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| Waiting to board the 10 hour flight from Houston to Brazil |
Olá! Meu nome é Janet Sanchez y bem-vindos a Brasil! Sadly that is the extent of my Portuguese.
I must admit that all the Portuguese I knew before arriving in Brazil I learned from language apps I downloaded onto my phone since the first day I found out I was selected for this great study abroad experience. These last few days have been some of the most memorable days of my life! Arriving in Brazil was an experience all on its own as I have never traveled outside of the country by air. The ride from the airport to the hotel was full of awe and amazement at the scenic views which surround Rio de Janeiro. I don’t think pictures would do it justice.
The first day, following recommendations from locals, we ate at a nearby café where we all had our first taste of Brazilian cooking. We will only be here twenty-three days and we refuse to waste any of it. Today was our second day at Pontifícia Universidade Católica of Rio (PUC) and our first lecture by PUC professors. The campus itself is one of the most beautiful and unique campuses I have ever seen. PUC's school calendar is also very different from the University of Nebraska calendar and we happen to be here during finals week of their first semester. Our first lectures today consisted of an hour of basic Portuguese and a lecture on the "Green Economy and Sustainability" by Professor Pedro Jorge Campello. He touched on topics such as pollution, deforestation, and the reason why public policy regarding the protection of the environment is increasingly important in Brazil and around the world. Oil spills, toxic gas explosions, and water contaminations have all caused major environmental disasters and have led many nations and peoples to call, and accept the need, for more governmental regulations. Professor Campello provided us with an example of how our attitudes about the environment have changed over time: "in the 1960’s, businesses' attitudes were 'It’s not my business;' in the 1980’s government agencies began to make polices and the attitude changed to 'I’ll do it only because I must follow the law.' However, from the 1990’s to 2000’s, companies began to realize that it was profitable to go green, and that has brought us into the present where the mentality has changed completely." While we can all agree that Brazil, along with the rest of the world, can still use some help in reaching a sustainable economy we can also agree that Brazil is at least trying.
I must admit that all the Portuguese I knew before arriving in Brazil I learned from language apps I downloaded onto my phone since the first day I found out I was selected for this great study abroad experience. These last few days have been some of the most memorable days of my life! Arriving in Brazil was an experience all on its own as I have never traveled outside of the country by air. The ride from the airport to the hotel was full of awe and amazement at the scenic views which surround Rio de Janeiro. I don’t think pictures would do it justice.
The first day, following recommendations from locals, we ate at a nearby café where we all had our first taste of Brazilian cooking. We will only be here twenty-three days and we refuse to waste any of it. Today was our second day at Pontifícia Universidade Católica of Rio (PUC) and our first lecture by PUC professors. The campus itself is one of the most beautiful and unique campuses I have ever seen. PUC's school calendar is also very different from the University of Nebraska calendar and we happen to be here during finals week of their first semester. Our first lectures today consisted of an hour of basic Portuguese and a lecture on the "Green Economy and Sustainability" by Professor Pedro Jorge Campello. He touched on topics such as pollution, deforestation, and the reason why public policy regarding the protection of the environment is increasingly important in Brazil and around the world. Oil spills, toxic gas explosions, and water contaminations have all caused major environmental disasters and have led many nations and peoples to call, and accept the need, for more governmental regulations. Professor Campello provided us with an example of how our attitudes about the environment have changed over time: "in the 1960’s, businesses' attitudes were 'It’s not my business;' in the 1980’s government agencies began to make polices and the attitude changed to 'I’ll do it only because I must follow the law.' However, from the 1990’s to 2000’s, companies began to realize that it was profitable to go green, and that has brought us into the present where the mentality has changed completely." While we can all agree that Brazil, along with the rest of the world, can still use some help in reaching a sustainable economy we can also agree that Brazil is at least trying.
Had you told me a couple of months ago I would be sitting in a classroom during the summer, thousands of miles away from home, and learning about sustainability and the green economy I would have laughed. I am a business student who is interested in going to law school and talking about deforestation isn’t exactly in my field of interest. However, I found myself pleasantly surprised by how interested I became throughout Professor Campello's lecture. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the three weeks have in store for us!
Janet, thoughtful summary of initial encounters and first experiences. Fascinating the varying impressions that the Portuguese language lecture left upon us because we are such a DIVERSE group - some being native spanish-speakers, others it as their second language, some with absolutely no language experience, and one who is completely fluent in the language (AKA: Kelvin, without whom we'd surely look a lot more foolish/gringo than we already do! - part of the fun!! ... and oh, it's REALLY fun.) While very well done by a Portuguese-as-second-language professor at PUC-Rio (Cecilía - extremely prepared and welcoming), I felt it was extremely introductory ... and we should have known a lot of the material upon arrival (survival-type stuff). However, it was just the first day and I'm confident we'll receive more applicable/useful language in the coming classes.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, I agree about Prof. Campello's lecture. I was able to plug in some of the few pieces of info I know about the environmental/sustainability aspect of Brazil to what he was saying. He was extremely knowledgeable and informative ... my fault for not being as prepared as I would have liked to have been on the subject matter. However, I think we as a group did an excellent job of asking questions which sparked further discussion/interest amongst us even after the lecture.
Insightful day!! Required patience on our part as all the logistics fell into place, but that's part of a new/abroad experience. :)