first day

Today was our first day to spend more than a few hours on campus. For my group it was quite interesting. We started off by going to the bandejão, the main cafeteria. "They" say that they serve around 6,000 lunches aday and 4,000 more meals at night. It was packed and we picked a seat next to Kobe Bryant. We noticed this guy right when we walked in from a distance since he was the only one wearing a Lakers jersey. The conversation didn't really progress passed "Kobe is the king!" Afterwards we walked all over campus and couldn't find anyone with whom to talk. So we walked across the street to the campus "bar" and snack place. No one was inside except for one "giant" table of 20-or-so students. We sat down at a table not too far away and over the next 10 minutes another 20 seemed to walk in. They were singing drinking songs and giving toasts to one another (we learned later they had just finished a big test). After a few minutes one group started playing cards so two of the guys (Jason and Jeremy) walked over and asked if they could watch and learn how to play truco. Within minutes everyone gathered around and was asking who we were and why we were in Brazil. It was great. We met most of the class and got invited to a Ponte Preta game on Saturday.