Angela:  OK. Overall, how did you like your program, how did you enjoy it?

Edson:  Oh, I loved it; I really loved it. And I think, most of the people actually, that I spoke to, who also arrived with me, loved it as well. I think that it was a great program for me because, like I said earlier, I really wanted to immerse myself in the culture and really learn as much as possible.

The way they had it structured was that there were three components to the immersion aspect of it. So, you had a home stay family and pretty much no one in the family spoke English, they only spoke Portuguese.

So, you would learn Portuguese at home and you would be forced to speak it at home. And then, all your classes at the University for the semester were in Portuguese and then also just going out into the streets and seeing the people, all of that communication was also in Portuguese. So, it was a very intensive program for immersion.

Edson:  The most important thing... I've been talking a lot about learning about the culture and learning about the people there, but I think, studying abroad is also a lot about learning about yourself.

I learned a lot about myself, just because, when I got there I didn't know anyone. No one from my school went with me. It was just me and I didn't know anyone else from any other school that was going to study abroad at the same time in the same place.

So, it also teaches you how to communicate with people more effectively and just introduce yourself in a more friendly manner than you might be used to, or if it's more formal or less formal, depending on the situations that are presented.

In general, the whole six months were a great learning experience for me personally. I learned a lot about myself in terms of how much discipline I can have, how much I can relax, when I can't relax. How much I can put myself in situations where I really have no idea what I'm doing and still come out alive and [inaudible] and that kind of thing.

So, I think, that was the most important thing I took away from it. Just that knowledge that I can throw myself in a situation where I don't speak the language and I have no idea about the culture really, but I can still survive and thrive. And I think, that's the biggest thing, not to survive, but to thrive. To learn about yourself and participating more than you have expected to participate in the daily life of that culture.

Edson:  Yeah, definitely. Salvador is renowned for being the location in the Americas that best preserves African culture. By far, by skin tone it's the blackest city in all of Brazil. It has a lot of history, it was the first capital of Brazil so parts of it are still really colonial and thankfully they've been restored and maintained by the international organization for heritage, I can't remember the name of it.


It's very historical, it has a lot of history and they have a lot of culture. I think, what I appreciated a lot is that usually when I would think about Brazil I would think of Rio because it's the more commercialized of the cities. And most people when they think of Brazil they think of Rio de Janeiro. But, in reality the true Brazil, I would argue, is in Salvador. Because it's the birthplace of the whole culture, and granted the Brazilian culture is a mix of different things, but of colonial Brazilian culture, I just want to call it Afro? Brazilian culture, Salvador is definitely the location for that.


There's a huge emphasis on politics of black power, black empowerment. And whether it be through education or through arts or through politics, or what have you, there's a huge emphasis on that. I think that it's a great place to study. And that was one of the main focuses of the program of race and class and how they intersect, and gender actually, and how they all intersect in Brazil. And that was the best place that I can think of in Brazil to have studied those topics. So, definitely for those reasons Salvador is good.


And as far as traveling, we did travel to some places within the state of Bahia, which is where Salvador is, but they were smaller towns. They just weren't as big, they were cities but they were smaller cities. Another place that I traveled to is called Natal, it's further north of Salvador and it has really beautiful sand dunes and the people are also really nice. It's Brazilian in a different way, so, as I mentioned, Brazil has a whole mix of things. But, it was a really great city. I never made it down to Rio but hopefully when I go back I will make it down.

Now, Let's check out some other countries to learn a bit more about study abroad.