REFLECTION: TO SUM IT ALL UP!

It seems like yesterday, I was packing my bags and headed to the airport for my summer dialogue to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Today, is my last full day in Sao Paulo and I cannot express how the time flew by. Over the span of 4 weeks I had an educational and cultural experience of a lifetime. The dialogue's focus was on learning and researching alternative energy methods in Brazil however what I gained from this experience was a whole lot more. While in Brazil, I took 2 courses, one on alternative energy and the other on Brazilian culture. Both courses allowed me to analyze the United States and Brazil and compare and contrast the two countries from various different outlooks. From visits to power plants, attending soccer games, shopping at local markets and visiting the islands of Brazil, I truly feel that this experience was once in a lifetime.

PASSPORT AND BOARDING PASS!

To start off, I am going to highlight the cultural experiences that I felt were very enriching and enlightening. During our first week here, we attended something like an open air market. At this market, there were various vendors with antiques as well as traditional Brazilian foods. To me, this visit was a great way to tie in with the local people as well as get to see what a typical day is like for vendors in Brazil. At the market, I got to work on my Portuguese while I ordered pastels and coco water. While in Brazil, we also visited numerous museums, including the afro-brazilian museum and the museo de futbol. These two were very different from each other but were both my favorites. The afro-brazilian museum was located inside Ibirapuera park which is a beautiful park in Sao Paulo. 
The museum features over 3000 works which highlight the importance of black Brazilians in the creation of national culture, heritage and identity. The collection at the afro-brazilian museum consisted of various themes including Africa, work, slavery, history and art. My favorite pieces were the ancient jewels that enslaved women would make for their masters. The visit to the museum was a great culture class because we were able to get a visual feel for the connection between the afro-brazilian culture. 

One of the next museum's we visited that allowed me to further understand a large part of the Brazilian culture was the museo de futbol. I always knew that soccer was a huge part of Brazilian culture however when I finally arrived in Brazil I learned that soccer was their life. I would always see people on the streets of all ages wearing various jerseys which showed me how much they supported their local teams. At the museo de futbol, I learned about famous professional Brazilian soccer players and their claim to fame. I have been playing soccer since the age of 2, so I have a strong personal connection to the sport. The museum is much more than a history about sports, it is the history about Brazilian people. The design of the museum was fantastic. Visitors pass through each century of Brazilian soccer and see how the sport has changed over time. One of the most fascinating displaces was of the balls. There were 6 balls that showed how the size, shape and texture has changed over the years. The museum also had a visual interface that allowed us to actually interact with the different displays. The visual interfaces gave us short clips of famous games and spectacular goals. The museo de futbol allowed me to understand Brazil in a different aspect, something that Brazilian people are strongly tied to. 

Outside of the museum! It was built at an old stadium!

Ancient soccer ball!

Virtual Interface! So cool!

The next cultural activity I would like to shed light on is the Mercado Municipal de Sao Paulo also known as the Municipal Market of Sao Paulo. I had written a previous blog post about this Market however I only touched upon the new exotic fruits I discovered. In my reflection post, I would like to also mention other important aspects and tricks I learned at the market, that I felt were a strong part of my learning while in Brazil. The Mercado Municipal is a 12,600 square meter building filled with various vendors for all sorts of products. I was able to try various meats and fruits during our visit which opened my taste buds to a whole new world. The market also gave me an opportunity to work on my Portuguese as well as to try some bargaining. We were advised by Luisa to be careful of vendors who overcharge and to try to bring down the prices to be more reasonable. Overall, the market experience was one of my favorite activities while in Brazil. It tied me even closer to the Brazilian culture and it was a great sampling! 

Mercado Municipal

Inside the market!

Me in front of the exotic fruits!

The dialogue that I completed in Brazil, as I mentioned above, consisted of 2 classes. The culture class allowed me to grasp the Brazilian culture and compare and contrast it with my own. The places we visited, the classes we had and the people we met, allowed me to get a real feel for Brazil. I was able to see some similarities between American, Greek and Brazilian culture as well as many differences. My personal opinion, is that the Brazilian culture is more tied to the Greek culture. This is because they both are more laid back than the American culture. People tend not to be on time, and the society is not as structured as in America. This to me can be both negative and positive. It is nice to not have to rush and stress about little things however sometimes when you need something done on time it can be a pain. Being an international affairs major, this trip definitely tied in to my studies. A major part of international affairs is studying cultures and how they interact with each other as well as focusing on globalization. Being in Brazil for a month, allowed me to experience the South American culture, something that was new to me because my concentration is Europe. The facts I gathered and the information I learned will allow me to have additional material to share in my international affairs classes. 

The next part of my reflection blog will introduce an area that was completely new to me before coming to Brazil. I signed up for this dialogue to study an area that was outside of my field. I chose alternative energy because it was something that I heard often being discussed but I really did not have any idea what it consisted of. I later found out that Sao Paulo and Brazil was one of the world's leaders in alternative energy. Due to the fact that Brazil is an uprising economy, with much growth expected, I felt it was an ideal place to study. The alternative energy class in Brazil introduced me to a whole new world. I learned about various types of alternative energies including, photovoltaic, wind energy, solar energy, hydroelectric, nuclear, geothermal and biomass. While in class, each week we were assigned to different groups where we had to focus on one type of alternative energy. This was great for me, because I was able to do the research about the alternative energy on my own, learn from my peers who knew more in depth information about the energy and then share what I learned with the class. While I was not presenting, I would listen to my classmates presentations about their alternative energy studies. Aside from class time, we visited many sites where we got a hands on feel for what these alternative energies were like. In my blog, I have posted about each site and have gone into detail about the companies and what our visits were like. In my reflection blog I am going to share which trips were most educational and beneficial to my understanding of alternative energy. 

Our first stop was CPFL Renovaveis, which happened to be one of the best visits. CPFL is Brazil's largest renewable energy company and received many investments for their solar energy projects. During our visit to CPFL, I learned that CPFL carries out its projects in 8 different states, strongly contributing to the local and regional economic and social development. CPFL has the largest solar plant of its kind in Brazil, with a capacity of 11 MWp. This is  a great achievement for Brazil, as the company is relatively new, it is reaching astonishing milestones. My blog post entitled CPFL Renovaveis, goes more into depth about CPFL and the company. In this post, I would like to focus on what I truly gained from the visit to the plant. In class, I was assigned to the photovoltaic group, so before going to CPFL, I had a pretty good understanding of certain solar panels. I had researched both the amorphous crystalline silicon and poly crystalline silicon, 2 panels which CPFL has. It felt great to be able to understand what the CPFL employee was describing during his presentation. At CPFL, I also learned about the mounting systems. The tracking system is used with the poly crystalline panel and it moves into the direction of the sun and therefore is very efficient. The other panels are stationary which use the suns slanted light. The CPFL trip allowed me to view all of these different types of panels and place a real image to what I was learning. 

One of the most exciting visits for me was to BOSCH. BOSCH was named the worldwide leader in automative components in 2011. Our visit was centralized around the flex fuel engines BOSCH makes because as I learned, Brazil has about 90% of its engines equipped with flex fuel engines. This visit was very interesting due to the fact that I was able to compare it directly to the United State's automotive department. Brazil as a country, promotes the use of ethanol as an alternative energy produced from sugarcane and bagasse. At BOSCH, I learned that ethanol is considered a profitable technology due to Brazil's location, something that is not as popular in the U.S. due to expensive costs. This visit also tied in greatly to my major, in terms of finding alternative energy methods so that the U.S. is not so dependent on foreign fuels. I was impressed with the various testing rooms that BOSCH had. We entered the 'cold room' where BOSCH simulates temperatures that the cars must pass before they sell them to other countries. The cold room was capable of reaching temperatures of up to -40 Celsius! We were also taken to a simulator room to see how efficient the flex fuel engine is. There was a virtual driving course so that they can study the fuel costs and how it effects the engine. 

flex fuel port fuel injection!

Lastly, I would like to touch upon the Solar Energy Conference we attended. I chose to write about this because it was a great learning experience as well as a networking opportunity. At the conference, we were really put to the test to see what we had learned over the span of a month. The Ener Solar conference invites various alternative energy companies to come and display their products. Our assignment was to talk with various companies about their products and see why they believed their products were better than their competitors. At the conference, I learned that everyone thought their product was the best, however I could not get a direct answer for what makes their product different from everyone else's. The goal of this conference was to assist Brazil with expanding its solar energies. Many of the companies at the conference presented their solar panels, something that by then I knew very well. It was a great experience to get to see these various companies compete and explain what their goals are.

Pre-conference snap chat!

After a month in Brazil, I am now home and reminiscing about the amazing time I had. Brazil and this dialogue opened up my eyes to a whole new world, both culturally and educationally. From learning some basic Portuguese, attending soccer games, visiting museums, going to different islands such as Paraty and Guaraja to getting a tasting of a whole new major was an experience of a lifetime. I can definitely say that this dialogue was a positive experience for me. I met some remarkable people and made some amazing new friends. That is all for now, until my next visit to Brazil!