Day 55: A quick update about the beginning of the end

I've got a week and 3 days left in Brazil and, yes, I'm starting to get sentimental. This will be one of my last posts, because tomorrow morning I'm leaving for a road trip which will end at Yuka and her husband's farm on the border of Mato Grosso (a state in Brazil) and Bolivia. I'll stay there for about four days while I put together everything I've learned about Brazilian art song and ultimately develop a well-formed outline for my presentation: How to Sing Brazilian Art Song. There is a little town about 50 kilometers away from the farm which Yuka says has coffee shops and wi-fi, so perhaps I will get a chance to update my blog one of the days I'm away. If not, I get back a week from now, Sunday July 12, and I'll tell you all about my experience then.

Then I leave for the United States on July 14!

I miss the United States but I don't want to leave Brazil. Almost everyone I know has invited me back to stay with them at some point in the next year. I wish it was that easy! Just hop on a cheap plane and be in Brazil in no time; but Americans don't exactly have time to vacation whenever they'd like. Or the money. At the same time, I can't wait to get home, see my family and friends, and have a break from all this work (yes, it's been fun, the but the majority has been work, I admit)!

A semi-candid picture of me at the Botanical Gardens in Curitiba