The flight to Brazil was better than what I had expected. 

 Once getting here, we got welcomed with open arms from Esteban and we felt right at home. We got to the flat and it is beautiful. This is what the balcony view looks like:

The university is literally 2 blocks away and everything is basically walking/bus distance.

I love the concept of the kilo restaurants which is basically get a plate, fill it with what you want and pay for the weight. Amazing.

Unfortunately the internet here is a lot slower than what we had expected but we are hoping that this gets resolved soon. The 3g usb sticks they gave us only work so well when it wants to. But for the purpose of our research, it gets the job done.

We had minor setbacks with getting our project started, but Esteban has done more than enough to make sure that we have all the necessary equipment; from getting us access to the grad labs to getting equipment that needed to be taken to the apartment! 

Next time I do another abroad program, note to self: Learn the language ASAP before arriving! >.<