Before coming to Brazil, I really didn’t know what to expect. I would say that I was nervous and excited at the same time. I’m a really shy person, or at least I used to be, therefore, I always try to put myself into situations where I have to interact with new people. Naturally, a Northeastern Dialogue of Civilization program was one of the best possible ways to do it. When I first decided to go on this program, I told myself I wanted to accomplish some goals. First and foremost, learn of course, but also, I wanted to practice my Portuguese skills, make new friends and immerse myself into the Brazilian culture.
In terms of the social aspect of this experience, I have to recognize the fact that it wasn’t easy sometimes. I recently learned that people like to complain a lot about everything and anything. I just don’t understand how some people can be so unappreciative about the opportunities they’ve been presented in life. Thankfully, I got over it quickly by simply ignoring some people’s comments. I rather focus more on the positive aspects in life rather than the negative. However, I must say that this didn’t interfere in any way with me enjoying this experience. For instance, one of the things people complained most about was the hostel. I mean, although it wasn’t as comfortable as a hotel, the fact that we were staying together at a smaller place with a common kitchen made us bond more. I just wished I had a little more personal space for my stuff, but I guess that’s really not that important. Bottom line, I just wanted to talk about the social aspect of this experience because it is an important part of studying abroad.
During my first year studying back in Boston, I have to say I was sort of lazy when making new friends because most of my friends where either Venezuelan, like me, or Spanish-speakers. Therefore, I didn’t make much effort meeting people considerably different from me. Luckily, I knew that most of the people that where going to this dialogue where much different from me, which would force me to finally interact with people out of my “comfort” zone. I must admit that at the beginning of the program I thought I wasn’t going to fit in because I felt there were many cultural differences between us, especially, when having discussions in class. Thankfully, I was totally wrong. I realized that we all had a lot in common, and the fact that I came from a different culture than most of them didn’t seem to matter. As soon as I came to this realization, I started to bond with everyone even more. At some point, I don’t know when, we started even giving nicknames to each other. Mine was “Churro” because it sounded similar to the last two syllables of my name. Of course, they were very polite to ask me first if I minded being called that way, which I totally didn’t. I just thought it was hilarious that that was the nickname they came up with.
I have to say that renewable energy isn’t something I’ve always been interested in. However, being a civil and environmental engineering major, I knew there was a possibility to focus more on the environmental part of civil engineering. Therefore, when the opportunity of studying alternative technologies was presented to me, I had to take it. Plus, years ago, I had watched a TV show about renewable energies in Sao Paulo, which ignited my interest towards this matter. Furthermore, the fact that it was in Brazil, a country I’ve always wanted to visit, made it even more appealing. Specifically, I was interested in Brazil’s history during the ninetieth century because of one book. Last year, I read a book called “El Imperio eres tu” (You are the Empire), which tells the story of the life of Brazil’s first emperor Pedro the first, which I thought to be very interesting, thereby, increasing my desire to learn more about this culture. As you can see, it wasn’t hard for me making the decision to apply to this program.
As a native Spanish speaker, I knew that learning Portuguese was going to be way easier than learning other languages because they both are very similar in many ways. Therefore, to up my game, I decided that during summer, before going to Brazil, I would learn as much Portuguese as I could. Although I didn’t learn as much as I wanted, I did have three weeks of intensive private Portuguese lessons, where I learned a lot. My professor was great, and since I was the only one he was teaching, the class would go on my own pace, which definitely worked on my advantage. After those three weeks, I was able to pick up the basics of Portuguese. Looking back at this decision, I’m so happy I did it. Having known Portuguese made it easier for me to go around Sao Paulo, and also, I think that knowing the language enabled me to experience things in a way than otherwise I wouldn’t have. Plus, when you are one of the few Portuguese-speakers in the group, people tend to rely on you, which I enjoyed because I had to force myself to speak more in order to help people, thereby, improving my own language skills.
Although I can’t say I’m an expert in alternative technologies in any way, I can acknowledge the fact that I now have a better understanding of this matter, which makes want to proceed studying this subject even more during my academic and professional years. Also, and this is what, in my opinion, was the most valuable thing academically speaking of this whole experience. The sites we visited where places that only some people have the privilege to go to. This was something that Dr. Milton Flávio Marques Lautenschlager, the sub secretary of renewable energy for the State of Sao Paulo, reminded us during our meeting with him. He said that most Brazilians haven’t even had the opportunity to visit the places we went to. Likewise, I have to say that going to all those plants, especially, the Henry Borden hydroelectric plant, made me feel very fortunate. Honestly, when else in your life will you have the opportunity to visit these places again? Naturally, I tried to take up as much as I could out of these visits.
Aside from all the energy-related sites, we also got to visit many cultural sites and we got to do activities that really added up to our Brazilian cultural enrichment. For instance, we visited museums like the Pinacoteca do Estado that taught us about the art history and influences of this country, but at the same time we got to visit monuments like the one in Independence Park that are key to the history of this enormous city. Moreover, we got to take both Capoeira and Samba lessons, which made us not only learn about Brazilian culture, but also live and experience it.
Although it wasn’t mandatory to write all the posts I did on my blog, I still wanted to do it because for me it was the perfect way to document my experiences throughout the dialogue. Besides, it was a great excuse to push myself into posting pictures, which is something I don’t usually do. I even added an Instagram widget to my blog that showed all the pictures from an account I created specifically for this trip. That way, I could share all my experiences with whoever read my blog. Even though I truly enjoy having a blog, it’s a little bit time consuming, or at least it is for me, because I’m kind of a perfectionist so I would spent a great amount of time fixing little mistakes that didn’t even matter. However, in retrospect, I’m glad I did because at the end I came up with a great blog that truly reflects my experiences in Sao Paulo and the rest of Brazil. For that reason, the other posts are as important as this one for me to reflect on this experience.
In many places throughout Sao Paulo City, I saw this motto on the walls that said: “Mais Amor Por Favor”, which means, “More Love, Please.” In my case, after being in Brazil for a month, my motto is: “Mais Brasil Por Favor.” I just can’t get enough of this country and its culture. Having stayed in Brazil for a month makes me want to visit again for vacations, or maybe even doing one of my Co-ops there. It might sound a bit corny, but I actually think I will have memories from this experience that’ll be able to cherish for the rest of my life. Except for the ones during Caipirinha nights because I don’t remember them (Just kidding). It might have had its ups and downs, but I’m now convinced that going abroad during summer was the best decision I could have made. Now, I have good new friends, new memories, new knowledge about alternative technologies and also, I’m more certain about what I want to with my major, which now focusing more on the environmental part of civil engineering. Therefore, I would say I successfully achieved all the goals I set myself to accomplish for this trip.
