Yellow Fever

This week was a bit special.
I have become accustomed to a routine where i would go to the university, do my work and then at the end of the day take the bus back home.
This week, as i patrol the hallways, a peculair site crossed my eyes.
Everywhere I looked nurses where sitting in chairs with coolers giving students shots.
I spoke a friend of mine at the university and he revealed to me that there has been an outbreak of yellow fever within the city of Ouro Branco and that 3 people have died so far.
It gladdens me that people have been responsible enough to vaccinate everybody accordingly to prevent further fatalities, but the experience also serves as a reminder. That when going abroad, safety can be jeoperdized at a moments notice.
Being prepared to go abroad also means taking into account that the unexpected can happen within the blink of an eye.

Start of the semester

The title of this message may seem out of place, but that is not the case.
You see, despite having worked at the university, this week the school starts for every student and not just the people that work there.
In my republica, every resident (all nine of them) has gathered from his hometown for this.
The university is buzzing with life and my research is going well.
Parties, although limited to the weekends, are still reguraly hosts by the republicas.
All in all, life is going boringly well and nothing out of the ordinary is occuring.

Carnival

This was an interesting week.
Because a majority of my work was done and i had a few days off for carnaval.
I decided to head over to the town of Ouro Preto with some of my housemates to do this. Carnaval in Brasilis one of the biggest holidays of this country and this quit noticable in the way they celebbrate this holiday. The people do not really dress up in the way they do in Holland, but instead they save this for evening parties (and even then it is not over the top) and decide to stick to regular clothes during the day. The drink, dance and generally party for several days and i found it very believable that people do die if they did this in excess.
I met a lot of new people in Ouro Preto and it hink we will keep in touch.
my projectproposal i coming allong nicelly and i think i will have it done by this week.

The second week commences

As my second week here begins, I am getting more acquinted with the village and it’s residents.
In my street there is a total of 5 republicás that all get together to hang out and drink.
It is not unusual for somebody of another Republicá to barge into another and vice versa.
This is often accompanied by the drinking of Cachaça, A Brazilian distilled spirit, which often leads to great times together (in my experience at least).
I have also learned that the people of one Republicá consider themselves siblings and as such stand together because of that (They also consider the republicás that they have friendship with as cousins) .
No matter the activity, they will help each other.
Because two of my housemates graduated last weekend, we went to a barbecue in another republica in another area of the town.
As with my arrival, the students are fascinated to meet a person from Europe and to know more about me and what i am doing here.

Welcome to Brazil

After the Long journey from the Netherlands to Brazil, I have finally arrived in the sunny city of Ouro Branco.
The two things that are most striking after arrival, are the following.
The first is just how hot it is in this country (like between 25 and 35 degrees hot)
The second is that English is almost not spoken in Brazil. Before leaving, I knew that English was not well known in Brasil, but I am shocked at how few people speak it.
So as a tip: If you are considering going to Brazil, make sure to speak understandable portugees in advance.
This will be a hugh asset!!.
My republica (studenthouse) is quit nice and my housemates are very social.
Despite the language barrier (me speaking only somewhat understandable portugees), we can understand one another and i believe that they enjoy trying out and learning to speak English.
They have tought me several portugees words and customs and they seem very welcoming of me, despite being what they call a gringo (a brazilian word for someone that is noticably not from Brazil).
I have been to my university and i have met with my supervisor. We have discussed my work here in Brazil and for now I am working together with a postgraduate student Researching fermentationprocesses.
I am looking forward to seeing what else Brazil has to offer and especially the carnaval that is going to be held in two weeks.

First Blog post

My final week at home

My final week in the Netherlands has come to pass.
I find it an odd thought that in one week I will be standing on the other side of the world.
whilst I am a bit nervous, I am far more excited to go and can hardly wait.
As a goodbye, my friends had organised a going away party for me.
They told me they were going to miss me, to be carefull and most of all: To have fun.
They gave me a T-shirt that has a photo of our entire friendgroup on it with the line:
succes in Brazilië!! (Good Luck in Brasil!!)
They also gave me a small bottle of champagne, because (according to them) it will break the ice with my housemates.
My journey will take me from Breda to Brussels, from Brussels to Lissabon, from Lissabon to Belo Horizonte and finally from Belo Horizonte to Ouro Branco.
It will take roughly 1,5 days to get to my final destination and I am not looking forward to this.
Not necessarily because of the duration, but because of the multitude of factors that might go wrong (Such as Luggage getting lost, getting robbed, not boarding a flight on time etc).
I am looking forward to meeting my housemates and supervisor in person. The impression i have gotten from the brazilians, is that they are very social and helpfull.
Because of this, I am not worried about feeling lonely in Brasil.