Polish day

Oi!

So today we had 2 boring lectures :( But we did have a loooong lunch and visited the Oscar Niemeyer museum where we saw some really cool exhibits! Then we went to Pope John Paul II park, which is a memorial to Polish immigration in Brazil. I will post some pictures below for your viewing pleasure :) Before heading back to the last lecture we went to a cute little polish restaurant right outside of the park and had delicious perogies! Yummm....

I know this is a short post, but just wanted to update you all on my day :)

The Oscar Niemeyer Museum:

Under some art in the museum:

Myself, Shani, Dan, and Lauren at lunch today:

Interesting menu items...Krak-burger anyone?!

Sand dune boarding in Floripa!

Here are two videos from Floripa when we went sand dune boarding...the first one is of me actually sand dune boarding (well, attempting to at least) and teh second one is me trying to climb up the hell..which was KILLER! It's really hard to tell how far and steep the hill was, but believe me it was!

Ok, the internet is going real slow so I cant upload any more videos...but i have 3 more so stay tuned!

Tchau mis amigos :)

Cucumbers and Nutella sandwiches

We have arrived at our final destination!! Curitiba...land of the infamous Bus Rapid Transit System! We left Floripa on Sunday afternoon and had a 4 hour bus ride to Curitiba...our shortest ride yet! Liz and I are of course sharing an apartment which is actually nice...luckily we are on the first floor so i dont have to treck up 12 flights of stairs like i had to in Sao Paulo!! We have a balcony and the view of the city is really good from our window...we also have a normal sized bathroom (!) and 2 rooms - one with our beds and one with a mini kitchenette (included: stove, sink, and refrigerator), a breakfast table and a couch. We have a pool and a churascurria at the top floor and the views from up there are amazing! The past 2 days have been jam packed with shcool work...it was nice having 4 days off for vacation but back to reality now i guess....or maybe not....Great news!!! Liz, Jess and myself are going to Rio on Friday!!!!!!!
WOOOOO!!
I cannot wait...we found super cheap flights and an even cheaper hostel so we leave friday at 7:30 am and return on Monday night...we will be staying in Ipanema :)

Ok so let me backtrack and fill you in on the past week....
So while in Florianopolis we had an amazing time as you saw from my previous post...the last 2 days there we went sand dune boarding! We walked about a half hour from our place and there were these GIANT sand dunes...like nothing I have ever seen before! They overlooked a good part of the island so you could see the ocean on one side and the lagoon on the other side...the first day we saw the sunset which was gorgeous! and the second day we woke up and went sand dune boarding! Its just like snow boarding but on sand...and its actually much easier although I still fell ALOT! I will post the video of one of my runs down the dune!

On monday I finally did laundry...clean clothes at last!!! I also went food shopping...hence the reason for the blog post title..that is what I have been eating for the past two nights! Im wierd, I know...but I am also running out of money fast! In the afternoon we went to the bus station and had a lecture on the BRT! Ill post some pics below....
Yesterday and today we had lectures and tours the whole day ( 8:30 to ~5:30). Its kind of crunch time with our projects because we only have 3 weeks left believe it or not! Good news is I got my proposal back and everything is good to go....Also the lectures have pertained to my subject which was a plus. We visited the Secretary of Urbanism and IPPUC... For those who may not know..IPPUC is responsible for Curitibas urban planning initiatives...its where it alllllll happens!! Then today we had a lecture on favelas and public housing in Curitiba...we also visited the favelas this afternoon....
Talk about a sobering experience....I have heard all about poverty in developing countries, studied it, done research on it, etc., etc. But to actualy see it is another thing. Its mind blowing... I have some pictures that I will post but they do no justice to the conditions that these Curitibanos (sp?) live in. It is especially harsh because they collect garbage and sort out the recylcing (in and outside their homes) for a living as part of the "Trash that is not trash" recycling for initiative here in Curitiba. I felt a little uncomfortable being there just because there was about 15 of us out there wandering their neighborhood taking pictures like they were a tourist attraction. I really wish I could have talked to some of the residents, especially why we were there and about our research projects, etc. Seeing favelas and poverty like I saw today really made me think about my situation and how lucky I am. It also makes me very happy that I chose to do something with my life that I love.
Never take anything for granted people!

Ok well I must go be a good student and research some literature before I head off to bed...I am gonna post some pictures and videos from the last couple of days...Enjoy!!
See you when I get back from Rio!!!!

Love,
Maud

Pictures and Videos I promised:

One of the bus stop "tubes" in Curitiba:

A rickshaw in one of the favelas in Curitiba, used for transporting the garbage and recyclables:
Homes in one of Curitiba's favelas (not the one of the worst ones...):
Love the recycling options available in Curitiba! (Paper, Plastic, Aluminum, Glass, and Organic!):

Biggest bird I have EVER seen! In one of Curitibas many public parks:Some of the group in Florianopolis at Fortaleza de Sao Jose da ponta crossa:The sand dune boarding crew (Me, Eric, Elly, Kevin, and Jess):

This was halfway through the weekend vacation while in Florianopolis. I count 16 bottles of vino!

Floripa!

I have been MIA, I know...so sorry...but I have been busy!!

So we left Maringa on Sunday and had a 12 hour long busride....ughhhhh...but it actually wasnt that bad because i took a dramamine and passed out! The hotel we stayed at in Florianopolis (Floripa for short) was gorgeous!!! Our room had sliding glass doors that overlook pretty plants and flowers:

We were thee from Sunday until Wednesday and did some workshops with the Federal University of Santa Catarina. The students there go to school for FREE and get a stipend of almost $1000 dollars a month!! It consists of like the top 5% of all Brazils best students. Lucky! Some of us presented projects we had worked on while in the States and the students there did the same. I was one of the ones who made a presentation so I did it on Box City and it went really well! We took a tour of their caampus and they had some really cool labs as well. The one below was a wind flow simulator...so they put blocks and designs representing buildings and turned on a water flow that represented wind which showed how different angles and open or closed windows would affect windflow...

Anyways...So on Tuesday we toured the island and saw some of the most amazing sights I have ever seen! See below for what Heaven on Earth looks like:

After the tour of the island we went to this crazy bar for drinks and oysters :) yummy....and they had notes every where from all the customers that have eaten there, so of course we had to leave our mark...

On Wednesday we were dropped off at the place we are staying for the long holiday weekend (We have Thursday and Friday off!!) We rented a place that one of the professors had..so all 11 of us (minus Erin because her husband is here and they got their own hotel)are staying here. Its right on the lagoon and, of course, is AMAZING! Look at the view from our window:

The first night here we cooked and drank vino tinta :) And during the day we just lay out at the beach or walk around by all the shops. This is the life! All i have to say is its gonna be reallllly hard for me to come back ;)

Believe it or not I am here for school, so I thought I would fill u in on that before I head out...Our big project is to write a research paper and finally I have figured out my topic: How verticalization impacts the public transportation system in Curitiba, Brazil. I am also thinking of doing a comparative study between Curitiba and Maringa, but that depends on how much time I have. I will get back to everyone when I go to Curitiba. We leave sunday afternoon and I promise I will update more often once I am there!

Hope everyone is doing well in los estados unidos! Miss you all!

-Maud

Maringa!

Oi! (meaning: “hello” in Portuguese)

Talk about a long day! We went to the UEM today at about 8:30 am and did not arrive back to our hotel until 7:30 pm!! It was a very interesting day to say the least! We had 3 lectures in the morning: one on adapting Florida’s affordable housing needs assessment to Brazil, one on Vertical development in Maringa, Brazil and one on a “favela” in Maringa, Brazil.

I am gonna vent a little so I apologize in advance. The lecture on “verticalization” as the professors here call it was definitely…well, interesting! There is a different mindset here in Brazil, which I sort of knew when I decided to study abroad in a different country. The professor (which by the way they refer to themselves as Professor Doctors!) was telling us that in this region of Brazil, and most places for that matter, have a large rate of growth, specifically upwards. And then he proceeded to tell us this was a completely bad thing. I sat in class and I was a little confused…I mean yea, maybe some privacy issues and minor negative issues are present with vertical growth, but it can’t be all bad, right? Nope. This guy, sorry, Professor Doctor, was saying he didn’t agree with it, but Brazil had to accept it because it was what the present situation here was. So what’s the alternative to vertical growth?? That would be sprawl. You have to be kidding me that you are going to encourage sprawl as opposed to “verticalization”. Has anyone seen what the United States is currently going through with all their problems with sprawl?! After this lecture I had a conversation with our program director who told me that many people see this “verticalization” as a symbol of power and capitalism and so in that sense it is a negative thing. While that may be true to some extent I still don’t see the reason to totally discourage it...I wish people would learn from other people’s mistakes! Hint*Hint Brazil.

We walked around downtown Maringa which is really cute…there is a huge cathedral in the town center that is shaped like a cone! (See pictures) We also went to a public park which is one of two “lungs” of the city…it was gorgeous and there were tiny monkeys everywhere! (See picture) Then we went to a neighborhood called Santa Felicidade. It is a low-income neighborhood that is in the process of being displaced…I am not even going to get started on this one! Basically Maringa’s local government lied and said this neighborhood was a favela (shanty town) to get 25,000 reias (Brazilian currency). Can you say corruption?

Enough ranting and raving….We had lunch with some of the Brazilian students from the university. Their biggest meal here is lunch, which is so different than what I am used to! So we have been eating big lunches and dinners here! But we walk A LOT!!! So I’m not worried J
While on our “field trip” today I attempted to converse with the Brazilian students…Disaster!!! Portuguese is very difficult! I assumed that it was similar to Spanish and since I am decent in speaking Spanish that I could get by with Portuguese. Wrong! It was actually kind of funny because one kid couldn’t speak English and I couldn’t speak Portuguese so we ended up trying to speak Spanish…haha…wish you guys coulda seen it!!

I apologize if my blog is really similar to Liz’s. We are on the same program so obviously we are experiencing the same things…but I try not to read hers and hopefully we have a little different of a take on some things and it keeps it interesting?!

This is a pretty long blog post for me and its 2:19 am so I am gonna sign off now…but one more thing before I go. Liz pointed out to me that I talk about Caprinhas in every single blog post! So I was obviously gonna try to avoid talking about them but I realized I spell them wrong in every post as well and just wanted to correct my Portuguese J (Correct spelling = Caprinhas)
Also, if you notice I changed my color scheme to green and yellow which are Brazils colors…a little more festive! AND…anyone can post a comment now…I changed the settings so that you don’t have to be a user…SO that means you guys must comment on this fabulous blog of mine! MAUD SAYS!

Enjoy the fotos! (P.S. I uploaded all my Sao Paulo pictures to facebook so go check-em out!)

Bons sonhos (meaning: “good night” in Portuguese)

Maringa pictures :)

The massive Cathedral....

Monkeys!!!

In one of the "lungs" of Maringa:

This is the "recycling center" of the Santa Felicidade neighborhood...notice the flowers....It's actually quite beautiful!

I just got back from celebrating Lauren's birthday! We went to a corner restaurant and had some food and drinks...The official drink in Brazil is the Caprihna...it is sugar, lime and Cansehco (which is the Ghetto ligour!! haha...go figure!) I'm probably spelling it wrong but it is delicious!!! We also had Carne seco which is similar to corned beef and is a typical Brazilian food.

So to expand on todays activities.... we went to UEM which is the university in Maringa. We are in a class with Brazillian students from Urban infrastucture, geography and economics. We have an assignment due by friday which is to write a 2-5 page paper on a topic that we cover while we are here in Maringa. I am interested in Transportation but am not sure the specific area I will study....In Curitiba they have an amazing public transportation system and I really want to see how that works so maybe I will explore the public transport systems in other Barzilian cities and compare them?? Not sure but if/when I figure it out I will let u know!

All the people in the program are very cool... There are 5 other people from UF... Jessica, Lauren, Eric, Kevin and Shani...Also Meredith and Erin from UT at Austin, Vicky from Canada, Dan from Rutgers, and Elly who lives in Honduras. I hope I am not missing anyone!! We are all obviously from different places but ghet along well.. I am really excited for this program to get under way...I will keep everyone updated and PROMISE to post pictures soon!

Love, Maud :)

Maringa!!

So we left Sao Paulo last night at about 5 pm...we sat in the bus station for 2 hours and drank and played cards until the bus got there...the bus ride was loooooooong! we arrived in Maringa at 4:30 am! Maringa is really nice..its a smaller town of only about 300,000 people..its hotter here too which is nice! BUT...there is dengue and yellow fever here so you cant wear shorts or flip flops :( I got bit by a mosquito today within 30 minutes of being outside! Uh-oh!!

We went to the University here and had a joint class with students from here in Brazil...we are going to Dinner now so when I get back I will fill you in on the academic part of my trip...also I'll add more pictures adn maybe do a video if Elizabeth lets me!

Tchaio!

Last night in Sao Paulo :(

So it was our last night night in Sao Paulo...we went out to a churascuria and ate delicious steak and food:) Earlier today we walked around an open air market and ate more delicious food! Tonight wew went to a bar and drank Capinrihas which are the official drink of Brazil...YUMMY!!! Then me and 2 other people continued the night listening to 80's music!!!!!!!!!!! I was in Heaven!!! I am going to sleep now but am posting some pictures below form teh past couple of days.....Ciao.

One more thing...

I almost forgot...you guys should check out Elizabeth Lauren Butler's blog as well. I posted the link to the right --->

She has some fun videos that we made at the airport and on the plane, as well as more fotos! Plus she is a wayyyy better blogger than I am!  

I made it!!

Yay! I made it to Brazilllll!!! After an 8-hour long plane ride, we finally landed in Sau Paulo! The fight was long and boring, but Liz and I had fun (probably while pissing the other passengers off..Oh well, what did you expect?!)

Anyways, this country is awesome! We are in Sao Paulo until Monday night and then we head off to Maringa.  Some of the people went out last night to a local spot....we met some Brazilians, attempted to speak Portuguese but ended up speaking Spanish, and took pictures with mannequins at a gas station...All-in-all I would say it was a pretty successful night! I showed Brazil what Maud is all about!! Haha...

Today we walked around the city and it is huuuuuge! I took a million pictures and will post some for your viewing pleasure :) Miss you all mucho...hope you aren't having too much fun without me! In the meantime I am gonna head out now.....Chao!