Tres Dia!

 Today was our first day of class at our lovely classroom/park in Escoloa De Artes Visuais Do Parque Lage! We caught cabs after a quick breakfast at the hotel, and after a short drive we arrived at the class.  Although we call it a classroom, in reality we're studying at a beautiful landmark surrounded by nature, perfect for our subject matter! From outside the school you can see the Christ the Redeemer statue looming nearby over head in the mountains.  Besides the beautiful scenery, the school building's architecture itself is gorgeous with an outdoor courtyard and pond in the center.  Once we stopped admiring the view we got down to business and compared our five sketches from Jardim Botanico, both good and bad sketches.  For our first lecture we learned about the world of plants, and we practiced doing warm up sketching exercises to flex our artistic abilities.  We then explored the grounds and practiced really observing and sketching our surroundings in privacy.

After class many of us headed out to the beach to get some sun and relax.  We discovered that because it was a weekday the beach was less crowded, and there was much more space to spread out for our large group.  After getting sun-kissed (and in some cases burnt), we returned to the hotel for more free time until dinner.  We began to really bond and get to know each other better while hanging out!

Our group then cleaned up and met to walk together to the upscale Hotel Othon.  The elevator took us up to the top floor where we were able to get a different perspective of Copacabana beach.  We hung out on the roof top to watch the sun set and take some photographs.  The view was absolutely breathtaking! At this point all of our tummies were rumbling, so we rushed over to an Arabian restaurant a few blocks away for a change from the traditional brazilian food we've been eating.  The food was delicious, but the conversation was even better so we hung out there for awhile.  By the time we got back everyone was full, happy, and tired.  We can't wait for what tomorrow has in store for us!

Tchau!!

Jesse and Gabby