Minhas Meninas...

...or "My Girls."

I always feel like one bonds with the people they travel with very quickly because suddenly you are all thrown into the same foreign situation and the only people they have is one another. This held true with me and the girls that are in Sao Paulo with me. Every night we go to dinner together, although we are occassionally accompanied by some of the other global interns, and after dinner we usually hang out. We have had many memorable experiences, like prank calling other interns, trying to translate text messages that boys were sending us in Portuguese, and getting our nails done (Brazilian manicures are super cheap so we have been trying to take advantage of that). We also have developed friendships with most people we meet, including the front desk workers Marcello and Gustavo (I serenade Gustavo every night after we come home form dinner and he is working), and waiters at most restaurants.

Doing the laundry has been one of our biggest adventures. The front desk initially told us that we had to have our laundry sent away to be dry cleaned but that was just too much of a hassle. The laundry was going to take 36 hours (which is a long time when you only packed three pairs of jeans) and was going to cost a Brazilian king's ransom. I had purchased a bottle of detergent the other day so I could wash my underwear in the sink (a habit I developed in Ireland) and it came in handy when we discovered that there was a washing machine and dryer in the basement. The only problem was the elevator didn't go down to the basement so our crusade for clean clothes led us all over the hotel. It was a stealth mission because we had to be sure to avoid Marcello, the front desk worker who told us that the washing machine was only for "long term guests," and apparently one month is not long term.

We also have group chats during the day at work and just laugh a lot. Laura also made us promise that when we get married (although most of us think we may die alone/become cat women) we have to invite the other three to the wedding. The sad part is that in less than two weeks we will be scattered all over the US, but I'm sure we will keep in touch everytime something comes up that reminds us of our time in Brazil. I know this happens to me with the Wolfpack from Dublin. A song will come on the radio and the only people that will really get it are those girls. I imagine it will be the same this time and we will be emailing each other constantly once we are back in the States and miss Sao Paulo.