We’re at the Atlanta airport waiting for our flight to Rio, and it’s fianlly hitting me that we’re going to be in Brazil in 12 hours. It seems like we’ve been planning and preparing for so long that it hasn’t felt real until now. The taste of spring that Columbus gave us this week has made me even more ready for 90 degree weather in rio.
When I was swing dancing this week, I happen to meet a young woman named Livia from Sao Paulo who recently moved to Columbus. She told me that rio is her favorite city in the world. Upon finding out that I know so little Portuguese, she taught me some useful phrases that I’m excited to try out. Livia also told me about a dance style called forro that is very popular in Brazil. She recommended that I try it while we’re there, and showed me a video of what the dance looks like. When we get there, I want to find out if there’s somewhere in the city to dance, and hopefully get a group of people to come with me and experience this aspect of Rio’s rich culture! I’m interested to see how social dance culture differs from the United states.