tl;dr
- Photo link: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmEjbvdZ
- I did Escape the Room with some new friends in São Paulo.
- I am still getting used to Brazilian peculiarities (like kissing to greet people and using 24 hour time)
- I went to the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in São Paulo and met some professors there as well as Professor Brad Olsen, an MIT professor who is finishing up his sabbatical there.
Day 4, June 10th, I slept in because I started to get sick (a cold or something which I probably picked up on the plane or from all the hugs and kisses here). I ate some delicious mango and watermelon, and then went to a flower market nearby to buy flowers for Maria as a thank you. I video chatted with some friends and then packed my stuff up to move to Rafa’s apartment. After dropping my stuff off at Rafa’s, I went to a burger place called Bullguer and met up with Roudi, Nathan, and Dani (students I met at CIP’s Shavuot celebration, who are friends with Eric). Nathan spent a couple of months working in an MIT lab last year and goes to school in São Paulo, Dani goes to Northeastern University, and Roudi works at LinkedIn and is a magician on the side 🙂.
After dinner, we went to an Escape the Room where we met up with some more people. Even though I was the only non-Portuguese speaker, they got the Escape the Room puzzle clues to be in English. During the game, they kept speaking in Portuguese and then someone would say, “Fala inglês! Fala inglês!” after which, they would switch back to English for a few minutes before reverting back to Portuguese. I honestly didn’t mind the Portuguese and thought it was really sweet that they kept trying to speak English to include me. Through a combination of intelligence and Roudi’s fervid devotion to winning the game, we escaped with about 13 minutes to spare.
After Escape the Room, Dani, Nathan, and I went to Dani’s house. She had an adorable dog. Eric and his girlfriend, Amanda, came by to chat and then Eric took me to Rafa’s. Because I met so many people that night, I became acutely aware of how weird it is for me to have random people kiss me on the cheek. I kept forgetting that there was supposed to be a kiss after the hug, so I would pull away after the hug and then there would be an awkward moment when neither one of us was sure what to do. Luckily, everyone was always really nice about it when I messed up this classic Brazilian greeting, and sometimes they would just shake my hand instead.
Day 5, June 11th, I woke up 8am to find that Rosa, the director of the MIT-Brazil program had texted, called, and emailed me. She had told me that she would come to Rafa’s to pick me up to go to Campinas, São Paulo at 6:30 or 7; I just assumed that she meant 6:30 or 7pm, rather than am. I called Rosa and she came up to the apartment as I quickly got dressed. We joked that this was another case of Brazilian norms which I have to get used to (i.e., 24-hour time). Rosa and I then drove to Campinas, São Paulo, where another MISTI student, Jenny, is working this summer. We met with Jenny’s boss at Elektra, an energy company owned by Iberdrola. Then, Jenny, Rosa, and I went to meet with professors at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP). After this, a professor took us to a restaurant called Romana. Romana is an all-you-can eat buffet; Jenny and I were so excited to try all of the Brazilian desserts, so we got a bunch… maybe too many…
After our dessert, Rosa, Jenny, and I went to a giant shopping mall. We went to the Vivo phone store because Jenny was having trouble with her cell phone plan and had a small dinner at a restaurant called Giovannetti. We were all really full from dessert, but wanted vegetables. There, I tried orange and acerola juice – it was delicious! We walked around some more and then got a bit of ice cream (I know… we ate a lot that day…) at a place Rosa considered to be the best ice cream in Brazil. I went back to the hotel full and happy.
On June 12th, Day 6, Rosa and I woke up and went to meet Professor Julio Pastre. Professor Pastre is a UNICAMP professor with whom I will work at the end of the summer when I go back to UNICAMP to do some lab tests that aren’t possible to do in my lab in Santarém. Then we met up with MIT Chemical Engineering Professor Brad Olsen, who is currently finishing up his sabbatical year in Brazil at UNICAMP. He was really nice and kept trying to get me to practice my Portuguese. We all then went to some more meetings about strengthening the connections between UNICAMP and MIT. After the meetings, Rosa and I went back to the hotel to pack up our things for the long journey to Santarém, Pará (my final destination for the summer). Rosa, though she is from Brazil, had never been to Santarém and wanted to come with me to see what it is like before leaving me there for the summer. We boarded a plane for Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, and from there took a flight to Santarém, Pará which landed at 3am.
Adventures of Talia 