Summer in Brazil: Tchau
As everyone is aware, goodbyes are always difficult. I never could’ve imagined how close I could get to someone in just six weeks, but this program truly showed me that it’s more than enough time to make lifelong friendships. I can confidently say that I came out of this program a different person than I was when I came into it.
The last week of the program went by so fast that I still haven’t even fully processed that I’m laying in my own room again. At the beginning of the week, everyone was in full study mode. We were assigned a couple of projects and papers, and we also had a final exam, so for the first half of the week, none of us really had time to do much of anything else. Right after I finished my final exam, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief and walked to the park to lay in the sun and start fully enjoying my last couple of days in São Paulo.
Those final days were filled with spending as much time as possible with my friends and eating at all the local restaurants so I could say goodbye to the workers I had gotten close to. I also got açaí multiple times that week because it was my last chance to have real açaí bowls, not the overly sweetened version we have back in the US.
The week ended with a farewell dinner that the CET staff hosted at a restaurant in our neighborhood, Perdizes. The dinner was amazing and honestly the perfect way for all of us to share one last moment together. It was one of those restaurants where the waiters walk around with trays of food and you tell them whether you want what they’re offering, so by the end of the dinner, I was absolutely stuffed. The place was filled with the best energy. There was live music playing, everyone walking around and talking, laughing, and hugging so it felt like the perfect sendoff. When the dinner ended, we all said our goodbyes to each other, but honestly, I still haven’t fully processed the fact that I won’t be seeing most of these people for a very long time.
Six weeks ago, I didn’t know pretty much anybody in the program. We went from that to spending every single day together and experiencing life in a new country side by side. And now we’re all going back to our own lives, in different cities, with no real idea when we’ll see each other again, or when I’ll even get to come back to Brazil.
On my final night in São Paulo, I went to an outdoor concert downtown for the Brazilian DJ Mochakk. I went with one of my closest friends from the program, Hyla, and we had the best last night together. We danced the entire night and met so many amazing people at the event. I truly couldn’t have asked for a better final night in São Paulo.
Despite the fact that my time here is over, I am confident that the memories I created and the individuals I encountered will last forever. As I depart São Paulo, I have an abundance of emotions and a greater understanding of the connections we form when we welcome new experiences.
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Summer in Brazil is a 6-week summer program sponsored by the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane University and the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies at Vanderbilt University. It caters to graduate and undergraduate students who wish to achieve a high-level of Portuguese fluency through immersion in Brazilian culture.
You can learn more about our Summer in Latin America programs here.
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