Meeting new people

Dear reader,

Due to a really full schedule, I was not able to give you an update about my experiences in Belo Horizonte. But that’s a good thing, because it indicates that I was able to do a lot of research!

But before I could attend any meetings, I had to fill the long weekend. Bummer!

To make my time still productive, I arranged a few interviews with Brazilian students from PUC Minas. These give me a good indication about the inner workings of the Brazilian education system, but more importantly they explained the importance of an international experience for Brazilian students.

Besides these interviews, I’ve found some time to explore the city of Belo Horizonte some more with Marijn. Like true Dutchman, we rented a bike and cycled our way around Lake Pampulha. This lake was created in the early 40’s as a Recreation place outside the city of Belo Horizonte and is known for its (beautiful) buildings designed by Oscar Niemeyer. Nowadays the city has expanded so much that Lake Pampulha lays in the north-western part of the city.

The famous church of of Saint Francis of Assisi

By Monday I’ve gathered enough Brazilian knowledge to visit the (beautiful) PUC Minas campus on Coração Eucarístico  by public transport. Just to give you a feeling of the size of Belo Horizonte, it will take you 1.5 hours to travel from the city center to the campus by city bus! Speaking of that; the bus system is quite good in Belo Horizonte! Unfortunately it’s quite complex… Luckily Google Maps can always help you with this, even in Brazil.

In the meetings at PUC Minas I’ve met the head of the SEPLAN (international office) and some professors, who have been really hospitable to me! This included a tour of the engineering labs at campus and a lunch with the professor’s family. They even introduced me to the Director of the Mechanical department and the students of PUC Minas.

The inner garden of PUC Minas

Besides PUC Minas, I visited the UFMG campus. And this university is big! For the Dutch guys, think De Uithof (Utrecht) times 2-3! Here I spoke to a student who have done an exchange at the HZ University of Applied Sciences and had some meetings at the DRI Office (international office) about the possibilities for foreign students and their reception at UFMG.

Beautiful light in the UFMG buildings

After these meetings, the week was already over! So I went with Marijn on a road trip to Ouro Preto! This is the original capital of Minas Gerais (before Belo Horizonte was build) and is well known for its mining for minerals. The marks of this mining are still to be seen in the landscape, what was sometimes just breathtaking!

Portuguese colonial buildings in Ouro Perto

After this trip it was already necessary to prepare to my trip to Vicosa, where I’m going to visit the UFV. In the next blog I will tell you about my trip and the experiences I’ve had.

Stay tuned!

Thijs