Exchange student in São Paulo

This week we are hearing about how Camilla Sunesen Rohde from 4th semester is doing at the university in São Paulo, where she is studying marketing. 
Camilla went to Brazil in January and is staying in an apartment down town São Paulo with her boyfriend. Besides studying, she practices volleyball and is about to start at handball. About studying at the university she says: “It’s hard and takes a lot of time but I also know that it will be worth it. I can already see improvements both in my writing and speaking skills.“


- Describe a typical day:
A typical day for me, at least one of those where I have classes, I wake up at six in the morning and do whatever I have to do at home. Around seven I take the metro to the university which takes me about one hour. Then I have classes from eight until noon. Afterwards I have lunch at campus, study with my study group and head home. The rest of the day I normally just study, eat dinner and relax. When I have some extra free time I practice sports and explore the city.
- Are you going to travel around as well?
I don't think I'll travel so much since I also have to save money for the time in Rio de Janeiro. Normally the exchange program is just one semester but I'm doing three so it will cost me some extra. I might visit some of the other exchange students from my class back in Denmark.
- What do you miss most about Denmark?
Actually I don't miss so much yet. Of course I think of my family and friends but that's basically all for now.
- What do you like most about Brazil?
That must be the Brazilian people. I love how outgoing and spontaneous they are!
- What do you like least?
Right now I have an apartment in the very centre of São Paulo and even though I love how everything is so busy and crowded it has its down sights when it gets dark such as the violence and assaults. If you are just aware of this and keep a distance from it, you will be just fine.
- If you could give one advice for future exchange students in Brazil....
My best advice for future exchange students is to participate in everything you can, especially in the beginning where you try so hard to fit in and make new friends. Don't just keep to one group of people just because it feels good for the moment. I think it is very important to hang out with many different people and give them a chance to be your friend, they may surprise you.
Otherwise just be open-minded and try your best in classes. Keep trying and I promise you'll see improvements.



A huge thanks to Camilla for sharing her experiences in São Paulo, we are hoping to hear more from you, when you are moving to Rio de Janeiro later this year to study International Administration at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro! 

Written by Christina E. Andersen-Stolberg

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Porto-trip

Image
In the last week of January the 1st semester - soon to be 2nd - students were able to take a break from the stress and misery revolving their exams… Next stop: Portugal! It was a long journey to Porto, but we remained positive throughout the trip, singing joyfully along the way,  and when we finally arrived we were really psyched to get to experience the city! The first day there we were lucky enough to be given 15 degrees and sunshine, which disappointed one of the students who only brought a thick fur coat - the rest of us didn’t complain though! We went for a walk around the city, sat in the sun, drank beer and the mood was at its highest! From Monday to Friday we were given Portuguese lessons by The University of Porto, guided tours around the city and even went for a wine-tasting class, which was very interesting. And tasty... When we were not at the university, we spend our days shopping and experimenting with eating Portuguese snacks like Francesinha and Pastel de Nata. W
Read more

New challenges

A new semester has just begun and along comes a whole new set of challenges, especially for the  4 th  semester students as they are off to Brazil. Back in Denmark on 2 nd semester things are humming since new and more intense courses are scheduled. One of them is a course in phonetics and phonology which is a different discipline to most of the students.  As an introduction to the course we have a visiting lecturer, Denise Kluge, from Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil.  During the first lesson she taught the importance of making our Portuguese intelligible as a result of correct pronunciation. She states that the context will not always compensate for your lacks, and even if the receiver is able to understand the meaning of your statement he or she might not be willing to compromise with it.  Pronunciation and the production of sound are therefore extremely important even at our level of education. Not least it is essential to base it on the rules of the foreign lan
Read more

Visit to the European Commission in Brussels

Image
During our bachelor, we have many opportunities to attend extra lectures, workshops and events. These are often hosted by very interesting people with connections to either Brazil specifically or at least some part of the Portuguese diaspora. This spring we had a lecture by Bo Skovsboell , who works for the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. One of Brazilian Studies’ 3 rd semester students, our very own Juul Van de Voort , contacted him to arrange an excursion to visit him at the Danish Translation Service in Brussels. In the end, a one-day internship at the European Commission was set up. This trip took place late November, and was attended by Juul, Tanja and yours truly.        Our trip began early Monday morning, which allowed us to spend the entire afternoon as tourists in the most politically important city in Europe. We stayed at an apartment rented through Airbnb, which was conveniently close to the European Parliament. Unfortunately, there was some miscommunication
Read more