the "Ciadade Maravilhosa": initial impressions
A week in Rio, or "the Marvelous City", has already passed, so I thought it was time to get my blog up and running. I want to use this as a space to document and share this incredible experience, and to reassure my parents that I'm alive and well (hi, Mom and Dad!).
For anyone who doesn't know, I'm spending my summer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Through my graduate program at USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, where I'm working on my master's in communication management, I'm interning for Textual Comunicação. Textual, as it's more commonly known, is a leading PR firm in Brazil, specializing in corporate and sports-related PR. Textual's major clients include the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games, the Brazilian Olympic Committee, Coca Cola Brasil, and many other brands, companies and organizations that are involved with the Games in various capacities.
There are eight other women in this program with me, all of us graduate students in Annenberg. The others are interning with the likes of GE, Edelman Significa, O Globo (the New York Times of Brazil) and TV Globo (South America's biggest TV station; it's about the size of ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News and CNN put together). We're all working in some capacity with and around the Olympic Games.
In terms of accommodation, we're all split up around the South Zone of Rio, sharing apartments close to our offices. I'm living in Ipanema, which you might know from this song (press play for some mood music). Yes, I've been singing it the entire time we've been here. Our apartment is nice, and so is the area it's in. It isn't exactly what you think of when someone says an apartment at home is "nice", but this is Brazil, and I have no complaints. Ipanema is a really exciting neighborhood to be in. There is always something going on here (actually though, parties in the streets go on until the wee hours of the morning on any given night of the week). Ipanema is also home to some of Rio's best shopping, trendiest restaurants, most fun nightlife and cleanest, most beautiful beaches. All of this is just a short walk from my building. Again, I say, absolutely no complaints.
My biggest reservation about this summer in Brazil was the language barrier. Sure, English is a pretty universal language, but it just isn't the case that everyone in Brazil speaks it like you'd encounter in other parts of the world (looking at you, Europe). Portuguese is a hard language to wrap your ear around, let alone speak. My knowledge of Spanish and French come in handy in terms of reading Portuguese, but when it comes to listening and speaking, the kindergarteners at the school next to my apartment are certainly better off than I am as of now. To give you a little insight into the nuances of listening to and speaking Portuguese: an ã is pronounced as a nasal ah; a ch is pronounced as an sh; a ç is pronounced as an s; a d is pronounced as a j; a j is pronounced as an sh; an m is pronounced as an ng; an r is pronounced as an h; and a t is pronounced as a ch. Oh, and there are regional variations and accents to contend with; an s is pronounced as an s if you're from São Paulo, but it's pronounced as an sh if you're from Rio. Obviously, it feels like no small victory when I'm able to successfully communicate with a waiter, Uber driver or doorman.
That said, I've found that Brazilians are some of the nicest, friendliest and warmest, most helpful, hospitable and welcoming people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I've taken to saying that I can communicate more easily with Brazilians, despite the language barrier, than I could with Brits, even though theirs is my first language. A lot of the Brazilians I've encountered have been shy to use the English they do know, but it tends to be a lot better than they might think it is, and it's most definitely better than my Portuguese (which I'm quick to tell them).
My second-biggest reservation about spending a summer in Rio was the weather. Yes, it is Brazil's winter (southern hemisphere), but the weather app on my iPhone still shows 88% humidity in Rio at basically all times. Sounds terrible, right? Luckily, that's not the case. The weather in Rio right now is so beautiful you almost don't even notice it. It's all high-70's and sunshine and a slight sea breeze and I have to say, it is divine. We did have one day of significant cloud coverage and a bit of rain, but it wasn't enough to break out my rainbooties (which, actually, I was bummed about). Regardless, I'm grateful for the absence of what I thought would be insanely high humidity (also regardless, everywhere here air conditions like it's going out of style, so I carry a jacket if I'm going to be inside at all).
I think that's enough for now. I'll have another post up soon about my first week's activities and other fun stuff.
Thanks for reading! GS
TL;DR recap: despite a 10-hour flight delay out of Miami, I'm in Rio safe and sound; I'm interning here for nine weeks this summer around the Olympics; my apartment is nice; my neighborhood is nice; Portuguese is hard; Brazilians are nice; the weather is nice.