Converted Brazilian in one month

You don’t have to be Brazilian to appreciate its hot weather, beautiful beaches and friendly people! I interviewed Samara Deen, a student from Westminster University who spent a month in Brazil during one of her summers and now it’s hard to get her to shut up about it!

Q: Why did you go visit Brazil?
A: I went to Brazil two years ago with my boyfriend. I did’nt really choose to go there, my boyfriend was doing a set travel thing with Startravel and bascially I met him in New Zealand then joined in for the last bit of the trip, and the trip ended in Brazil, then we just stayed there for an extra few weeks. So we ended up staying in Brasil for about a month.

Q: What did you like most about Brazil?
A: I think its the fact that it has absolutly everything! Its got sun, the sea, got beautiful cities, its got rainforests, animals, its got really friendly people, amazing food, and really beautiful music aswell! The samba clubs were amazing!

Q: Have you found any of those amazing samba clubs here in London?
A: I’ve actually found a couple of places, like theres one off picadilly circus that does samba nights and Brazil nights, but I don’t think it would be the same! (laughs)

Q: People always talk about how violent Rio de Janeiro is, did you feel this during your trip?
A: Yeah, well it’s really interesting, it’s not like anywhere I have ever been before because on one hand I felt really safe and happy but there was definitely a violent undertone, especially in the favelas. Like we heard lots of stories about people getting mugged and someone out our hotel had gotten shot the week before we got there. Also there had been a police raid in the favelas, and 27 people had been killed while we were in Rio. So it was a bit edgy, like we were on edge a lot of the time, but at the same time we felt really safe but in a really weird way. I kinda enjoyed that sort of sense of  not being completely safe, it made me feel really alive. It even made the place seem a bit more colourful.

Q: Did you make new friends with the locals?
A: We met a lot of tourists and Brazilians, and all the Brazilians were really friendly. But a lot of them didn’t speak English, so it made communication quite interesting, my acting skills got a bit better (laughs), and they don’t speak Spanish either, so it was a bit difficult. But they were all really friendly lovely people.

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