The second week here has almost come to an end. Finally I am starting to feel less like I am on a vacation and more like this place is my home for the next few months. I started school this past week at Fundacâo Getúlio Vargas (we call it FGV for short). The first day of school was really successful and two out of my three classes were canceled. Hey, I wasn’t going to complain. Instead of there being semesters in the universities here, the academic year is broken up into 4 modules. Because I am here for my Spring semester I will be participating in 2 modules at FGV. For the first module I am taking 4 courses and in the second only 3. For now my courses are: The Brazilian Economy, Technology Business Models, Macro Economics, and Portuguese. Thankfully my courses have gone fairly well for the first week. However, they do differ a lot from the university environment I am used to at Penn State. The lessons are more relaxed, consist of less note taking, and many debates with everyones involvement. I am really looking forward to seeing the differences between the university settings here in Brazil with those in the states.
Luckily for us we already have a week off from school due to “Carnaval”. Tonight I will be heading to Rio de Janeiro for the largest carnival in the world which takes place yearly right before lent. During the carnival period 2 million people swarm the streets daily, drinking and dancing the night away. This experience is going to be a whole new adventure of its own and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my 21st birthday.
Here is a list of the 2015 Carnaval “blocos” (block parties) in Rio De Janeiro. Take a look it’s quite surprising.
http://www.wikirio.com.br/Blocos_do_Carnaval_2015_na_cidade_do_Rio_de_Janeiro
-Sincerely, Tish
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