A quick update

Oi Gente!

Big news: I got an internship here in São Paulo at Deutsche Bank! About four months ago the Brazilian Government passed a new law that allows exchange students to have internships while studying abroad  here. It makes perfect sense. At the FAAP (my university) I will have only night classes from 7-10 making it so I have the whole day open to have an internship. Its great! The whole thing happened very quickly. A friend here put me in touch with people at Deutsche Bank, I sent them my resumé and they asked me to come in and interview. So then yesterday I got myself to the building (after chasing down my bus like a crazy person so I wouldn't be late) and had three different interviews. I don't think I have ever had such shaky hands or thought I was going to pass out while sitting down. After my third interview I got a tour of the building and then was sent on my way. Once I got home, I had an email waiting for me from the guys at the Bank saying congratulations on getting the internship! So there you have it! The first step into my career. You have to start somewhere. And hey, the Germans are really holding things (as in Europe) together right now so working at their bank is a good bet. Anyways I will be working in the electronic trading division for the Latin American region. Here is the Wikipedia link for electronic trading, don't worry I had to look it up too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_trading

I really do not know much more than that at this point. I feel like the biggest deer in the headlights. I do know that I am going to be speaking ALOT of Spanish since more of the clients are Spanish speakers. But then there in the Deutsche Bank office everything is in Portuguese. I will keep you all updated as much as I can. To be honest, I think there is a lot of confidentiality stuff that I am going to have to sign making it so I can't talk about things. I really have no idea. But everything I can share I will!

As for other updates: I spent a marvelous weekend visiting my Brazilian friend Maria and her family in their city Piracicaba, a small city located in the interior of the state of São Paulo. Maria and I met in Barcelona and had so many adventures together including going to Morocco for a week and then Italy. We hadn't seen each other in three years so it was very special to be able to be together again after so long. And this time we were speaking Portuguese! It was great. And of course her family could not of been more hospitable and kind. There really is nothing quite like the Latin American hospitality that you find down here. They treat you as if you are part of the family the second you walk into the door. And what comes with wonderful hospitableness? DELICIOUS home style Brazilian cooking. A new thing that I tried and loved and am actually craving right now as I write this: costelinha de porco, pork ribs. What did you think it was going to be something other than meat? Of course not. Let me tell you people, these are delicious, and I have never tasted anything like them. Erase all images of messy barbecued ribs that you get at Ruby Tuesday's out of your mind right now. Now imagine a big cast iron pot with sizzling oil and garlic, then think of a little pig and what its rib cage probably looks like. Now think of all those little ribs cut up into cubes and dropped into the cast iron pot. The meat is crispy on the outside but oh so tender on the inside. Its possible I ate the whole left side of the pig. Just saying. A delicious new experience.

I am posting some pictures here below that I took of my mini trip. Sorry none of the piglet chops.

 Here is the picture of an old Sugar factory in Piracicaba on the Piracicaba River

 Pedestrian bridge to go across the river

 Adorable little port on the river. I felt like I was in Storyland. I love all the different colors

 Cool pots

 This is a famous dessert/snack here: Acaí. Its a brazilian fruit that they than make into a really yummy sorbet almost. You get it with all sorts of toppings like granola, banana and strawberries. You can't actually see the acaí because of all the toppings but it is a dark purple and tastes somewhat similar to blueberries. It is delicious.

 Where we ate the Acaí

 For dinner we went to Maria's Parents friend's house and has an unbelievable seafood meal. Here they are cooking the seafood in the cast iron pots over a wood fire. Its all so civilized.

 The wood fire warms the surface so the food cooks.

 Finished product: Peixada. You got fish, shrimp, squid. Amazing. God this is painful. The other stew to the left is a fish head stew. Super scrumptious especially with the rice. Again, I had never met these people in my life but they treated me like I was family. It was a lovely evening.

 Here we are out at a Samba Rock bar. It is great here all the bars have live music. From left Me, Bruna (Maria's friend), Ana (Maria's sister), and Maria

Here Maria and I are three years later after Barcelona!


Thats all folks. Tomorrow I take off to Rio de Janeiro for Brazilian Carnaval. It is basically the biggest five day party that happens in the world. I am going with my other Brazilian friend who I met in Barcelona, Inaê. She and a bunch of her friends rented an apartment in Rio and invited me to come along. I am VERY excited to say the least. So look forward to updates from that at the end of next week! It is going to be wild!

Tchau Gente! Beijos!