Virtual Tour

Come! Take a walk with me inside my lovely house.

The house is put together!!

Africa Themed Front Room



Kitchen....notice the food storage




My Sewing Room/ Office






My Bedroom where I sleep

Goodbye Braids

The braids recently had their demise after a long three months of life and enjoyment....don't worry, I did wash my hair still, you can still wash it with shampoo and everything, so I don't have lice or anything. Here are some before and after images:

During a Mozambique Reunion


Signing the very last loan document on the 7th of October when I closed my house.


Can't keep my eyes open to take a picture of myself


Another puff ball photo moment


On the left: my hair that I lost...Three months of it. On the right: the plastic hair I took out.

ellen's home....a house?

Well, you have all been suffering a lot because I haven't been able to write...admit it...you've been weeping. I know you are all very sad. Anyhow, the great reason why I've been so busy and preoccupied, other than the fact that I'm in school and working a bunch, ect., is that I am looking for and very well may have found my new house. Think of it...ellen's home, not just a virtual site but a reality... I'll be closing the 7th of October if not before and am really excited, and scared out of my mind, to be a homeowner. I expect people to laugh in my face when I tell them I'm buying a house...am I mature enough?? We'll see soon enough I guess. Anyway, I'm excited.

Here are some pictures of the new, the real ellen's home

Huge Dead Snake

Hope you enjoy this huge dead snake found somewhere in South America. It is very like the anacondas that were to be found in Instituto Butanta where I stayed in Brazil.

A little adventure in Colorful Colorado

So this last week, my last week of freedom, I went to my stomping ground to have a little fun. I visited Mom and Dad and saw their amazing house and then went to Glenwood Springs for a little fun and adventure. By fun I mean spelunking, hiking, camping and whitewater rafting and adventure...well Lexi doing flips off of rocks was pretty exciting.


Here's a beautiful cascade trickling over the rocks near the Paonia reservoir
Clothlike stalagtites...just cool looking.



A little spelunking in Fulford Cave out of Eagle...notice the mud and the beautiful underground river.




A little beaver pond with the trees reflecting on the water...picturesque for sure.

Aspen trees rustling in the breeze with beautiful little white clouds.

Lexi and Vincent climbing the rock...how will they get back down?...Lexi will find a way!
I really like this picture, mainly because of the unfocused sign in the background...I really like my new camara.
Cool red mushroom...looks good enough to eat!

LeAnn and David smiling for the camara...such pleasant hiking companions, well, at least LeAnn is ;)

Curitiba and Sao Paulo

Pictures of the temples in Curitiba and Campinas. Also enjoy a very well captured photo of a big white bird in the botanical gardens of Curitiba and a panoramic view of the huge city of Sao Paulo...one word...GINORMOUS!!!

Travel travel travel....what a world!

Well, I have been traveling around Brazil, and I guess I like it...here are a couple of photos...pretty enough I guess...

A couple of pictures from that one time when I was in Rio de Janeiro...at night and one from the soccer game we went to in the largest stadium in the Americas... Maracanã









Picture of Itaipu...the largest hydroelectric dam in the world...







Pictures of Iguaçu Falls from the Brasilian side and the Argentine side as well... a little bit of water there, just a little.

Brasil-sil-sil!!!

After many long hours in airports and on airplanes...I arrived safely in Brazil. I am staying with two other students in a member's house and we're having fun already. We slept almost 12 hours last night...I think I needed it.

On another note...I finished reading Three Cups of Tea which is a great book about how humanity is all the same...notwithstanding its differences. He is an ex-mountaineer who is promoting education in Pakistan and Afghanistan..especailly for women. I really liked the book and even more loved the way one person can change the world for the better. Hopefully I can also be an influence for good, even if it is only in my little circle.

I will be posting a lot of pictures, etc, on the blog Brazilstudyabroad.blogspot.com, a collaboration between all of the students here in Brazil.

Pictures of Portugal

I know you are all dying to see some of the great sites in Portugal, so I thought I'd include these...complete with a royal damsel in no apparent distress.