Minha vida no Brasil

Brazil, oh Brazil. I love you. I really do. I really don’t think that there is a place in the world exactly like Brazil. Throughout the past few weeks, the Sao Paulo team (with the addition of some friends we’ve made along the way) has been exploring Brazil beyond the city; the rustic countryside is such a contrast from the concrete jungle that we've been living in over the past two months! We’ve taken a trip to Florianopolis where we met up with the other MHIRT students; the beaches were beautiful and we had the opportunity to enjoy the stunning landscape. We’ve also taken a mini-trip to Embu, a small city where many artists go to sell their arts and crafts.  Next weekend we’re planning on taking a trip to Ubatuba, a beach about 3 hours away from Sao Paulo. In about the next week and a half, we’re headed to Rio de Janeiro with some people in our pousada (apartment) and the MHIRT students from Floripa!

A few things have happened since my last blog post: Firstly, I lost my wallet (I know, I know). The last place I remember having it was on the city bus – I took my wallet out of my book bag to pay the bus driver and my wallet has not been seen since then. The great thing about this experience is that I did not have any cash or anything extremely valuable in my wallet; the really bad thing about it is that I lost BOTH my credit and debit card and I had no access to my bank account for a few days. So, I’ve learned my lesson the hard way – I need to be much more careful and I should never carry everything (especially bank cards and important documents) at once.

Secondly, my project is almost complete! I’ve run my second-to-last immunoblot last week, and the proteins that I’m testing are consistently present in my samples. The PhD student that I’m working with has gotten food poisoning and has been out of the lab for a few days, so I’ve been reading a lot of academic papers; I’m trying to completely understand the mechanisms behind what I’m doing because i'll be presenting my research project before I leave! While I never thought of neuroscience as a career choice, I’m becoming more and more interested in what I am studying each day – I’ve actually began looking at neuroscience masters/PhD programs.

Thirdly, I’m not ready to leave Brazil. While I miss my friends and family, I’m definitely going to miss the relationships I’ve fostered over the past two months.  

Until next time.