Independent Studying

 Yummy watermelon! 

Ice cream by the water in Ribeira for Carolyn's 21st birthday

(My roommates Callie and Carolyn)

Ribeira with Carolyn

At the Dique lake in front of the Orixa statues. 

Stateside in one week

Today marks one week until I return home to Chapel Hill. I am at the point where I ready to go home and culminate this experience but I am starting to get a little bit nostalgic about my time here and sad about leaving Salvador. I have a lot to do in this next week. The research monographs are due in two days and I have been working hard on finishing it up. I have never written something so long. I am proud of the work that I am doing and I believe I am doing my topic justice. I even taught myself how to use a statistics computer program which is a big deal because I have avoided math since graduating high school. In a really dorky way, I have actually enjoyed these past four weeks of research and being on my own schedule. It definitely was an adjustment going from scheduled academic time to having an open schedule and a looming due date. I decided that I like doing primary research and I hope to have the opportunity to perform more research in the future. Besides working on my research project I have actually had a lot of free time to go to the beach, cook, and see new places in Salvador. My two roommates and I spend a lot of time cooking yummy food and eating good produce that we get at the big open air market. Its so cheap! It has been quite a luxurious lifestyle and I feel very fortunate. I am going to miss this country very much and I don't think I could ask anything more of my experience. At times it wasn't what I had expected but nothing ever is what you expect. I know that I will be able to leave here satisfied, a bit sad, excited, ready to go home, but also wanting more from Brazil. I know that I will be back here. It is just too amazing of a country.