Rio de Janeiro

Its taken a while to put this together as there's quite a lot I want to say - a lot will be reserved for a later date.

Five weeks experience of Rio has proved to render some clichés as false. The Brazilians are seeminly pretty vain - a myriad of gyms exist, including quite a few outdoor ones, and the number of health & beauty shops is staggering. Judging Rio on a film like City of God or Elite Squad is like judging English football on Green Street or Football Factory - true, but to only a small extent. Touching large amounts of wood, Rio isnt the terrible caricature portrayed by those films. Although I'm living in the confortable Zona Sul bubble (neighbourhoods here such as Ipanema and Leblon are probably as upmarket and expensive as anywhere on the continent) there are large areas in the north of the city that do shock you upon seeing them. Accidently ending up in Rocinha favela, the transition between the two parts of Rio is remarkable - you are almost going from first to third world in the space of a five minute bus ride and less than half a mile.

The setting of Rio is unquestionably beautiful - the way the city has built itself around the small morros (hills) and tropical vegetation is awesome. Though it has to be said - if it wasn´t for the lushness of its setting, Rio would be borderline ugly - Copacabana is full of high rises and chain stores, devoid of any pleasent idiosynchracies, and the rest of the centre isnt much better. The financial centre, Centro, is bizarre - you get lovely buildings like the national theatre right next to some of the most grotesque concrete mostrosities imaginable. However, the decadence and colonial architecture of Lapa and Santa Teresa makes up for the drabness of a lot of the city - these are the oldest parts of the city and have the most character and history.

Life here is both relaxed and hectic. Brazilians are in no hurry to do anything, except a) driving buses as fast as humanely possible, and b) playing football.

Less people speak English than you´d think here. I have to make a daily concious effort to purge Spanish from my mind - after a month I still say ´si´ instead of ´sim´. The accent is also tough to grasp - Portuguese here is very nasal, sometimes I wonder if putting a clothespeg on my nose would help me get understood more.

University life is somewhat different to back in Leeds. Not wishing to open a can of worms on the whole British education system, but I recieve three times as many hours as I did in Leeds - for half the tuition fees. The Uni hours are intresting - lectures at such ungodly hours 7am and 11pm are not uncommon, I'm guessing its something to do with a lack of classrooms. As a result I tactfully chose modules with more sociable hours, even if it means that I'm studying Ancient Roman Culture, and being the only non-Brazilian in the class. Lectures are more relaxed than back home - you are free to take a break whenever you want, and turning up half an hour late for class is totally fine. In fact, you're a bit of a freak if you're on time here. Apart from football, which never fails to start ao punto ingles .

Thats all for now from Rio. I'm aiming to venture out of the city soon to see more of Brazil, since I am yet to experience anything other than Rio.
Jack