Geo arrives to São Paulo

Honeymoon First!

I arrived in São Paulo on Monday, February 22. It was not a very exciting day because (1) I was really tired of being jet lagged from having arrived from Greece three days prior and (2) still had shock. I could not believe I was actually moving to Brazil for the next nine months. Luckily, I was paired with a young man who was returning as an English Teaching Assistant (ETA) for the second time. This time with the added responsibility of being a mentor.  It was rather comforting to be able to chat with someone who had previous experience in this ordeal. The Fulbright Commission in Brazil is the only commission in the Western Hemisphere to have a mentor program. When Tuesday came around I met my mentor Anne and the other 4 ETA´s who fall under her jurisdiction (picture of Anne and her mentees below). From Tuesday through Thursday we were bombarded with information to make our duration in Brazil a productive and safe one. Luckily, there was an afternoon where we explored São Paulo and an evening where they taught us Forró, Samba (minus the colourful clothing. I was wearing jeans), Salsa, Bachata, and other Latin dances. As you can imagine, I have no rhythm or coordination so this proved to rather difficult. Through the whole week I was anxious to arrive to Goiânia. As lovely and amazing it was to speak with 80+ brilliant minds aka Fulbrighters, it really felt like a honeymoon. I longed for knowing what life would be like for the next nine months. 

São Paulo as a city is interesting. I have travelled extensively and must say that it has to be one of the least appealing ones I have ever visited. I will not bore you with history, but as a colonial city it was founded in 1554 and since then has grown to be the twelfth largest municipality in the WORLD! There is about 21 million inhabitants in the municipality. 11,8 million in the urban area. Like many good Catholic colonies, the city is named after Saint Paul of Tarsus aka Paul the Apostle. A former professor told me that São Paulo was New York on steroids and boy was he right. Congestion at all hours of the day, unless one is driving/riding around at very late/early hours. The part that calls my interest (International Studies geek, duh!) are the large diasporas from Japan, Italy, and several Arab nations. Several ethnic neighbourhoods can be found and I had the opportunity to explore Mercado Municipal de São Paulo, where the majority of individuals at one point were from Saudi Arabia, Morrocco, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt. Ironically the items they sold were NOT kosher or Halal.

Afterwords we went to what once was the tallest building in Latin America in 1934. Edifício Martinelli or Martinelli Building designed by Italian Brazilian entrepreneur Gieseppe Martinelli.

The city flag, compliments of Snapchat!

As you can see the building no longer is the tallest building in the city and to be quite frank, the skyline is not very attractive.


Regardless of the view, São Paulo is the city where I met an extraordinary group of individuals from various academic backgrounds.

I just like to stand out so I of course wear a tie and red sweater :-)

Though, these are the best ones from the larger group. 

We came to Brazil all the way from Arizona, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, New York and Illinois!