Pajareo sin fronteras

Não sou covarde, já tô pronta pro combate Keep Calm e deixa de recalque O meu sensor de periguete explodiu Pega sua inveja e vai pra…  -Valesca Popouzuda, Beijinho no Ombro Quick, think of an image of Brazil. If it wasn't the Amazon rainforest or a really big statue of Jesus, it was probably a bunch of attractive women in a parade wearing inexplicably elaborate headdresses and not much else from the neck down. Something like this or this  (the first and fourth images you get when you search "Brazil Carnaval" on Google, sort of NSFW). I had at least a vague concept before getting here that that's pretty strictly a custom of Rio de Janeiro, and that the rest of the country has its own set of traditions. I know that in New Orleans it means lots of parades, silly costumes, and creative ways of getting bead necklaces, while in Bolivia it's mostly an excuse to party on the street on weekdays and throw paint at complete strangers (except in Oruro ). And I kn

“To him the stars seemed like so many musical notes affixed to the sky, just waiting for somebody to unfasten them. Someday the sky would be emptied, but by then the earth would be a constellation of musical scores.” -Machado de Assis In choosing Belo Horizonte, I was keenly aware that the lack of a beach meant that very few other people would be wishing to go there on study abroad. As I mentioned in my last blog entry, why spend 6 months in Brazil if you can't enjoy sun, beaches, and scandalous swimwear? And indeed, most people do choose to study abroad on the coast, in places like Rio or Florianópolis that are much more touristy, and reminiscent of the "essential" Brazil. Here in BH, there are only 2 other American university students, as well as a number of high school exchanges through Rotary who I see every once in a while. What I didn't expect was that there are 51 other study abroad students here along with me from other countries.  Out of the 54