Travel in Brazil

Hi everyone! This post is about the travelling I have done so far here in Brazil. 

For now I have been traveling a lot for the time I have been here. Travelling is easy if you know the connections and places you want to see. The hardest thing is to decide the location. And I have decided to make a refreshment on my blog because I saw some of the blogs of my friends and they were really cool. And as a genuine Finn I can´t let that go by just doing nothing. So I am gonna make the most awesome blog post of my life! 

São Paulo. 11-12.08.2011

Mikko in the nightlife of São Paulo

With Vincent. Arrival on Friday morning 5 am and leaving in saturaday night 11 pm. 2 very busy days. São Paulo is a very big city. Worlds 7th biggest city by population. A population of 11,3 million people. That is more than double the population of Finland. The greater São Paulo has nearly 20 million people. Still 5 am in the morning Sao Paulo is as calm city as any.

We slept in the Italian pousada which is located in the middle of the historic centre on the north and “new centre” Avenue Paulista on south side. We walked a lot during these two days. The physical condition of the french is outstanding. We often wonder with my German friend Lars if the french do anything else than walk. 

The Center of São Paulo

We also tried to get to know the famous 24h nightlife of São Paulo with bad success! We weren´t able to find the best places for the nightlife unfortunedly partly because of our poor language skills that time. Next time we are going to ask a local friend to help in our ventures! 

 Morretes 3-4.09.2011

With my dear French friends, Vincent,Boris, Solene, Emilie and Paul. We spent there 2 days hiking and climbing the Pico do Morumbi.Morretes is a small city close to Curitiba. The city itself is a very charming and serene with a river streaming  through the center. Closeby the Morretes There is a Morumbi national park which is a paradise for climbers and nature lovers. In the national park there is a 1539m high mountain - Pico do Morumbi.

Morretes

We decided to walk , of course because I was travelling with 5 French being the only person from different nationality, from centre to the national park. We had a perfect weather and hiking with amazing views and athmosphere. I got to see a little different slice of Brazil from the country side. 

Campsite

We climbed in the root of the highest peak and spend a night with extreme conditions. We decided not to take tent with us so we spent the one night under the night of stars. (Freezing cold in some parts). Then fresh like a rotten fruit in the morning we started an epic ascend to the highest peak of a cliff I have never climped. It was terrible, I was scared all the time and feeling really bad, but when we finally reached the peak it was completely worth it. The view was remarkable. In the night we returned back by buss having a taste of the local delicacy Barreado: A meat cooked for a long time, over around the clock, rice and bananas.

In the top of the Pico do Morumbi. I felt like being on top of the world with a constant wind and a spectacular views.

 

Florianopolis Part 1.   7-12.09.2011

With a bunch of exchange students from France, Germany,Spain, Chile and our Brazilian friend who guide who knew some of the best locations in the whole Floripa. We had also a van and a driver for the van.

Florianapolis is the European Canarian Islands, a very famous tourist spot, also an island with some of the best beaches in Brazil. 

 

Surfing

We spent there 5 days with 3 of them raining or cloudy and 2 with sun. We circled around the beautiful island with the van getting to know the beaches and the island. We also went to hike in some pretty amazing places and maybe the best trip was to a natural bay where we had an picnic and went swimming on a very beautiful day. In Florianapolis I also tried surfing for the first time! I found I new hobby for me. The sea, the waves and the board.  What can I add? The sun. The beach. It is just amazing. And very hard.

Blumenau - Octoberfest 23.10.2011

Blumenau - Octoberfest

A bustrip witg the local students and a bunch of exchange students. We decided to take a part in the worlds second biggest beer festival in the world after the actual Octoberfest in Germany. It is held in Blumenau, a city in the southern state Santa Catarina close to Florianapolis. The whole Blumenau has been build in a german style because the city has a large population of german people. 

The bus had an open bar of beer, so the meaning of the trip was only cultural from the very beginning. The bus took us straight to the Octoberfest after a small city tour. So the city is still a mystery to me. The party itself was a pretty strange mixture of traditional german outfits, tourists, and the music was also pretty interesting . Some resemblance with german music, some german artists but most in portuguese and they liked to play only a few songs all the night. And then there was beer. That was tasty. Local breweries serving good dark and clear beers. I concentraded on the dark beers. And after the fest around 5am we returned by buss back home. A very efficient trip.

 

Florianapolis Part 2.     28-30.10.2011

Florianapolis

One weekend we decided to go with my two German friends again to Florianapolis by bus. The nightbus was only 24R$ to direction and b&b 25R$ a night. So the whole 3 days were around 100€. The weather was very good. We were at Barra da Lagoa in an “pousada” that has very nice,welcoming and international athmosphere. The name of the Pousada was backpackers sharehouse. 

Canoing in Barra da Lagoa

 We went hiking, canoing, sunbathing and surfing of course. The weather was perfect! We went to one mountain top and had an epic beer with the wind on the top. Then we came the hill down running. Downhill running is a very fast pased, energetic and thrilling sport. We also wandered on a strange sand dune formation in the center of the island when we were going for our buss. The trip was full of adventures. A very refreshing weekend!

Rio De Janeiro 11-21.11.2011

Cidade Maravilhosa. The Marvelous city. The most beautiful city of the world. The list is never ending. I was warned a lot of things before I went there. They were all true. I already miss to be back there. I spent a total of 10 days there with my friends and later with my parents. I was staying on a very pleasant pousada (B&B) near the Cobacabana beach just two blocks away.  The name of the hostel was Brazucas. The owner of the B&B spoke only portuguese. But for me it is no longer a problem. I am happy to see that after 4 months of staying in Brazil all of my friends already can take care of daily activities with portuguese.

 

I went to see Sugarloaf mountain, Cristo Redentor statue both with amazing panoramic views to the beautiful Rio. Flamengo match, unfortunately not in the famous Maracana stadium because it was under renovation for the world cup in 2014. Zoo, a tour in the city centre, Nitoral a neighboring  city close by. Also the heart of the nightlife in Lapa was really nice experience. Also the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema of course. I especially enjoyed the activities on the beach such as beachsoccer, beachvolley, futevolley and several other sports that the people invented just to spent time on the beach. The beach has everything needed. I loved it.

The Famous Ipanema Beach. Garota the Ipanema

Cristo Redentor

  

The Sugarloaf mountain. And some tourist

Guaratuba  25- 29.11.2011

Guaratuba is a city in the seashore of Parana. In the time before Christmas it has a wonderful small city atmosphere. People move a lot with a bikes and everything is serene and calm. Right next to the centre there is a 2 km long beautiful beach with service points to buy refreshments or something to eat. Also the market offered some really nice meat for reasonable price and we made some tasty beefs back at the house. I was spending 4 days there with my parents living in a house of my friends. That time was really relaxing and real Brazil.  

 

Guarapuava 10-11.12.2011

Combi

The trip to the Guarapuava was the most epic so far. We rented a good old white hippie wan, Wolksvagen Combi and took a road trip to Guarapuava to see a 200m waterfall for a weekendtrip. We left after small problems a little late. We drove all day in a cool atmosphere and arrived at night. The park we were supposed to go  was closed and we confronted an angry security guy in the middle of nowhere. We had such a nice time! 

We were planning to make a churrasco, a barbeque when we arrived so we continued the rubblestreet forward deeper in to the forest road and we found a perfect place to make a churrasco with seats, fireplace, parking place, everything needed. So we set up our camp at night and started to eat. We sang campfire songs, ate some tasty meats, had a perfect night.  The Night we spent outside. Some people could sleep in the car, but most people slept outside with sleepig bags without tent of course.

The Waterfall

Early in the next morning, around 11, we went back to the park and it was open! So we took a trip to see  the amazing waterfall and just on top of the waterfall was even more beautiful smaller waterfall where it was possible to bath. Some of the group wanted to wander under the waterfall 4km there and 4km back. But couple of us decided to stay to sunbath and swim in the one of the most beautiful natural places I have seen. The weather was perfect. Hot and sunny. We had just an amazing day. Sunbathing and swimming. Afternoon we started our journey back arriving late in the night back to Curitiba.

A natural paradise. Showering under a waterfall is one really exciting and adrenaline giving experience. Recommended.

Ok! Thats about it for now. It is all so sad. Many people have already returned to their countries. For me starts a new year, a new era. I will stay in Brazil another semester working with a project of university. So tune in for later updates! 

Safe Travel for everyone! It was a really pleasure to get to know you guys! Hope to see you soon! Thank you for everything! 

The Everyday Life

Updates!

Hi again! I´ve had for some time a low motivation to write my blog. The strike continued up to 2 months and finally the classes started and we could start “a normal way of life” with studies and works!

During this time of the strike I got to know better  the Brazilian culture. I think now I am less a tourist and more a like a local, now it is about the everyday life. I love it! The athmosphere of Brazil is very laid-back, relaxed!  My portuguese has improved remarkably. I have met a lot of new people, we have had a lot of parties  and I also have been training a lot ; Brazilian Jiu jitsu and muscle training in the gym. I travelled with my friends to cities. I have been managing  my project and courses and did some planning towards future with my professor with success.

I keep a diary on the time of the travel and I was thinking of starting to write a diary all time. It is a good way to remember what have you done in your life. And I think it also improves memory!

Celin and portuguese language

I have studied since I arrived portuguese in Centre of languages (Celin) as a part of my exchange studies. Also the portuguese teaching is in portuguese. There are many levels of courses for many skill levels and people from different language backgrounds. I am studying in Basico 2 a basic course. The group is very international and I have met many people there!

The portuguese language is a must in Brazil. I have a rather strong english and I thought I wouldn´t have no problems with the language. But. The local people in the street talk only a little in English. (of course depending if they have studied it)  Good thing is that everyone loves to talk with people and they will say everything they can in english, but to communicatein a deeper level portuguese is needed. Luckily for me 

learning portuguese has been quite easy! Especially language used in courses is close to english words.

I have been talking to locals why the english is so hard they say that the level of english is really bad in schools and to learn a language people has to take a commercial language courses or go to exchange.

Classes

The classes have begun! I will do here in my time 3 post graduate courses, 3 points from each. Or at least I try. All the course selection and education is in portuguese!

Espaço Urbano – Planejamento e Gestão =  Urban Spaces - Planning and Management. An architecture course regarding urban planning. The course includes a lot of excursions in the near areas of different neighbourhoods such as a favela and  an area of homes.  

Projetos especiais em arquitetuira mais sustantável – Special projects of sustainable architecture. A very interesting course for me. A project work for a research laboratory for univercity designed to be as sustainable as possible but with the price of a normal building. The good thing here is that a lot of courses are based on a real project and students do work that someday possibly will do something good for society. Students are a big force which should be used more eficiently in Finland also. Project work are more motivating and also more teaching, in my opinion.

And the best for last. The name is monstrous : Tópicos Especiais em Construção – Corrosão, proteção e reabilitação de estruturas de concreto armado – Special topics on construction – Corrosion, protection and rehabilitation of reinforced concrete.  A construction materials course, it is a course that is scared by people here like we in Finland are afraid of the courses of Kuula. The course itself is very demanding and very theoretic. We have some tests in laboratory for concrete!

The language surely is a problem for studying. Courses are interesting and different from courses in Finland. It is also good for portuguese; reading, hearing and talking 4 hours a row is very eficient for learning. I will never start to learn a language on a book again. I studied Russia for 5 years and I can say I can´t understand it , because I never used it. It is much easier and much more fun this way!

The classes on post graduate courses are from 8 to 12am and from 2 to 6pm. About 4 hours, depending which time people or professor  arrives. Here it is not very strange to be late or if the teacher arrives last of all . Also the 4h class has only one coffee break of 10 or 15 minutes! The classes are exhausting studying in a new language, a new subject for long time. 

Project of the world cup 2014

I came to Brazil to do a project work. That is quite easy because many courses from the university have a link with reality and course can be a project course. I think here in Brazil a student is much more respectable role than in Finland. In Finland student is plague, the lowest part of the society, here a student is respected by the professors but also by people.

I will join the project work by starting my final thesis here regarding the project. The project work is a contract with university and tribunal de contas, a operator that works with all the expenses of the government. The  students of civil engineering department has been assigned to supervise the public construction sites for the football world cup 2014. There are hosts cities around Brazil and Curitiba is one of them.

I have already done the first work regarding the project work. My job was to give a presentation for engineers of the tribunal the contas and civil engineering students about the public construction of Finland. It was a presentation with the biggest audience in my life, around 70 people. I also had my own translator because I refused doing the presentation in portuguese.

The Brazilian people really seem to respect Finland, and other European countries and I have got interesting suggestions on my time here. My professor told me that I could do post graduate, masters degree here in Brazil after graduation, lasting 2 years. He also offered  me 6 or 12 more months working on the project that is starting now and lasting until world cup. When  decided to do an exchange I advice being active, interested and open minded. If done that only the imagination is the limit. World is ours!

I think the exchange will be good for the connection of our universities. Also my professor from Finland will join one seminar in Brazil giving presentations and getting to know the university.

From this on I will write more actively. Now the things are started to happen!

Cheers! 

Mikko

Settling in Brazil

DAY 26.
PART 1 Sunbathing in my balcony and writing a blog.
PART 2 Writing a blog in freezing cold wearing all of my clothes

What to do in Brazil to avoid being an illegal immigrant and other stuff
To get things right in Brazil you have to do some waiting in lines on several offices. For exchange student is needed a personal identity number CPF what is possible to make in bank with a passport and visa type IV. I had some problems because of banks internal server problems. So I had to visit a bank a few times and an office named receita federal to acquire my CPF. Service is in portuguese. Luckily there is a bank or two in almost every block and they serve from 10am to 4pm. Some of the big banks here are ITAU, Banco do Brasil, HSBC and Santander. People are very helpful and very friendly even though they don´t speak the language.

On arrival to airport police stamps the passport and starting from that moment there is 30 days to sign in to Policia Federal to get a personal identification document RNE - Registration for strangers. For an exchange student it is  an official ID inside Brazil so after getting that there is no need to carry a passport in most activities. Applying the RNE is very difficult and bureaucratic process. All the forms are in Portuguese so one will need local support or a strong language skills to get everything done. Inspired by my few problems and the love for Brazil I made a list for a Finnish exchange students or anyone interested in travelling to Brazil to take a look. It can be found in here: WHAT TO DO IN BRASIL

Housing
To find a place in Curitiba was rather easy. The rent prices are close to Finnish standard. I found a shared flat with 5 apartments for 600R$ month, which is around 300€ . The price includes taxes,gas and a poor wireless internet a shared kitchen,bathroom and a living/dining room. The location is very good near the old center close to the first university in Brazil. My flat is a big one with own balcony and it was the most expensive one in the apartment. I had help from my friend for getting the place and it was needed because landlord speaks only Portuguese. But my French roommate told me that it is possible to get a place here not speaking a word of the language! He is a living example.

For a Finn who is used in very high quality for interior a student place in Brazil might be a shock. The water coming from the tab or the shower is not always very warm. The structure of the wall is one layer of bricks. No thermal insulation, not very airtight. But it will not be seen on the electricity bill because there is no heating. Air temperature changes almost with the air surrounding. Nights are cold at least in the winter. But it is reasonable because the temperature stays above 0 most of the time. This is of course just a one example of a cheap student construction and the quality changes a lot between different construction companies, budgets and the age of the house just like in Finland.

Curitiba
Curitiba seems like a modern, multicultural and a fast growing city. There are construction sites everywhere around the city. Traffic is pretty well organized. I saw  the Brazilian traffic for the first time in Curitiba actually the first different traffic from Finland and it seemed pretty wild. You better get used to it. Curitiba is also been awarded for the ecological capital of Brazil. It is visible in the streets which are clean. People recycle, public transport is working very well and there is a lot of green in the city parks and trees. In Curitiba you can find longest bus working in public transportation. Also the tourist information and guidance is clearly been worked on and access to the cities sights is made easy. Also the nightlife is active and varied. Beverages are cheap in the mercadoramas ( a market)  but nightlife is quite expensive with high entrance fees.

There is a lot of  different restaurants in different prizes, qualities and specialties.  I have enjoyed especially lanchonetes, sushi and churrascaria. Churrascaria is a kind of a buffet restaurant where is a buffet table of cheeses, fruits, salads and other starters. When starting the dining several waiters circle around the hall with a selection on wide selection of various, delicious pieces of grilled, excellent meat. My friend told me that there one will eat a lot even not hungry. Now I know why. Churrascaria is an experience worth trying!

BRAZIL! 


The Federal University of Parana has been on a strike, so my classes has been delayed for 3 weeks. So I have had four weeks just to know the city and its atmosphere. After a month in Brazil I am really starting to enjoy Brazil. My street-wisdom is improving. Everyday life is starting to get easier. Also my Portuguese is improving little by little although it is still difficult. I have learned to know many people around me, found friends and hobbies. I am also learning Brazilian cities and sights. The places I would like to visit are:

Santa Candida, close to Curitiba
Foz do Iguaçu in Parana
The capital city Brasilia
Rio De Janeiro
Amazones
Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina. Plans are still open.

I have already travelled to Sao Paolo with my friend for 2 days. It is the 3rd biggest megalopolis in the world with nearly 20 million inhabitants in its area. But on Thursday morning at 5 it was as quiet as any city. It is a city worth of seeing. A view from the towerhouse shows human works as long a the eye can see. It is amazing. I also enjoyed the architecture in the new center The avenue Paulista.

I started to train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the Luda of Gracie Barra. I am really enjoying it. A normal day of training there is 5-8 black belts training and several brown belts. One day at the Luda there was also a famous MMA-fighter Renato Sobral training. I also saw Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, an ex light heavyweight champion of UFC live when I was watching Brazilian fight league matches in Curitiba. I am also going to try Samba and Capoeira.

These are the happenings here for now. Soon I will also post pictures to cheer up this boring text!
´til next time! Ate logo!

Arrival, Jet Lag and the Cultural Shock

Boa tarde senhoras e senhores!

Good day ladies and gentlemen!

Now I have arrived to Curitiba, Brazil! After weeks of preparations and a couple days of travelling I now finally am here! Do I sound excited? I am! 

Friday 15th I had my "second" farewell party with many of my dear friends from Oulu and from Keminmaa. Thank you for a great party! Tuesday 19th of July I left Keminmaa, visited my grandfather and jumped to a train to Oulu. Wednesday I was still buying the things that I thought I needed.  We had "the last dinner" with Miska (name not changed) and his family, then he took me to airplane for Helsinki.

I never thought that saying goodbye would be so hard. I have never been away for such a long time and I never felt homesickness before, but somehow I realised that this time it might be possible. During the preparations I was grumpy, I had slept too little and I was stressed because I ran out of time with the final preparations. I received my passport and visa from Helsinki on monday, the day before I had to leave to Oulu, so that was also a close call. I had only 2 compelete days for packing and farewells. That was not enough. 1 or 2 more days would have been a lot better. My packing required a lot of time for it was my first travel ever and I had to pack essentials for six months. I took with me only one small suitcase and a backbag. My packing was based on light packing, electronics and the stuff that would be hard to get from there.

After emotional farewells I was in Helsinki. I met with a friend, and took a walk around the nightly Helsinki. I had reserved the flights from Oulu to Hki separately to get a cheaper price.I should have done that for all the flights, but it was my first international flight so I decided to take a package deal. My flight was from Helsinki to Amsterdam to Sao Paolo to Curitiba. The companies were Norwegian, KLM and TAM. Everything went very smoothly from flight changes to border control and arrival. It actually could not have gone any better. I left my luggage to station in Helsinki, spend a night at the airport and saw them next time in Sao Paolo. I lost nothing! The whole travel time was 20 hours and the longest flight was from Amsterdam to Sao Paolo, 11 hours and 10 000 kilometers across the Atlantic Ocean. The flight was very good, service and entertainment were arranged very well.  

In Brazil time has gone very fast. I met Artur and I have stayed in his home with his family until I find my own flat. The infrastructure and traffic culture are way different from Finland. I think Brazilian buildings are beautiful compared to boring Finnish architecture. For a few days I have circled around the city of Curitiba, met many new people, learned a lot of Portuguese and seen things completely new to me. I have had experiences I can´t even describe. The best way to get to know a culture is to get inside the culture.

I have had an excellent week so far. I have seen many homes, birthday parties, lunches. A way of life on a local perspective. I am so thankful for Artur for having me in his home and taking me to these events as a guest,a part of the family. People that I have met here have been very positive and happy and everywhere I´ve gone I´ve felt that I am welcome and everyone has taken me very well, just as I expected.

The food culture has also been a very positive experience. I have eaten in some parties and also in normal situations and I think the food here is fresh, natural and tasty. Food culture is not far from the finnish one with same kind of basic elements. I have especially enjoyed fresh fruits, meat and the desserts. The desserts are sweeter than in Finland. The selection of fruits is remarkable, I´m amazed and I have enjoyed a lot of fruits.

The weather here is different than I had expected and what I had prepared for. I thought it can´t be cold in Brazil. It can. I heard that Curitiba is famous for being so cold. Of course I heard it here, not in Finland. But it has not been a problem. The temperature is above 0 and summer is coming soon. People have been laughing to me:
"-Are you cold?" "-Voce frio?"
"- No, I am from Finland." "-Nao, Sou Finlandes"
   
For I have lived all my life in Finland I have never lived in a different time zone. Now the time difference is 6 hours. And that stroke me upon arrival. I suffered 3 days from Jet Lag. I got very tired in the middle of the day and  couldn´t sleep in the middle of the night very well because of the time difference. But I recovered, as always.

To sum it up in the end and refere to the subject. The travel and arrival were excellent. I have not had a cultural shock at all, at least not yet (Although I have sit in a room full of people talking portuguese not understanding a word they say).The only small problem so far has been jet lag, which lasted 3 days. I really have enjoyed my time here in Brazil. I think the country is very beautiful. I can´t wait until summer, the beginning of my studies and martial arts trainings.

Ate a Proxima- ´til next time! See you! 

Do not hesitate to comment or ask if there is anything. Thank you!

Lukijoiden pyynnöstä minulta on pyydetty myös suomalaista versiota. Seuraavaan päivitykseen yritän saada jo suomeakin.

The First Post

Preparations for the exchange experience

After more than six months of more and less active preparations I can finally say I am starting to be ready mentally and physically for my exchange. I want to fill you in for the massive amounts of  work that is required for even thinking about exchange studies. 

There is so many things needed to be considered and taken into account before exchange is possible. For me the preparations have been especially difficult because of many things. For me it is the first time I travel far from Finland. So I had to check my vaccinations, take the missing ones, apply for the passport, get a credit card, get a visa to Brazil and of course find out information about travelling and reserving procedures in general. These official parts of the preparations have been the the most troublesome parts for me.

You have to also make sure that everything is in order both in home and in the location of the exchange. An apartment, contacts, funds, grants and everything has to be in order. Also the return back home has to be planned beforehand. The ideal situation would be that there ain´t any undone schoolwork and you´re social situations are in order. If the exchange is just an excuse to run away from something I think it won´t solve anything maybe it just makes it worse. With a clear conscience and mind you will be ready for the amazing events that will occur during the exchange.

I have also done a lot of background work that might not directly affect the exchange experience, such as going to Portuguese course, starting Brazilian jujitsu hobby, getting as good tan as possible from Finland :P , getting  to know Portuguese and Brazilian people to get closer to the culture. I hope that this way I can get to know the culture a bit deeper. In my opinion you can´t make too much of the background work. The better and  earlier you are prepared the more you get from the journey. Internet is full of information waiting to be discovered and put in to use.

When you are so close to the exchange that you are already thinking what to take with you there is again another problem. It is impossible to take your life with you on an airplane to the other side of the world. So I have to fit everything in two backpacks. One inside the plane and the other in the cargo hold. I have to take with me some books and papers,clothes, electronic devices, medicines and things that I think make my voyage easier. Again the same rule helps the earlier the better. The more you know that needs to be purchased early, the more you can compare prices and make big savings.

Here are a couple of very useful links for Finnish travelers, at least they helped me a lot

Ministry for Foreign Affairs :  http://formin.finland.fi

A shop for useful stuff :          http://www.varuste.net/

Quality travel guides:             http://www.lonelyplanet.com/uk

Health guide for traveler:       http://www.ktl.fi/portal/suomi/julkaisut/oppaat_ja_kirjat/matkailijan_terveysopas

In 20.7.2011 my flight to Brazil will leave from Oulu and I will start the adventure of my life. I am really looking forward to it with anticipation. 

The most important decision is in the beginning. You have to decide that you want to go to exchange. When you are sure about that and you stand behind it everything else will happen somehow..