I look back on my posts(and my life) and realize how much less cynical I am today than I was six months ago. I'm proud of this. I think going abroad and living in BA provided so much more opportunity to really live and as a result enjoy life even more. I feel like this all really set in for me in Brazil, where I was surrounded by carefree -yet, not apathetic - people. The Brazilians have this attitude of loving life and not letting things get them down. So many of the Brazilians I met were the type of people who wouldn't complain about having to get up at 5 am to go to work, they'd just do it and joke around with their friends when they got there. They're the type of people who you see stripping their business clothes during their lunch break and jumping into the ocean with so much gusto! A lot of places I went, people thought I was brazilian and would start talking to me in portuguese. Sometimes, i'd understand and would respond in spanish/italian before i got out that i don't falo portugues. Other times, id just look confused and smile, and they'd be like honey, you ain't got any idea what i just said and laugh. And for that, I thank them because they always made light of it and had the patience to start speaking slower and try to help me understand. They didn't give up or get someone who speaks broken english to translate. In general, I've never seen so many people take that little bit of extra time to make a joke, smile, or care a little. I've really tried to adopt this. They say it takes three weeks to break a habit and form a new one. When I left after three weeks I definitely felt different and that I had gained an appreciation for their way of life and incorporated it into my own.