Curitiba Travel Blogs | Travelogues | Travel Journals

today, we all handed in our final papers.  nearly an entire semester's worth full of work.  it felt..GOOD.  i definitely had mixed feelings though.  on the one hand, i was happy to be completed my field work and looked forward to travelling and enjoying Brazil without school.  and yet, on the other hand, i was saddened to think that i would no longer see the people i have grown so familiar with throughout the past semester.  goodbyes were said, and a few tears we...

Let’s pretend that my name is Dr. Kirk Bowman and I need to plan a schedule for next year’s study abroad trip to Argentina and Brazil.  How would I plan it?  Would I keep everything the same as this year?  What would I change?    Well first of all, I would try and get Dr. Felipe Arocena to come back and teach the students.  As a student, I have learned a lot from Felipe and he has made class very interesting for the students.  I would also bring back ...

When you think about Brazil and make word associations with the country, pictures that come to mind, you could think all day, and I bet these names wouldn’t make it in your list of top hundred words, and likely not even make it to the top thousand: John Cage, Yoko Ono, Emmett Williams, George Brecht… So you can imagine my surprise when, in Curitiba, Brazil I stepped beneath a giant eye, opened a door, and these names flew into my face. Let me further explain the surreal. ...

Group Members: Mary Beth Strawn, Shannon Joiner, Lynn Deaton You have been asked by the state department to prepare a constitutional overhaul for Brazil. The current electoral system has numerous problems and many complaints. You are to analyze the current electoral system and provide an alternative, describing the incentives for good government that your proposal will bring. To sell the program to the Brazilian public, your proposal must contain at least 3 soccer metaphors. T...

After a month of following the Argentine “dine-out” culture and eating Anita’s dinners at the Residencia, a tiny stove and aluminum pot are now my saving grace.             Brazilian supermercados offer a wide variety if veggies, fruits, rice and meats. And in some ways remind me more of a Kroger. Heck, I can get my flip flops at Da Pont Mercado in Lagoa if need be.          ...

Argentina has Tango.  Spain has Flamenco.  What does Brazil have?  Brazil has Samba, Carnival & Funk.  These musical genres are what I have been exposed to during my travels in South America.  Out of all the listed genres, the only one I was familiar was National Rock and that was only because it resembled rock and roll music from the United States.  Prior to coming on this trip, I had never actually listened to any Tango, Flamenco or Samba.    W...

24 / 7 / 365 CASE 1: “Siesta Time” Its Saturday afternoon, around 3:30 and you are hungry. You gather a few friends together with the intentions of having a late lunch. Your options are endless, and you never contemplate the entire town closing down. It is very apparent by the vast and growing obesity rate in the United States�"but simply put, we NEVER go hungry in the States! So it was Saturday (6/24), and it was around 3:30, so we decided to wander around to find a local...

Yammie, KUAT!

after my first ever overland bus-journey of 6 hours from sao paulo i arrived in curitba. it was already dark and i didn't have any reservation for a hotel, i managed to get on the right bus and to get off at the right stop (lucky me!) where i knew was a hostel, a taxi driver showed me where, it was just about fifty meters to walk so now time to get scared! it wasn't season so i got a bed easily! in my room i met a very nice girl from japan who spoke perfect german and a swiss girl! you...

Hey guys!  Finals are coming up soon - one Friday and one Saturday - though I still have about 18 days left of the trip.  We're in Curitiba right now, been here since Friday (when we left Iguacu) and will leave for Sao Paulo on Sunday.  Went to a club Saturday night, was pretty sweet.  Tried to go out last night (Monday), but couldn't find anything, lol.  There is tons of work to be done, its crazy.  Tons of reading, blogs to write, classes, site visits, group ac...

The samba and tango are very unique styles of music that developed in Brazil and Argentina respectively.  Despite their similar origins and evolutions, these music styles still have their differences, and are as different as they countries whose culture and history they now greatly represent.  The following examines the similarities and differences of the samba and tango.             As stated above, the samba and tango basical...

The words order and progress are embedded on the globe on the Brazilian flag. These words exemplify important thematic ideas of Brazilian politics and history. The country has undergone much turmoil and triumph in its governmental evolvement. Accordingly, there is room for more order and progress in the Brazilian electoral system. The current system consists of some impressive and dynamic components such as the electronic voting system and proportional Congressional representation. Howe...

   The day of celebration for one's birth should always be a happy and joyous affair.  Idealy, it is fitting that the celbrant be surrounded by the closest of friends and family for such an occaision.  It is a time to reminice of times gone by and those yet to come.  What then, is a birthday away from home?     This year was my first birthday away from home in 21 years.  The big 2-1.  Finally completely legal and officially an ad...

Music in Brazil is essential, at least in my experience so far. The first night we were in Florianopolis there was a huge stage with more musicians on the stage then spectators in front. Good music just seems to be readily available either for free or for a reasonable price. It’s a part of the culture that is kept up even if pushed to be there by the government. We went to that show last night which was great, a mix of samba and European influence, all wrapped together to form Choro. I...

Well, the train to Paranagua didn’t work out. I didn’t want to miss another world cup game so we elected to not go on Tuesday, and the train had already left for today (Monday) so we were out a train ride. This was actually the only reason we came to Curitiba was the ride the scenic train down to the coastal town on Paranagua. Instead we spent the day walking through the shopping center of town. There I found an internet café and was able to do a little MySpacing. Dad was not doing good ...