Brasil's Hidden Gem; Floripa

Floripa is an incredible place to study abroad. It is very safe and is populated by friendly people from all over the world. However, the best part is the location. The endless beautiful beaches, hikes, small fisher communities, soccer, surfing, extravagant clubs, low key bars, etc. The exploring lasted all semester. Everything you could ever want for an abroad experience is right there on the island. The few times I traveled to other cities, people would ask, "why are you traveling? I would kill to be in Floripa." I would only suggest going spring semester though because I got there in the summer and pretty much had a month vacation with Portuguese classes and got to settle in before school started. I also got to experience carnival. I learned a lot of things in my classes and many were hands on which allowed us sort of a VIP access to talk to locals and visit places we otherwise probably would of never known about or had access to. However, the classes were extremely long since they were cramming a whole semester into a short time and some classes only once a week. Also many professors had a strong language barrier which made things difficult. Another thing that was difficult is especially in the beginning, before I got the hang of things, people take advantage of you if you are American. For example, I would get charged more for almost anything I bought until I learned more Portuguese and learned how to bargain. It was good though because it kept me on my toes and made me more aware of my surroundings.