Internship

I promised to write about work culture in Brazil, but my work experience is too unusual to write anything conclusive or comprehensive. Unlike most internship experiences in Brazil, I worked almost exclusively with Brazilian women in a relatively small NGO. I therefore have little to say about corporate culture, levels of hierarchy, or the interaction of the genders –supposedly the differences in these areas are very important. However, I did gain great consulting experience and insights into other areas of Brazilian work culture. This entry will discuss Childhood Brasil, my work there, and what I learned.

Childhood Brasil is the Brazilian branch of The World Childhood Foundation (WCF), an international NGO started by the queen of Sweden. WCF works to protect the fundamental rights of children. Because of Brazil’s unique situation, Childhood Brasil focuses specifically on the reduction of sexual exploitation and abuse. In addition, Childhood Brasil focuses mostly on developing and executing its own projects while the other branches focus on funding. More specifically, Childhood Brasil only spends 15 percent of its three million dollar budget on the seed projects of other NGOs. Childhood Brasil’s own projects, funded by the balance of the budget, fall into the following categories: research, dissemination of knowledge, fortification of protection networks, and the creations cross-sector partnerships to create helpful business practices and government regulations.

The budget of Childhood Brasil is almost exclusively provided by Brazilian businesses, and the large presence of businesspeople on the board reflects this. Despite the financial security that these funders provide, the leadership of Childhood Brasil was concerned that potential funding opportunities among the international community and Brazilian individuals were going untapped –The lack of donations from individuals was especially concerning because of the importance of community involvement. They sought an intern to help correct these problems.

Because of the nature of my work, my internship, which will end on the 19th, seems to be very similar to a consulting internship. I am in the process of recommending the best methods to expand the grant base into the US and increase the donations of Brazilian individuals. Both projects involve an immense amount of research on many different topics. For example, I researched topics as varied as the branding benefits of CSR to Brazilian immigration patterns. Although I have not completed either recommendation, both will involve an updated website, new partnerships, and means to reduce risk. In addition to making these recommendations, I also am writing my fourth grant proposal to an international funding source.

After working for five weeks, I learned about the world, the consulting process, Brazilian work culture, and myself. For example, I never seriously considered the negative effects of globalization. Now I know the role globalization plays in facilitating things like child pornography, sexual tourism, and sexual exploitation on the roads. Importantly for my career, I rapidly improved the practical skills necessary for consulting. Finally, I learned how to discuss taboo problems reasonably and effectively. The ability to broach and discuss unpleasant problems may also be important for my career.

With regards to Brazilian work culture, I found that cultural traits found within Brazilian homes and Universities are also present in the Brazilian workplace. Most Americans will probably be surprised by conceptions of time and hierarchy in Brazil.

I am very grateful to have the opportunity to work in Brazil. I already have saudades for my coworkers and work. My next blog will attempt to consider my experience in Brazil as a whole.

Public Transportation

I promised to write about work culture in Brazil, but I don’t feel confident enough to write about this now. Instead, I’ll write about public transportation, something with which I have more experience. This post will talk about my experience with public transportation, the characteristics of public transportation itself, and the people who tend to use it.

Cars are the dominant form of transportation in my hometown, South Bend, and walking is the most prominent form of transportation in my college town, Bloomington. Therefore, when I arrived in the second biggest city in the world, São Paulo, the necessity of public transportation was slightly jarring. Although I could walk to GV, I needed to take buses to my Portuguese classes and the metro to my church. Moreover, I now need to commute nearly two hours to my internship! After experiencing public transportation for six months, I noticed some interesting characteristics about public transportation itself and the people who use it.

Buses and the metro are the two dominant forms of public transportation in São Paulo. The only other form that I know is public bicycles, but no one seems to use them. The city owns the metros, but outsources the responsibility of buses and bicycles to private suppliers under fixed price agreements. With regards to the characteristics of the vehicles themselves, both metros and buses are mixed in terms of age. However, the size of the buses depends on whether they are responsible for long, medium, or short-range transportation. Furthermore, most paulistas use a special debit card to pay for transportation. Using this special card, Bus-to-bus transfer is free before three hours of the first payment and available at a reduced price for metro-to-bus or bus-to-metro transfer.

Public transportation in São Paulo possesses a poor reputation, and I think this reputation is justified. Buses tend to be unreliable and are almost always crowded. For example, I often use a crowded bus, only to see the same bus behind me with almost no people. In addition, the amount of time I wait for bus varies drastically. The unreliability of the buses makes planning difficult and reduces the productivity of paulistas. To be fair, however, city planning is non-existent here, and the best bus systems will have difficulty dealing with this.

In contrast to the bus system, the metro system is good. This system is much more reliable and quick, and I try to use whenever I can.

The characteristics of public transportation result in some of the characteristics of public transportation users. The relatively high price of public transportation means that the poor rarely use it. Moreover, the convenience and speed of the metros mean that even the rich seem to use if often. Unfortunately, no one seems to show any emotion when they commute, and people rarely find ways to divert themselves while traveling. This may be a result of the long commute, need to make transfers often, or the lack of acquaintances on public transport vehicles. From personal experience, I know that the desire to read or smile fades quickly after you miss a transfer or become carsick.

Despite this negative description of the common emotions on public transportation, positive emotions are also sometimes present. The happiness of laughing children can distract from the tedium of long commutes. The commentary of soccer fanatics towards rival teams can also be amusing- I learned some interesting Portuguese words through these descriptions. Furthermore, I found that late night public transportation can almost be meditative, as long as the vehicle are not too crowded.

Hopefully this description is fair and not biased by my current long commutes. Thanks for reading, and I’ll make sure to write about work culture next time.

Rio Grande do Sul

I recently traveled to several cities in Rio Grande do Sol, a southern state in Brazil. By the end of the trip, four friends and I traveled from Porto Alegre to Gramado, Caxias do Sul, Canela, and Torres, eventually returning to Porto Alegre. We rented a car for the weeklong trip. This entry will discuss my experiences there, as well as my plans for the next two months.

Rio Grande do Sul is a beautiful state with varied landscapes and cultures. Because of this variety, I felt that I was traveling across several different European countries. Unfortunately, my experience at the first and last destination, Porto Alegre, was not pleasant. Although Porto Alegre possesses some beautiful scenery, we stayed in a grungy part of town, and its pollution and messiness bothered me.

Happily, Gramada was a very different experience. The city felt like it was a part of central Europe: The architecture seemed to be Swiss, and the food seemed to be mostly German. In addition, several stores specialized in Swiss chocolate. The number of blonds was also striking, considering their rarity in São Paulo.

The next city was Caxias do Sul where we visited the nearby Vale dos Vinhedos. Unlike Gramada, Caxias do Sul reminded me of France because of the wine-production. We visited an interesting winery where one facility produced wine and housed most of the winery’s business operations. The winery possessed many international partnerships, allowing it to import different grapes and distribute the brands of various companies.

The next city was Canela, the city where our luck began to change. On the way to a nearby park, I remember having a superstitious fear of an emaciated, white dog. After commenting that the dog was a bad luck, we visited the park, but a thick fog prevented us from seeing the main attractions, a valley and waterfall. After failing to see what we set out to see, we traveled from the park on a dirt road and ran over a small rock, which tore off a piece of the cars bottom. The car stopped, and a friend and I hitchhiked to the main town. We then dealt with the car-rental agency, towed the car back into town, and drove back to Porto Alegre in a taxi. We slept in Porto Alegre thinking that insurance would pay for everything, but they eventually charged us for the car repairs based on a questionably broad clause in our contract.

Despite the negative experiences in Conela, several positive experiences happened as well. Within and on the way to the city, we saw beautiful pastures, cattle, and authentic gauchos (Brazilian cowboys). In addition, I had my first intelligent conversation in Portuguese with a townswoman about Bolsa Familia and similar initiatives. Although I could only understand 60 percent of what this woman said, she seemed to think that Bolsa Familia and other initiatives caused laziness. She pointed to the neglect of a fruit tree plantation and short workdays as evidence. Although I am not sure whether or not I agree, her opinions were interesting. Finally, I enjoyed observing the distaste of the small-town residents of Conela for big cities.

Our final stop was Torres, my favorite city in the South. Torres possesses the longest beach in the world, and some very beautiful dunes and cliffs.

Now that this trip is over, I am only now beginning to realize that my semester at GV is complete and I will soon be working at Childhood Brazil. Looking back, I only regret that I spent too much time fixated on grades, which seem to be rather random, and not enough time socializing. Additionally, I am a little nervous about the sharp transitions between school, work, South Bend, and Bloomington. However, I think that I can use these sharp transitions to form new habits and complete some ambitious goals. I hope to complete the following in the next two months:

• Become conversational in Portuguese
• Make a material and innovative contribution to Childhood Brazil through seven new corporate grant proposals and new methods of communication and marketing
• Stay in shape through participation in a new athletic activity
• Read Anna Karenina

I could talk about my strategies for reaching these goals, but they are probably not very interesting.

Within two weeks, I will attempt to write about business culture in Brazil.

July and August

I recently secured an internship with Childhood Brazil, an international NGO. Unless my visa situation becomes problematic, I will stay in Brazil for July and August to work for the NGO and study Portuguese. This entry will discuss my internship search, childhood Brazil, and other plans for July and August.

As I left for Brazil, I knew that I wanted to both volunteer and gain international work experience. However, I also knew my search would be difficult. Brazilian labor regulations and internship practices make it difficult for companies to hire undergraduate foreigners. More specifically, Brazilian labor regulations require a costly and time-consuming process for companies attempting to hire foreigners, and Brazilian internship practices often require an impossibly long commitment. Moreover, I knew my bad Portuguese and inexperience with Brazil would make it difficult to motivate companies to hire me.

Seeing the difficulty of my search, I contacted FGV’s career office early and tried to expand and take advantage of my small network in Brazil. After determining some potential sources of internships based on company size and presence of gringos, I sent out a cover letter and my resume in English. Most rejected me, but a few potential leads developed. In addition, a few companies passed on my resume to other leads. Fortunately, Childhood Brazil is one of the companies that received a forwarded resume. By receiving a forwarded resume and a recommendation from one of the original companies, I think I gained some credibility with Childhood Brazil. I was exited when Childhood Brazil expressed interest because it offered both a way to gain experience and support a noble cause, the reduction of the sexual exploitation of children.

In the end, Childhood Brazil was the only company that I interviewed with. The interview was very friendly and informal, focusing more on my personal experience and desires rather than hard skills. Within the interview, we found that I can best serve Childhood Brazil through researching possible American corporate sponsors and writing proposals for donations- Childhood Brazil now expanding its grant base internationally. I am very happy to work for this NGO. I hope to continue working remotely for them from Indiana.

As I complete the internship, I will possess more information to make decisions on where to work (US, Brazil, or other), within what type of company to work (private, NGO, or governmental), and whether or not to continue pursuing Portuguese. I have a good idea about what I want to do, but my experience with Childhood Brazil may change my career goals.

During my June and July stay, I will be staying with the Majoros who graciously accepted me. Besides succeeding in my internship, I have not thought of any other goals because of the proximity of final exams and projects at FGV.

Tchau. I’ll see you in September.

Brazilian Perceptions of America

This blog entry will talk about Brazilian perceptions of America. It is definitely not exhaustive, but I think it covers the most noticeable perceptions.

Brazilians seem to place a high value in American jobs. Despite the terrible economic situation of the U.S. and the disillusionment of many Americans, Brazilians generally seem to see the U.S. as the land of milk and honey. My host sister told me that most Brazilians want to live and work in the States, and my experience with my Jiu-Jitsu professor supports this assertion. Furthermore, the Brazilian preference to learn American English (as opposed to other forms) reflects the desire to work in the U.S.

The behavior of Brazilians after returning from American jobs provides further evidence about Brazilian perceptions. Even when Brazilians are returning from low-skill jobs in the States, they often expect management positions on their return to Brazil. Low-skill American jobs, therefore, are often equated with higher positions in Brazil.

Americans also have the reputation of being emotionally cold. I can imagine why this reputation came about. Although I am growing better at greeting people with a kiss and listening to new acquaintances reveal intimate information, I still feel awkward most of the time. My rejection of some of Brazil’s relationship-focused business habits also justifies this Brazilian perception of Americans. The American willingness to confront people may also seem alienating

Protestantism is also an important part of Brazil’s perceptions of America. A nun, one of my host aunts, visited my host family for ten days. At the end of the visit, we had an uncomfortable, translated conversation about rejection of the Holy Father, protestant fundamentalism, and abortion. Conversely to these stern comments, she also said that she respects the devotion and discipline of evangelicals, the fastest growing religious group in Brazil. I think this reveals that some of Brazil’s most devote Catholics are becoming uncomfortable with the growth of American-style evangelicalism in the Brazil. This also may reveal that some fundamental principles of Protestantism are seen as foreign and unacceptable (e.g. biblical focus as fundamentalism). However, I doubt that the average Brazilian shares the view of the Catholic clergy.

Furthermore, a Brazilian businessman used the difference between Protestantism and Catholicism to explain some of the differences between American and Brazilian business practices. He claimed that American businesspeople practiced more transaction business as a result of the protestant focus of a personal walk with God, and Brazilians as more focused on relational business as a result of the Catholic focus on community.

Finally, President Obama has had a great affect on the Brazilian perceptions of Americans. A Carnival block party played a song praising Obama. Moreover, my doorman always mentions “Obama!” and “General Bush!”. These comments may reflect a Brazilian perception that that America is at a turning point with respect to racism and unilateral international action.

As a related point, I was surprised by a few conversations about the Iraq War. A Brazilian army officer in training praised America’s willingness to take action to end oppression. The view of Brazilian military men may be deviant considering the common praise for Obama and contempt for Bush.

Despite what I learned so far, my understanding of Brazilian perception of America is not complete. Before I leave, I want to understand more about Brazilian perceptions of sustainability, Brazilian-China relations, and acceptance of inequality.

….

P.S. On a related note, please comment on this Blog, espically if you are Brazilian.

P.P.S. On a completely unrelated note, you must go to a Funky Club if you go to Brazil!

Misc.

I tried to find a way to organize this entry, but every organizational scheme seemed either forced or excessively exclusive. Therefore, I will talk about some important categories without providing an overall theme.

Career

As I mentioned in the last post, I am looking for an internship in Sao Paulo. Despite problems with my availability and Portuguese skills, I think there is a decent chance that I will fin an internship for this summer.

My first interview is next Thursday with the consulting company, Innovation SEED. This company helps companies to better profit from their innovation efforts. I am most optimistic that my internship will be with this company. However, I am continuing to seek out new companies through FGV’s career office and other contacts- surprisingly some of the companies that rejected me are willing to forward my resume. Hopefully I can find something, but if not, I will probably complete an intensive language program during the summer.

Academics

I recently received my grades for the first module. They were disappointingly low. Although the classes were intellectually satisfying, some of the grading methods seemed arbitrary and excessively subjective. I also felt that some of the final exams were unrepresentative of the class as a whole.

Currently, I am taking classes in sustainability, international SCM, Internet business, and negotiation as part of the second module. Now that I have experience with FGV’s classes, I am optimistic that my grades will turn out better. I am also happy that my academic schedule provides me with a four-day weekend.

As a side note, I am reading some classic American literature to balance out my business classes. I think I am reading more here in Brazil than any time in the states. Now I am reading Moby Dick, but I plan to move on to some Russian literature next.

Portuguese Language

My Portuguese is improving, but not as fast as I would like it to. Unsurprisingly, I am developing skills in guessing meaning based on context and tone.

Night Life

I have not participated in any new clubs since my last post. However, I am planning to go to a funky club with my Jiu-Jitsu professor in one week. Some Brazilians describe funk music as the “music of crime” and funk clubs as a “hip-hop videos”. Therefore, I am sure that my experience will be interesting.

Giocanda, a famous FGV party, is another party I plan to attend. This year, the party takes place at a car-racing track and features burlesque dancers, unlimited alcohol, and ice cream. The absurdity of this party is wonderful. I cannot believe that world-renowned school like FGV subsidizes it.

Next Post

Someone form my church in Brazil suggested that I talk about Brazilian perceptions of America, so that is what I will do next post. This next post will be more organized.

Rio de Janeiro

FGV’s first module ended last Friday. The next day, I left for Rio de Janeiro with my fellow CIEE students to start a two-week vacation. Despite a tough start to this vacation, the trip was excellent. After a description of the trip’s tough start, this post will talk about Rio’s famous sites, my first soccer game, Rio’s nightlife, and my plans for the rest of the break.

Last Saturday, I woke up at 5:00AM to pack and walk to FGV, our departure point. I arrived before anyone else. While I was waiting, an old man conned me out of R$20. Using a perfect American accent, he told me he was an English teacher who was recently robbed by children and needed R$20 for a taxi ride home. Within a five minute conversation, he gave some pretty compelling information about his job and a method of repayment. However, I should have known that he was lying when he did not recognize the name Cormac McCarthy. About five minutes after the conversation ended, my adviser told me that this man was actually a Brazilian con artist. After dealing with this con artist and a similar person in Bloomington, I will probably be more cynical in dealing with glib people asking for money.

The trip in Rio did more than make up for the loss of R$20. Rio possesses the largest urban forest in the world, and the exotic island feel permeated the famous sites of the city. Copacombana and Ipanema were gorgeous. The same is true for Sugar Loaf Mountain and the site of Christ the Redeemer. The statue of Christ the Redeemer is particularly moving when you consider the poverty and crime within the city.

I also attended my first professional soccer game between the Flamencos and Botafogo. The Flamencos are as important to Rio as the Corinthians are to Sao Paulo. The game was extremely intense. I sat with the Flamencos and watched the entire crowd participate in testosterone-filled chants and gestures. Although I did not understand most of the chants, I understood the swear words. The game concluded with a one to zero Flamenco victory.

The nightlife was also very fun in Rio. We experienced live music at two clubs. The first club started traditional samba and moved on to samba rock. The second club started with a band covering American nineties music and moved on to some great house music. Listening to the old American music was a little painful, but I was interested to notice that the Brazilians knew the lyrics better than the Americans.

The rest of the break will be less eventful but more productive. I am working to find a job for my jiu-jitsu professor and an internship for myself. In addition, I hope to visit the Sao Paulo rainforest next weekend and increase the amount that I practice Portuguese and jiu-jitsu.

City Life

I never lived in a city before now; tourism was my closest experience with city life. Despite initial fear about living in the city, I now prefer the city to the suburbs.

My initial fear with life in the city originated from an essay I wrote for an American Drama class. In order to properly analyze feminist play called Machinal, I read an essay called Metropolis and Modern Life. Both the play and the essay possess a negative and pessimistic view about the city
life. Where Machinal claims that the city facilitates masculine domination, Metropolis and Modern Life claim that the city and its money economy facilitate unrelenting emotional hardness.

The crux of the essay’s argument is that because humans are creatures dependent on differences, the ever changing and stimulating environment of the city forces a city dweller to react rationally instead of emotionally. By thinking rationally, a city dweller can disconnect from the disturbances of the outside world. Furthermore, the city’s money economy forces one to hollow out the differences between things and think in a calculating manner.

Metropolis and Modern Life also claims that a city forces one to become a cog in an overwhelming machine. As the result specialized labor, individuals begin to overvalue a specific type of achievement and individual culture atrophies.

Although Machinal’s thesis seemed too radical believe, the essay’s thesis about emotional hardness was more convincing. Fortunately, Metropolis and Modern Life’s thesis does not seem to hold true in Sao Paulo.

Admittedly, I can now walk down a busy street without registering the massive amounts of noise and people. I can also ignore destitute homeless people, an ability that disturbs me not that I think about it.

However, I feel that I possess a community with my host family, school, church, and jiu-jitsu dojo. Within these communities, my intellect does not dominate and I do not hollow out the differences in things or people. With regard to the atrophy of individual culture, I also disagree with the essay. A midnight walk along Avenidue Paulista and trips to various clubs prove that strange characters can exist within the city.

Perhaps Sao Paulo is not representative of cities in general or my opinion will change by the time I leave, but Sao Paulo has definitely been enjoyable so far.

Brazilian Clubs

Sao Paulo is fabulous city with a dynamic and diverse nightlife. In order to properly illustrate Sao Paulo’s nightlife, I temporarily increased my participation in Brazilian clubs- such is my infinite devotion to my readership. This blog entry will begin with a comparison between American and Paulista clubs, move on to possible explanations of the differences, and end with future plans for my Paulista nightlife experience. Although my experience with both American and Paulista clubs is limited, I think I know enough to make the observations described in this illustration.

Liquor Store, a club I attended two years ago, is a popular club in Boston. As a small-town Hoosier, I was very surprised by the sexualized environment in this club. But as the shock dissipated, I was interested to see the ways that Liquor Store facilitated this overtly sexual environment. This Bostonian club provided stripper poles for drunken gesturing, a mechanical bull for something I am not going to mention, and explicit hip-hop music for explicit dancing. Liquor Store also provided alcohol to encourage participation in the before-mentioned activities. Furthermore, the price of the club was not prohibitively high for the average American, resulting in a diverse socio-economic mix within the club.

Brazilian clubs stand in opposition to American clubs in many fundamental respects. Let me use Pasha, a techno club, and Teatro Mars, a samba rock club, to illustrate some obvious and less obvious differences. The most obvious difference between Liquor Store, Pasha, and, Teatro Mars is the music. The explicit lyrics of hip-hop cannot be found the absorbing sounds of techno or samba rock. Another obvious difference is the importance of economic class within Brazilian clubs. Where the average American can attend almost any American club, some Brazilian clubs purposely try to restrict entrance through minimum payment requirements. The result is that many Brazilians describe clubs in terms of the economic market segment that they cater to.

A less obvious difference is that Brazilian clubs seem much less sexualized. With a few exceptions, my Brazilian nightlife experience did not include the overt displays of sexuality that I saw at Liquor Store. Despite the scantily clad professional dancers and Pasha and crowded environment, the guests at Pasha did not dance explicitly. Despite the closeness the samba rock dancing, the guests at Teatro Mars did not dance explicitly either. Furthermore, Brazilian clubs did not include the excessive drinking that I saw at Liquor Store.

I think the differences between Brazilian and American clubs can be explained through cultural and economic differences. The extremely high economic inequality in Brazil means that economic market segments are large and easily discernable. Entrepreneurs, seeing these differences, may have exploited them by developing clubs to satisfy the unique needs of the economic market segments.

The different cultural perceptions of touch and alcohol also may relevant. Touch in general seems to be less sexualized in Brazil. Even though I knew about this beforehand, I was still surprised by the closeness of samba dancing and personal greetings in Brazil. I was also surprised that male Jiu-Jitsu practitioners are able to practice with women without a sense of awkwardness. Because touch is less sexualized in Brazil, samba can be more of a fun thing and less of a sexual thing, and dancers are less tempted to dance explicitly in a crowded environment. Furthermore, alcohol is less taboo in Brazil, which may mean that excessive drinking is less fun.

Now that I am beginning to really experience Brazilian nightlife, I hope to branch of to different types of clubs. Hopefully, I attend a funk club and a few other techno clubs before I leave.

As for the next blog entry, I will try to be more creative because someone told me I write like an accountant. The topic will probably be city life. Thanks for reading my blog and feel free to comment!

Classes at FGV

Greetings. Since academics are such an important part of my life, this post will be dedicated to describing my Brazilian University, Fundaçåo Getulio Vargas (FGV), and the classes I take there. This post will end with some miscellaneous statements.

FGV includes the premier business school of South America. Unlike most Brazilian universities, FGV is private and requires tuition. Because FGV is an expensive private school, many Brazilian see FGV students as “the sons of bankers.” I learned about this stereotype when my friends asked for directions to FGV, and a Brazilian baker directed them to a Citi Bank.

As one of the premier business schools, FGV strives to create rigorous classes with a focus on international business. This desire led FGV to create the International Program in Management, a program mostly composed of gringos. All my classes are graduate level, which was initially intimidating, and focus directly or indirectly on management. Furthermore, the classes are highly focused on group work and modern developments in business. So far, the classes are very rewarding.

My first class is Cross-Cultural Management, but I think the name is misleading. The class seems less focused on best practices in management, and more focused on the expectations of doing business in particular countries. So far, we talked about infrastructure problems in India, governmental corruption in Russia, and the Chinese market.

I am also taking a decision-making class. This class contrasts the “traditional decision-making paradigm”, a largely American paradigm focused on finding the optimal solution, and a new paradigm, which is emerging in England. Instead of focusing on the quantitative, this new paradigm focuses on the conceptualizations of the decision-makers and attempts to develop tools to structure problems and facilitate debate. At the end of the first class, I was surprised to see the professor focus so heavily on subjectivity and corporate politics.

My favorite class, Politics and Culture in Brazil, is my only liberal arts class. We discussed federal politics, race, participatory publics, and history. My favorite discussion was about race and racism in Brazil, but since the subject is so complicated, I am unable to talk about it here.

Finally, I am taking an International Strategy Class. This class seems more like a colloquium class than a standard business class. We discuss topics as far reaching as far reaching as “Potential Conflicts in the Arctic Circle” to “The End of American Hegemony”. No solid conclusions are ever reached in this class, but I like it anyway.

I will be taking four new classes in about eight weeks. Hopefully, they will be as interesting as the classes I am taking now!

Now I want to make some miscellaneous statements and observations:

• I am studying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with the world champion.
• Because of my Brazilian amiga Karol, I know the basic samba step
• Yesterday, I went to an outpost of the Brazilian Landless Movement. Their argument against private property was unconvincing.

That is all for this post. For the next post, I will talk more in depth about Brazilian nightlife.