Dyn and Stu thanks for the info. Now my biggest problem is deciding where to go hah. I want to go somewhere with a language school so I can study Port in the day and train in the afternoon.
The places I am considering are,
Rio
PROS: Has language schools and also lots of training. Rio also has the beach and night life and tropical weather. It is also very close to Buzios, another place on my list.
CONS: The language school I found is located in downtown Rio, and i think it would be a long commute to the school. Id rather live close to the school with other students to make friends quicker. The school is also expensive compared to some others. Safety is a consideration but I dont worry about that like most as I am very street smart compared to most. I guess that is one advantage to having a fucked up family eh?
Buzios
PROS: Within 2-3hrs from Rio for weekend trips. Good surfing, great weather, very safe. It is also a big party town but the town itself is fairly small, something I enjoy. There is also an Alliance Jiu Jitsu school there. Here are a couple links from OTM about a team from Canada who went there.
OTM - ALLIANCE JIU-JITSU CAMP REVIEW
OTM - BALEIA DOES BUZIOS....Again!
CONS:I can not find a language school here, this is a big problem for me. The BJJ school there is also strictly a BJJ school, as far as i know. I am interested in training at a camp similar to CB, where I can do MT,BJJ,Wrestling,Boxing, MMA etc.
Buzios is also a vacation town, so it is pretty expensive. The town is also not directly on the beach. I enjoy places where the main strip of the town is right along the beach, and not a few miles away.
Curitiba
PROS:Chute Boxe! This is probably the biggest plus for me to the area. There is also UDL, which is Shoguns team. There appears to be a language school, but I am having trouble pin pointing it. Also a safe city with a good nightlife from what Dyn tells me. I hear it has very good public transportation also.
CONS:NO BEACH! This is the biggest killer for me. Also no tropical weather. For me it is hard to plan a trip to Brazil to a city that has no beach and is not tropical. My college has an exchange program with Belo Horizonte and I kept thinking why the hell do you have an exchange program with a country that has 5,000mi of the most beautiful beaches and weather in the world and you pick a town hours upon hours from the beach? Of course my college is crap so it wasnt a shock. Curitiba appears to be 100x better than Belo Horizonte though so i guess this a moot point.
Florianopolis
PROS:Beautiful beaches, great surfing, right on the beach. Has a language school. BJJ/MT training at Thiago Tavares old school of Murilo Duple(sp?). Although i read Tavares is now at ATT. Great night life as well.
CONS:Expensive, lots of tourists, not tropical weather. Good training but im not sure if there is a gym similar to CB that will have everything I want. Im very picky about this because boxing is my first sport and then BJJ would be a far second. I want to go to a place that has a good all around program, not just jiu jitsu.
Dont let the length of the pros/cons list fool you because i rambled on in some. Even though Curitiba appears to have the most cons, in the past few days it has been sitting at #1 on my list of where to go. I swith back and forth every few days, because that is my nature. But Curitiba went from not making the list due to its lack of beach, and blasted itself all the way to #1.
As of right now I think my list goes,
1. Curitiba
2. Florianopolis
3. Rio
4. Buzios
If anyone has anything to add, or knows of any langauge schools in any of these cities, let me know. Maybe my list can help a couple people make their decisions as well.
