We Came, We Saw, We Concertoed

Today was a full day in São Paulo. We started the day off by taking a bus and walking tour of the city, led by our guide Joseph. He shared with us some stories and some of the history of Brazil and São Paulo. One interesting thing we learned is that São Paulo has both a large Italian and Japanese population. We also learned about some of the political history in Brazil. The tour included walking the streets of São Paulo to see Japanese town, a large Catholic cathedral with magnificent architecture and stained glass windows, the opera house, and various important buildings. It was all amazing and interesting, however, most of us determined that we prefer some of the quieter, less busy cities.

For lunch we had the opportunity to visit a market. We were immediately overwhelmed by the smell of meat and fish when we walked in. We discovered various stands with fresh fruit, tried some unique juices including acai berry, ate at some good restaurants, and looked at various handmade goods. After lunch we headed to the University od São Paulo for a tour of the campus. They have various faculties including music and the campus is huge, almost like a small city. USP actually has a mayor. Following the campus tour we were shown to a space above their library to hang out before rehearsing for the concert. It was nice to relax and prepare ourselves for the emotions of the final concert.

We sang the concert in an auditorium with a lot of wood panelling. The concert was quite long as we sang almost all of our pieces. The crowd was small again but still enthusiastic. The university was celebrating 500 years of German influence on the city. It was unique to be able to be apart of that celebration since Concordia also has German roots. Everyone sang their hearts out and several of the senior members who are leaving as well as others were crying by the end, though some may try to deny it. It was a great final concert and a wonderful way to close out the singing portion of our tour, or at least the concert. On the bus Fernando and Joseph sang and taught us various Brazilian pieces.

Supper was at a place in the heart of Little Italy. We enjoyed a change in cuisine eating various pastas and other Italian food. We used the time to debrief and talk about favourite songs, memories, comments, and how we had changed. The unanimous decision seems to be that Brazil and the people have provided a life changing experience.