Even more opportunities!

Dear reader,

The last weeks where buzzy as well for me, so I lacked the time to write another post for this blog… But I have experience so much!

First off, my trip to Ouro Preto with Marijn; after two weeks in Belo Horizonte, it was about time for me to get out of the city. And what better way to do that, than with a road trip! For R$ 180 (about €60) we rented a car (FiatPalio 1.0 Fire! Sounds fast, but wasn’t) and a hostel in Ouro Preto for two persons. Really cheap!

The rural roads of Minas Gerais

Because we both loved to travel, we’ve planned a route through the mainland of Minas Gerais following the MG-030. Once in Ouro Preto we have left our baggage in the hostel and did some sightseeing of the city. This meant seeing a lot of minerals, old buildings and loads of churches. Combined with the landscape it was a really nice place to stay!

Beautiful colonial architecture in Ouro Preto

After this nice break, it was time for me to go to Viçosa. As a foreigner who can’t speak any Portuguese, it was quite an experience to book a bus ticked to Viçosa. But fortunately I had some instructions from the Living Lab students about the bus system.

After a trip of six hours through the curvy roads of mainland of Minas Gerais, I arrived in Viçosa where a student ambassador of the UFV was already waiting for me with a sign “Mr. Hoek”. He walked me to the student apartment where the other students where already waiting to give me a warm welcome.

Classic buildings on the UFV campus

After a good night sleep, I was welcomed to the Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV) by the people of the DRI office (international office). They had made a quite impressive meeting schedule for me, in which I met 18 professors in the three days I was there!

But because everybody was so kind and welcoming to me, I had a really good time in Viçosa. I’ve even had lunch at a professor’s home, spend some time with the (international-) students and represented the Netherlands with Robbin & Hannah (VHL students) on an international fair. But ontop of that, I've seen loads of oppurtinities for Dutch Universities!

Some of the internationals at UFV, spot the Dutch!

But when I left Viçosa on Friday afternoon, I realized that my time in Brazil is almost over! But before I could go home, I had to visit Inhotim! Using all my acquired culture skills of (almost) 3 weeks Brazil, I’ve gotten in a bus towards Inhotim and make some friends to explore the park with me. And what a park it was! Beautiful landscaping, impressive size and beautiful pieces of modern art. A real pleasure for anyone who loves modern arts or nature on its finest.

One of the outside pieces of art, Troca-Troca

After Inhotim, all what was left was a goodbye-lunch with Marijn and Bella and go back to the airport, because the Netherlands is already waiting for me and my experiences!

And there I am, sitting in my chair on the HZ University of Applied Sciences, thinking back to my time in Brazil and missing it already! But I’ve had a really great time, thanks to everyone around me! Whenever I come back, I will make sure to bring even more stroopwafels for you.

In the coming weeks, I will transfer all my experiences from notes to journals and reports and share them to everyone who wants/need to know more about Brazil. In a few weeks I’ll hope to tell you about their reactions to my findings and the first spin-offs of my research.

Until then!

Thijs

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