January 8, 2015
Day 7:
This morning we flew into Curitiba! I was very excited to come here because I had learned about Curitiba in class so it was cool to finally see some of those things. Once we landed, we got our luggage and got in a taxi that would take us to our hotel. Our taxi ride was very interesting. We had no idea what the man was say to us because he did not speak a word of English. Unfortunately for us, our group was separated so it was not like Tait could have tried to communicate with him. After a crazy car ride, we finally arrived at the hotel. After we put our stuff down, we went to explore a little. First, we had lunch, which was buffet style. It was very good, but little did we know we would be having the same type of food for dinner that night. It turns out that in Curitiba they enjoy eating the same thing over and over again. Also, the servers at the restaurants do not stop bringing out food until you tell them you do not want anymore.
Jessica and I also gave our presentation on Curitiba today. We talked about the green city and its transportation, its history, its parks, etc. Today was a very relaxing day.
Day 7:
This morning we flew into Curitiba! I was very excited to come here because I had learned about Curitiba in class so it was cool to finally see some of those things. Once we landed, we got our luggage and got in a taxi that would take us to our hotel. Our taxi ride was very interesting. We had no idea what the man was say to us because he did not speak a word of English. Unfortunately for us, our group was separated so it was not like Tait could have tried to communicate with him. After a crazy car ride, we finally arrived at the hotel. After we put our stuff down, we went to explore a little. First, we had lunch, which was buffet style. It was very good, but little did we know we would be having the same type of food for dinner that night. It turns out that in Curitiba they enjoy eating the same thing over and over again. Also, the servers at the restaurants do not stop bringing out food until you tell them you do not want anymore.
Jessica and I also gave our presentation on Curitiba today. We talked about the green city and its transportation, its history, its parks, etc. Today was a very relaxing day.
January 8, 2015
Day 8:
Today we got to explore Curitiba! First, we got on a double-decker bus that took us to the many parks that were positioned around the city. These parks were very beautiful and looked interestingly modern. The parks were very clean and well organized and they had separate paths for walkers, runners, and bikers. The park also offered public exercise equipment in which the community could use. After walking around the parks, we got back on the bus and went to the 24-hour mall. The mall was really cool looking! We did some shopping and bought some really good ice cream. Once we left the mall we went to the Botanical Garden, which was beautiful! There were flowers everywhere and everything was so colorful! The pictures that I will have illustrated below really do not do the garden justice.
After the garden we took a tour of Curitiba’s famous bus system. I was very excited to see this system because I had done a lot of research on it. It was very cool seeing the buses operating in full swing. However, I would have liked to ride the buses and go through the ticket process using the tubular bus stops. I think that it would have been a very cool experience for us all because we had done research on them. After getting a look at the bus system, we walked around another market. Then, we got back on the bus for the last time and took the full tour around the city, passing very beautiful buildings and museums.
I enjoyed today very much. My partner Jessica and I had picked Curitiba for our presentation so it was very cool to finally see it in person.
January 10, 2015
Day 9:
This morning we picked up our laundry. It ended up being a very difficult task because the woman at the Laundromat did not speak a word of English. So we ended up using an app on our phone that helped translate what we wanted done to our clothes. It was actually pretty funny! The majority of the day we lounged around and waited for our next flight to Iguacu Falls.
I’m not going to lie; this was my first time staying at a hostel so I was a bit nervous. I wasn’t sure how the whole ‘sharing a house with strangers’ situation was going to work. At first I was very uncomfortable but that soon changed once I got to know everyone. People at the hostel were very welcoming and free-spirited. One thing I noticed about people from Brazil is that they all seem very friendly and like to make sure you feel welcomed. Today we got to meet everyone staying at the hostel, which was very cool. It’s awesome that there are people from all over the world staying under the same roof! We got to hear some pretty cool stories; actually, one of the guys staying with us is going to interview Jamie Lerner who is the major Curitiba! After hearing all these interesting stories the owners of the hostel cooked us up a BBQ, which consisted of bread, various meats, and salad. I enjoyed this meal very much because it was different than all the other meals we were constantly having. I love the hostel!