Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Brazil): Eu sempre levo um papel com minhas notas e ideias para a reunião. - I always take a piece of paper with my notes and ideas to the meeting.

levar = to take something from here to there (away from the current place)
trazer = to bring something from there to here (toward the speaker’s place)

In the sentence Eu sempre levo um papel… para a reunião, the idea is:
you are at your usual place (home/office) and you take the paper to the meeting (another place). So levo is natural.

If you were already at the meeting room and wanted someone to bring you the paper, you’d say:

Você pode trazer um papel para mim? – Can you bring me a sheet of paper?

Can I drop the eu and just say Sempre levo um papel…?

Yes, you can. Portuguese often drops subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows the subject.

Eu levo → levo still clearly means “I take” (first person singular).
Sempre levo um papel com minhas notas e ideias para a reunião. is completely natural and common in speech and writing.

You’d usually keep eu if you want to emphasize I (as opposed to someone else):

Eu sempre levo um papel, mas eles nunca levam nada.

Where can sempre go in this sentence? Is Eu levo sempre… also correct?

Yes, sempre is flexible in position. All of these are grammatically correct:

Eu sempre levo um papel…
Eu levo sempre um papel…
Sempre levo um papel…

They usually mean the same thing. Eu sempre levo… and Sempre levo… are the most natural options in everyday speech. Eu levo sempre… can sound a bit more emphatic or slightly more formal / written, depending on intonation.

Why is it um papel and not o papel or just papel?

Um papel uses the indefinite article um (“a / one”), suggesting “a sheet / a piece of paper” in a general sense, not a specific known paper.

Eu sempre levo um papel… → I always take *a (some) paper…*

O papel would refer to a specific paper both speaker and listener know about:

Eu sempre levo o papel com as anotações da última reunião.
I always take *the paper with the notes from the last meeting.*

Using just papel without an article (Eu sempre levo papel…) is also possible, but it usually emphasizes the material in general (like saying “I always take paper” as a substance), less like a single sheet and more like “some paper.”

Does papel here mean “a role” (like in a play) or an actual piece of paper?

In this context it clearly means a physical piece/sheet of paper, because it’s com minhas notas e ideias – you write notes and ideas on paper.

Papel can mean:

Paper (material or sheet):
- Preciso de um papel para anotar. – I need a piece of paper to write on.
Role / part (in a play or situation):
- Qual é o seu papel no projeto? – What’s your role in the project?

Here, context makes it obvious we’re talking about a sheet of paper.

Why is it minhas notas e ideias and not meus notas e ideias?

Possessive adjectives in Portuguese agree with the gender and number of the noun, not with the person who owns the thing.

nota (note) → feminine singular
notas → feminine plural
ideia → feminine singular
ideias → feminine plural

So you need the feminine plural form of “my”:

minhas notas
minhas ideias

Meu / meus are used with masculine nouns:

meu caderno – my notebook
meus livros – my books

Does notas mean “grades” or “notes” here? I thought nota often means a grade.

Nota has several meanings; two common ones are:

Grade / mark (school, tests)
- Tirei uma nota boa. – I got a good grade.
Note (written note / jotted point) – especially in Brazil, “notas” can be used like “notes” in English.

In your sentence com minhas notas e ideias, the context (ideas for the meeting) strongly points to written notes.

If you want to be extra clear about “written notes,” another very common word is:

anotações – written notes
- Eu sempre levo um papel com minhas anotações e ideias…

Why is ideias written without an accent? I’ve seen idéias before.

Before the 2009 Portuguese spelling reform, the correct spelling was idéia / idéias.
After the reform, the accent was removed in this type of word, so the current official spelling is:

ideia (singular)
ideias (plural)

So idéia is now considered outdated or incorrect in standard writing, though older books may still have it.

Why is it para a reunião and not just para reunião or na reunião?

A few points:

para a reunião = to the meeting (movement/destination)
- para = to / for
- a = the (feminine singular article)
- reunião = meeting
In Brazilian Portuguese, it’s very common (and usually more natural) to use the article with singular countable nouns like reunião:
- Vou para a reunião. – I’m going to the meeting.
Vou para reunião (without the article) is much less common and can sound incomplete or regional.
na reunião means in/at the meeting, not to the meeting:
- Levo um papel na reunião. – I take a paper at the meeting (less natural in this exact structure).
- More natural: Na reunião, eu sempre levo um papel… – At the meeting, I always have a sheet of paper… (here na reunião is like a time/place setting).

So para a reunião is best here, because the verb levar implies moving something to a place.

Could I say pra reunião instead of para a reunião?

Yes. In spoken Brazilian Portuguese, pra is extremely common as a contraction of para a (or sometimes para alone). So:

Eu sempre levo um papel… pra reunião.

This is very natural and common in everyday speech and informal writing (texts, chats).
In more formal writing (academic, business documents, exams), you usually stick to para a reunião.

What’s the difference between reunião and other words like encontro or reunião de família?

Reunião usually refers to a meeting, often formal or work-related:

reunião de trabalho – work meeting
reunião de equipe – team meeting

It can also be used in other group contexts:

reunião de família – family gathering/meeting
reunião de condomínio – condo association meeting

Encontro is broader and can mean:

a meeting / get-together (often more informal)
a date (romantic) – um encontro romântico

So for a business/office “meeting,” reunião is the default word.

Why is levo simple present and not something like estou levando for a repeated action?

In Portuguese, the simple present (levo) is the normal way to talk about habits and repeated actions, just like English uses the simple present:

Eu sempre levo um papel… – I always take a paper…
Eu tomo café todo dia. – I drink coffee every day.

Estou levando is present continuous (“I am taking”) and usually refers to something happening right now, not a habitual action:

Estou levando um papel para a reunião agora. – I’m taking a paper to the meeting right now.

So for “I always take…”, levo is exactly what you want.