Epic Mikey

  • May 30 – my last full day in Rio

    I arrived in Rio early in the morning on Tuesday, May 20 after my overnight flight – this is my 11th day “in country”. Today was our debriefing session and two special meals to share what we’ve experienced and learned and to cement the connections among us that have started during the seminar. This morning,…

  • May 29 – my 10th day in Rio

    Today was our last day of learning from ‘experts’, except that we have some experts who are with us every day. The CIEE staff has been incredible: Matthew Ryan, the head of the CIEE study center here, has lived off and on in Rio working with traveling students and faculty for 20 years. Also, Dr.…

  • May 28 (Rio Day 9) – Vila Autodromo

    Just two days of our seminar left, and after that my Rio-related posts to Epic Mikey will be complete. If you like the info and the commentary you’ve been reading here this week, please follow me on twitter – @MarcusAIngram. I post there regularly, and I plan to continue to follow the stories you have…

  • Day 8 in Rio

    Mike has told me that views and visitors are both up since I began blogging on his site. I’m so glad that this experience is having a positive impact on others. Tonight, I’m blogging from the lobby of my hotel. Sorting photos, reviewing notes and writing takes at least an hour or two each night,…

  • Monday May 26 – 7th day in Rio

    A long and excellent day. I was out before sunrise and got these photos on Ipanema beach. The lights that you see creeping up the hill in the background are the lights of a favela on the hillside there (a few miles from here). After the storms of the past 2 days, the surf is…

  • Sunday Mass – Day 6 in Rio

    I’ve made friends here with a professor from another private university in Florida, where he teaches philosophy and religion, and is also an ordained Lutheran priest. He is currently in the process of “crossing the Tiber” – converting to the Roman Catholic church, where he will be ordained again, and will probably be active in…

  • Day 5 in Rio

    Today’s activities were washed out. It began raining hard around midnight, and it is expected to continue for days. All our existing plans were cancelled and we met in the lobby this am to discuss what to do. Along with several others, I decided to take the morning off and hit the museums in the…

  • Day 4 in Rio

    Today has been a long and exhausting day, so the blog will be short. Sunrise is about 6:20 here, and I was on the sidewalk alongside Copacabana to enjoy it this morning. Here is a photo of one of the sand sculptures you see along the way. Also, the huge, two-level temporary Broadcast Center for…

  • Day 3 in Rio

    We got an early start this morning, riding a city bus to the oldest part of town where CIEE has their study center. We had a lesson in basic Portuguese – it is really hard! I learned I’ve been pronouncing all my words wrong. For example, the currency here is the Real, which throughout my…

  • Day 2 in Rio

    [Editor’s note:  Second in a series of posts from my brother Marcus as he visits Rio de Janeiro — Mike] Greetings from Marcus in Rio! Tonight is the last major soccer match before the World Cup begins in 3 weeks. We had an opportunity to go to the game at the huge modern soccer stadium…