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Filed under: universidade

Ch-Ch-Changes

I feel like a lot happened today.  In reality, maybe it wasn’t that much, but the cultural differences and language barrier make everything that much more complicated.  Hence, I’m dedicating this post to the culture adjustments I’m making (read:  trying to make) in Brazil.  The title is also a reference to what appears to be Brazilians’ love of American 80s music.  I haven’t heard any Bowie yet, but I have heard Karma Chameleon, Africa, and Don’t Stop Believin’ several times.  Not 80s, but “Hollaback Girl” appears to be a popular choice as well.  (My favorite musical experience has to be the little kids singing “Yellow Submarine,” though.)

So, today was my first real day of school at PUC-SP.  It was scary.  I had heard that upperclassmen haze, but I didn’t expect to see kids covered in paint, chugging cachaça at 7:30 am.  For whatever reason, I had signed up for an upper-level economics course this morning, so I managed to avoid most of it.  I heard it got worse in the afternoon.  I’m planning to act like I know what I’m doing and avoid this for the rest of the week (it also helps that the freshmen are about 17, and I look quite a bit older than them). 

My class wasn’t bad; the professor basically just introduced the course (no one goes to class for at least the first week, so there were four guys there in their later 20s in professional-looking clothing- maybe I don’t belong in this course, but I have another week to decide). 

But, on to the everyday cultural differences I promised.  In my opinion, one of the biggest is the difference in dating/flirting/I’m not sure what you’d want to call it.  If I wear a skirt, shorts, or anything relatively form fitting, I get about five car horns while walking down the street, two guys making kissing noises at me, and the occasional dude who is even more forward (hanging out of cars, asking you to come with him, the persistent jogger who gave me his email address as a way to contact him).  In a club, guys just grab you.  And they don’t really like to let go.  It’s gotten to the point where this is no longer an ego boost.  I would just like it to stop.  But it’s 90 degrees (farenheit) this week; I’m not about to wear a big sweatshirt and sweatpants everywhere I go. 

Temperature brings me to my next point.  I don’t know metric.  This leads to a lot of conversions when my computer is available and to some mix-ups when it’s not.  For example, today at the mall, I spent about R$14 on fro-yo.  I looked at the R$5.50 for some amount which I don’t really remember (but assumed it was standard), and thought “Wow, this is cheap.”  Not so much.  (I should admit that my inability to estimate weights and measures probably contributed to this mistake.) 

I was really at the mall for about a half-hour at the most, but this was not my only issue while there.  I went with the purpose of finding frozen yogurt, checking out the Starbucks (for the future), and just wandering around a little.  While there, I remembered that I’ve already rendered one pair of sandals useless and that one half of my other pair is missing a heel.  I casually strolled into a shoe store to be confronted with the fact that I only know my shoe size in U.S. sizes.  Everything around me was labeled with a size somewhere in the 30s.  Unwilling to come across as the “stupid American” (which I feel like I do fairly often), I went right back out.  Or maybe I didn't want them to see my awkwardly sunburnt/tanned feet.  (I also bought some new suntan lotion- it's Nivea brand this time.)

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After that adventure, I proceeded to discover Stroganoff-flavored ruffles, was, once again, mystified by the vast under-supply of (and I guess demand for) peanut butter, and was forced to face the reality that there is no Dr. Pepper available here :(.  Like I said, big day. 

Stroganuffles