a chance.

Anyhow, he brought us to our school, and its really great! Alot like Yes Youngdo, nice classrooms, big, clean. I liked it alot. They have a set cirrculum, and our other boss Patricia is very helpful and she wants to make everything easy for us. Brazillians are wonderful people.


Heres a picture of me and a student. Shes not my student, but shes very sweet and tries hard. Oh, and thats Mariannik, shes adorable, isn't she?


My time is almost up on my computer, so I should get going. We are living in a hotel right now, and will be going to live in Cessoro's apartment tomorrow morning. I will tell you guys more about it once we get more settled.

Love and miss you all!

Lynds

BRAZIL!

Ok! So I made it! Im in brazil and I survived! The flights were all great, they were on time and not much turbulance. I got some good sleep and met up with nichole in toronto. Our hotel is pretty good, clean and simple and we also met up with heather and william, so we have a little group down here to travel with which is really nice.


The weather is.. great! Not too hot, but warm. We are all wearing flipflops, and apparently blend in, since everyone seems to think im from here and comes up to me and speaks in portuguese. I cant say anything. I wish I had learned more!! But the food is great, the people are really friendly too! Im excited to get to the beach and tan a little.

We've been spending alot of time at this little bookstore that is also a resturant. We met some brazilians who speak english and work there, Vinny and Gustavo. They are wonderful, they brought us to a beautiful man-made lake next to a soccer statium in Belo Horazonte, which we loved. We went to dinner with them almost every night, and ate too much good food. They were so helpful. One night we ended up drinking too much beer and had way too much fun! We are in a great part of the city as well, so everything is fairly upscale and there are that many poor people.

The poor people live in places called favalas, which are basically slums... they are usually just outside or around the city and we have been told various times never to go there. The city is really beautiful, and they have huge trees that look like jungle trees. They have tons of flowers, and vegetation. The shops are really nice as well, but its so strange. At night the shops close up, but they close and bring these garage like doors down, so everything looks poor and crappy at night. They dont have windows to show whats inside the store, cause people would break them and steal everything... they just pull metal doors down instead.

Oh, and Aline is the STI coordinator for my trip. She basically found my job for me and placed me. anyhow, shes amazing! I love her to death. Shes so funny and nice, she has such a wonderful sense of humor!!! We went to lunch with her, had this really great meal. She called a resturant and said she had 5 canadians with her, so they gave her a free meal and girls paid half. It was really fancy. We had meat, but they cooked it on swords. Lol... so these waiters would walk around the resturant, and if you wanted them to cut you off a piece you put a piece of paper green side up and the would come over. It it was red side up they woudlnt. I had lamb, and ostrich, beef, sausage, chicken.. pork, everything! It was such a memorable meal.


Anyhow, I just thought Id msg you guys, I miss you guys but Brazil is very exciting! Its nothing like Korea, they have everything I could ever want, and I didn't need to pack all the bathroom stuff that i did!!


XOXO

Lynds

My Last Day in Canada!

Today is the day. I'm flying out! I'm finally a little nervous.. usually I have nerves of steal, but right before any adventure I start to feel butterflies. It's no biggie. It's kinda nice actually... well after feeling very confident for so long, I was wondering if I was starting to get cocky! Lol.

So last night I had my so called 'going away party' which was named "Lyndsay's going to Brazil tomorrow/Lets eat wings!". I invited a bunch of people out to wings, and we chowed down at oasis. There were so many of my friends and ppl I knew, I was really happy with the turnout! I had a great time! I love hanging out with my friends. (Jenn, Court, Graham, Ryan B, John, Ashley B., Emily, Gab, and Nick and his roomates), I even was brave enough to venture downtown, which I don't normally do! We went to cheers and had delicious drinks, like purple haze, and aqua..something. I've never had them before, but it was def good and worth it!

So now I'm just finishing up getting packed and ready. I got a lot of emails from my family, mom nan and danielle, and was happy to know everyone was thinking of me! Anyhow... I guess I'm off. Let's hope everything goes well! Wish me luck!