Norwejon

Dear readers! It has been a while! And a lot has happened. Sitting at on my couch at Wall Street Paulista looking back, the last four weeks seem somewhat unreal. It is difficult to know where to start so let me take it all from the beginning (going 4 weeks back to the last time I blogged). The first week after my last post was basically devoted to school considering I had 4 exams the following week. We still found time to do a little clubbing combined with some beers to work of the nerves…. Sky Bar was visited (met the Norwegian photographer Dag Alveng there, he had an exhibition on Av. Paulista) in addition to famous Buddha Bar. Except these random visits to bars, studying and working out (volley and jiu jitsu) and, of course, ... read more

The past weeks highlight was without doubt the trip 25 exchange students took to Itanhaem! Before going further into details about that trip I want to summarize the past week. The other "highlight" of the week was a mid-term in Brazilian Economy. A sign of school becoming more and more serious. We basically have assignments every other day now, so less time to have fun unfortunately. Of course I was able to make time for some parties last week. A few home parties became a cheap solution to many of the other more expensive places we tend to end up in here in Sao Paulo. So apart from a few parties, school and working out, nothing big happened before the legendary trip to Itanhaem. Itanhaem is a small beach city about a 2 hour bus ride ... read more

Oi! Tudu bem? As you see my Portuguese is improving!! At a very slow pace..... So sitting here happy after Arsenal pulled of a late win in the FA cup quarterfinal against Hull, while waiting for volleyball practice, I think back on the week that has passed. Once again there is very little to tell. More bars/parties have been visited/attended; a new Irish one, two new ones in Vila Madalena and a new school's Cervejada (at the school FAAP) and a real local Brazilian barbeque... As you can read this mean 5 nights "out", so most of our week has gone to exploiting/exploring Brazilian drinking culture. The big activity this week has been testing out the pool on the roof and our Jacuzzi in the early hours of the day... As we say here, nothing is ... read more

A new week is history and a new week has started... For the first time in a few weeks we have been in the same city for over a week. So maybe not as much to say now compared to earlier blogs. Being in the same city means we have actually settled and I now feel like i live in Sao Paulo. As mentioned, the week has been pretty normal. I have attended classes, down homework, done some readings, worked out and gone to parties. On the sports side I can tell that I have joined the FGV (Getulio Vargas - old president/dictator) Volleyball team. Last Friday I even had the pleasure to play a few sets in a practice game against Medicina USP (University of Sao Paulo) in addition to a normal practice. Of course ... read more

School has started! Finally! Attending a Portuguese course in Salvador was interesting, but still not the most exciting subject in the world. So I am hoping that one of the courses at GV (Fundacao Getulio Vargas) might sweep me off my feet. My half year here in Sao Paulo is split into 2 modules, in between there is a 2 week vacation. In my first module I am doing a finance-class on Monday, leadership on Wednesday and a international strategy course plus Brazilian economy on Thursday. Overall an okay schedule with Tuesdays and Fridays off, but with a long and intense Thursday. But unfortunately the week also started with being hit by the classic flue. Not optimal considering I was looking at first week of class, apartment searching, police station registration and a lot of other ... read more

So here we go again! A week has passed and I am now located a few thousand miles more south. In the city of Sao Paulo. One of the biggest cities in the world with close to 20 million people and skyscrapers everywhere. A big change from Salvador with "only" 3 mill. people and a lot bigger than anything we have in Europe. The culture is also very different here. They say that Brazil consists of 5 big cultures; the African-inspired one, the European, the Indian (from amazons), the Japanese and some other one. In Salvador 85% of the people where from an African decent (after the slave time...), while here I Sao Paulo you have a mix of all of them. So coming here was like coming to a new country. Our last days in ... read more

Dear reader, A week has passed and it is time to sum up my experiences from the last week. A lot has happened, I experienced things I loved, and also things I could be without. Kristian and I fly out of Salvador next Wednesday morning and our experiences in Salvador are over for now, while new ones are awaiting us in Sao Paulo. The last week was like this: Monday: Once again the week started out with school. I can by the way mention that portuguese is a hard language to learn, and that the learning curve has really flattened the last week. Anyhow we learn new words every day and I at least feel that I learn a little bit more each day. What was different about this day, was that it was the same ... read more