Visit to Pontifica Universidade Catolica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (PUC-Rio)

I arrived in Rio on Sunday afternoon and was quickly wisked off to lunch by Rosa Marina and her husband, Paulo. We ate at a fantastic seafood restaurant on Copacabana Beach. Back to the hotel and then off to Maracanâ to meet NP friend and PUC-Rio colleague, Daniel Castro for a football match between Flamengo and Fluminense, two of Rio’s biggest teams and arch rivals. Daniel is a Flamengo fan, which makes me a Flamengo fan.

The crowd was enormous, happy, hot and boisterous. As we entered the stadium, the crowd literally carried me in. The entry points are so narrow and so many people try to pass through at one time that it becomes a gravitational force that pushes you up to the turnstyles. Maracanâ is one of the largest football stadiums in the world. This match had around 81,000 people attending. What an experience. You could feel the energy pulsating through the stadium walls.

Unfortunately, Flamengos lost, but the game was great. It was so much fun to hang out with Daniel, his family and friends (although some of them deserted us to go sit deep in Flamengo fan territory, apparently we were seated too close to the enemy!). It ended all too quickly and we were swept back out of the stadium with the crowd.

Day 2

After a quick taxi ride through the streets and mountain tunnels we arrived at PUC-Rio. Although the buildings are large, concrete structures, the rain forest wraps around the campus to soften their angles. In the US we are used to sprawling college campuses with a quad. This campus was not so much wide as deep and also on varying levels. Rather than feeling lost, as I might on a sprawling campus, I felt enveloped by the foliage and quite comfortable exploring.

Many of the buildings had ‘walk through’ areas on the ground floor which were open on the sides to incorporate the natural setting around them. These areas had shops, cafés, ATM machines as well as areas to sit and socialize or study.

The college was built on an old cocoa plantation whose main house looks down on the buildings around it. It is now an art gallery and reception hall for the campus community. I also had an opportunity to tour classrooms and computer labs, which look exactly as you’d expect them to look, so I didn’t take any photos.

A big concern for any of our students is housing. Housing in PUC-Rio is homestay and the homes are thoroughly vetted by the housing staff on campus. On top of that, each home has been checked by US military personnel to make sure that they are in safe neighborhoods. I visited two homes, one owned by a PUC-Rio faculty member and another by a family.

In Brazil, it is common for college students and college graduates to live at home while attending college or working. It is also common for family situations to be as non-traditional as they may be in the US.

When I met with our students who were studying at PUC-Rio, they all said they were satisfied with their classes. But I had heard from a few students who were concerned about housing. Basically they didn’t want to live with a family and wanted to get their own apartment. They didn’t have any specific complaints about the families. They were nice, they helped them with adjusting to living in Rio, they could come and go as they pleased, in some cases there were PUC-Rio students living with them, but they wanted to live with other US students their own age in an apartment.

I reminded them that the program homestays are chosen after they are thoroughly checked by the PUC-Rio staff. They are in nice neighborhoods, close to campus or public transport. Some are homes, some are apartments. 

Homestay #1

Homestay #2

I tried to explain the reasons they couldn’t leave housing–it’s for their safety and security, the legalities of renting an apartment in another country are different in the US, and contracts are not in English, the dangers of the favellas (slums), etc. And even though they said they understood all of that, and their current accommodations were clean (most have cleaning services), friendly and in a good location, they still wanted to go out on their own. In the end we had to agree to disagree. I could only offer them the opportunity to change homestay locations using those provided by PUC-Rio.  The students understood the reasons completely, but sometimes they just want what they want even when it isn’t a wise choice.

At the end of this long day of meetings, I went out with my friends in the office.  I am not known to be a night owl, but in Rio, it is required!  We went to the Rio Scenarium, one of the best Samba clubs in the world (According to The Guardian newspaper).  It was 4 stories tall and during the day it was an antique store, so at night the antiques became part of the club.  We were all exhausted, so we ate dinner, samba’d once and called it a night–very un-Brazillian! (From L to R: me, Kerollyne, Linda Cristina, Carla).

On my final day I did a tiny bit of sightseeing and went up to Corcovado mountain in the Tijuka Forest National Park to see the statue of Christ, the Redeemer. I booked a door-to-door tour from the hotel.  This is the most accessible site I’ve been to–you can either climb the stairs to the top and enjoy 360 degree views from various levels or take an escalator or elevator to the base of the statue.  The terrain is quite rugged & steep, but it is accessible to all.  And the views are incredible.

It was on this side trip that I met a British Formula 1 racing crew that were doing test runs in Rio. Like me, they had just come from Buenos Aires where they were doing the same thing. And they, like me, had to squeeze a bit of sightseeing in between work. I confess I know very little about Formula 1, but we bonded over our nomadic lifestyle. Our common lament is that we travel to wonderful places, but get to see very little of the location or culture. I’m not complaining, but please know that these trips are like marathons spent in airports (yuck!), hotels (depressing), meetings (work). What makes them wonderful are our hosts, the people we meet and those brief moments of magical realization–Hey, I’m a farm girl from upstate NY and I’m in ___________(fill-in the blank with current city location)!

It’s been awhile since I’ve written, so there’s a lot to catch up on..

I can’t believe it’s already October! I don’t know where time is going its really unbelievable. I was just looking at pictures from a friend’s album titled August, but it seems like they were from 2 weeks not 2 months ago. Of course with time comes pressure, I’m starting to stress over exams and finals that really aren’t too far away. Even traveling seems a little stressful, there are so many more places I want to go to but money and time is, like always, running short. I went with a friend to a travel agency today that looked like a random apartment from outside, but wasn’t bad once inside. We’re waiting to hear on the information for Peru, but the flights they listed for Brazil were around US $300, and packages complete with hotel, bus tickets, and penguin and whale watching in Patagonia were around $400.

The longer I stay here, the more I don’t want to leave. Going back to Binghamton is not something I’m looking forward to. I’ve really gotten to love knowing my way around the city and all the different attractions and clubs, returning to a place with 3 bars and a campus that you can cut through in 15 minutes seems unbearably small. I know I could decide to stay for another semester, but I’m not sure what I’d have to do to actually make it happen. For one, I’d have to find a new place to live because while the family I’m with now is nice, screaming grandchildren and not really having a place to call my own wouldn’t work for another 5 months. I’m sure I could find classes applicable towards my major for the next semester, and I’m on track to graduate, so schools not an issue, but I’d definitely have to get a job. It’s just depressing to think that I could be making 3 times as much in the US for anything that I do here. I think I’d have to have my visa extended, but I’m still in the process of getting that done now, so I’m not really sure how that would work. And then I’m worried that if I stay, I wouldn’t be able to get an internship for the summer so I really have a lot to think about.

Either way if I stay longer or leave in December, I’m really going to miss my gym I’m absolutely in love with it. I tried spinning for the first time and was amazed at how exhausted I was; it’s really as hard as everyone says. The instructor was great and seeing that it was my first time, helped me with everything, showing me how to adjust my seat and pedals, and the hand positions. I’m still enjoying Body Combat, but the women in the class really are strange. It’s like a competition there to be the best, and everyone is already very thin. Everyone stands in the same spot in the class, and since I go three times a week so I’ve gotten to know everyone pretty well. All the women that stand around me are very intense, and the one in front of me is the worst. I swear she purposely stands so I can’t see in the mirror. I think she’s slightly evil. But I love the workout and the instructor so I am not going anywhere!

Besides that, I finally made it outside of the city! Last weekend after a highly enjoyable bus ride complete with champagne and a movie on how sandwiches were manufactured, we arrived in Iguazu to see the falls. I live about 15 minutes from the Niagara Falls, and have been on more than one occasion, and can officially say that Iguazu is better. They’re set in the middle of the jungle and are just amazing. We took a boat tour through the rapids and under some of the falls, and thus obviously were completely soaked for the next 4 hours. I didn’t pay the $100 to go on the Brazilian side, but I can’t complain about the Argentine view it was unbelievable. And the first night we were there was the last night of the full moon tour, so that was quite lucky to get to tour the falls under a full moon. Hostel-Inn at Iguazu is also the place to stay, we had a beautiful pool and bungalow, and Saturday night was an asado complete with Brazilian samba dancers and free drinks. I’m not sure how it could have been better.
I had a productive day today and finally ventured over to the Brazilian embassy, because I’ll have to get a visa if I want to go to Brazil. I have to go back because they only accept applications from 11-1, but the processing time is only 2 days so that’s a relief. And on the way there I passed the best health food store, so naturally had to go in. BA doesn’t have the best selection of natural food stores, but this one was really nice. They had a great selection of nuts, spices and teas so I couldn’t resist getting some green apple tea and dark chocolate covered walnuts. Which I might add I ate all 50g of, they were that good. A friend of mine bought coconut milk and curry so we are planning to make a great Thai dinner this Saturday! Definitely looking forward to that.