Our first day in Brazil!

By Luna Valderrama

This was our very first day in Sao Paulo and our very first day in Brazil! My flight had arrived early in the morning, so a few of us had to stay in the SP airport hotel. It was tight, to say the least. It was certainly not a pleasant experience, but at this point we have about 8 hours before the rest of the cohort arrives. Eventually, the rest of the cohort arrived and we met with Marilia, our Campus b program coordinator. We didn’t know it at that moment, but we were going to absolutely fall in love with her.

We boarded the bus which took us to the hotel. I think that this was one of our first bonding moments as a group! All of us huddled up in the hotel bathroom, fresh off a plane, trying desperately to get ready for a day in Sao Paulo with only the items in our carry-on. One of us had toothpaste, another person with makeup, someoneelse had perfume handy, and deodorant of course. We made it work! And it was adorable.

We eventually made our way onto the bus for our tour of downtown. I was so, so pumped. One of my favorite things about traveling is seeing the “downtown” of the cities I visit. I find that they often have some of the richest history. I knew the minute we arrived that I would fall in love with Sao Paulo because something about it was just so familiar to me. We arrived at the Mercadão Municipal do São Paulo where we were strongly advised to NOT accept any of the fruit being sold in the market because we would be charged. However, I walked around with Zoe and people were just handing us things left and right– no charge! We found it to be very sweet.

Then we met with the rest of our cohort and they told us that they did NOT have the same experience. Maybe we were extra special. The market felt so welcoming and the fruit was so, so fresh. I truly enjoyed being in the market because the stained glass windows were so beautiful and there was live music playing, which made the environment feel very sweet. Also, my grandpa is a butcher in a market similar to this one, so it all felt so familiar to me.

Shortly after the market we made our way to the cathedral, which was breathtaking. We were told that all of the artistic structures were made of real gold. I was also surprised to see an image of La Virgen de Guadalupe, as she is a Mexican Catholic religious figure. We chose to leave our tour of Liberdade for another day because we were absolutely exhausted and in great need of a shower and a nap.

We closed off our long day with the Welcome Dinner. We ended up at a steakhouse near our hotel. It was delicious and I was really happy to try some Brazilian cuisine. Overall, it was an excellent first day, and I would go back to Sao Paulo in a heartbeat if I could. What an incredible start to our time in this city.