Induction Day!

The night before my induction into La Católica, I tagged along with my Brazilian flatmate's friend, Bárbara, to watch the São Paolo footie match. After having eaten dinner with Anna, I wasn't expecting to have to sit through the 90 minutes of appalling football with a mountain of meat and black beans in front of me- somehow, I managed to eat a chicken heart which appeared to have been marinated in salt (luckily, my caipirinha assuaged the disgust...). Bárbara taught me a bit of Portuguese and chatted up the Brazilian waiters, so overall I'd say she had a pretty good night, but I was exhausted by half-time. Sadly, my exhaustion was not reason enough for Bárbara to let me go home. We continued the night across town in Bellavista, at a packed club where we had to queue for half an hour at the smoke-filled bar for a can of beer. As if this wasn't enough, a Bolivian exchange student had taken a liking to us- so much so, that he nearly followed us into the ladies' toilets! My Brazilian flatmate, Cris, eventually arrived to save me from both the bar and the Bolivian, and I escaped at half past 1 to nab a taxi home. Phew!

In anticipation of induction day today, I arrived early at the campus- which was lucky, because, of course, I got a bit lost. Luckily a few friends from Bath joined me and together we found our meeting and received our official credencias to identify us as students- which means heavy discounts on the metro!!!! Oh, the excitement...
A tap on the shoulder during the break, and suddenly I was face to face with (you'll never guess)... the Bolivian from the previous night. My heart sank. I quickly made my excuses and plonked myself between a Finnish girl and an American who were looking to do business courses as well. An hour later, and the coast was clear: I was not going to be followed home by the Bolivian. Satisfied and having heard the responses to every conceivable question relevant to business modules, I headed home to the prospect of Ruth (of whom more is to follow) sleeping on our sofa tonight. Joy...

La Entusiasta
xxx