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Education and Work
Education Info
- College:
- Winstanley College, 2008
French, Spanish, Philosophy and Religion
- School:
- St Mary's Catholic High School, 2006
Work Info
- Employer:
- Evans
- Position:
- Sales Assistant
- Time Period:
- July, 2007 - June, 2008
- City / Town:
- Wigan
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Video Box
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)
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Blog
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Banco de Santander is everywhere. Cariocas love their juice. I want to retire to Niteroi. Hammocks are amazing and actually fit a lot of people. Coconut milk is not white and does not taste like milk. Emos are in every corner of the world. Nobody's quite as scary as a BOPE man in full gear.
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Sorry I haven't written sooner, but things have been hectic at home. Mostly because I've been preparing for University. Moving into Richardson Road halls of residence in Newcastle Uni this Tuesday actually, and I haven't even started packing!
To be totally honest, it sucks to be home. It was lovely to see my family and friends when I arrived back, but I soon started to miss Brazil. I loved the freedom of just being somewhere else, somewhere I had never been before, speaking a new language, meeting new people, trying new food! I miss the action of Brazil, the fact that we had to rush around everywhere. There was never a minute left to be idle. At the end of the trip, I was looking forward to just having a day at home to just vegetate and watch a film. But that soon wore out. And now I'm totally restless!
Above all I miss being with the fellows. People who I had become so close to after just 6 weeks. Luckily because of Facebook and Bebo I can still keep in touch with many of them. But it just isn't the same as being with them! Before I left for Brazil, I thought that personal space would be a real issue. Sharing a room with people I didn't know for 6 weeks. I thought it would kill me. But I loved it! Meeting everyone was one of the most rewarding things about the whole trip. I love the fact that I learnt so many things that I wasn't even expecting to learn. The fact that we were all from such different backgrounds. I loved chatting about religion, people's hometowns, little nuances in our accents.
I also realised how lucky we are. That's something that we all realised I think. That we may complain about the way things are going in our own country and the things we have to put up with, but really we are unbelievably lucky! I'm not just talking about visiting the favelas and seeing what the people there are facing every day, which was of course hardhitting and really affected us. I'm also talking about just meeting people. Hearing about their lives, their own determination and triumphs, but also the things they had to fight against. An example of this was the Cambridge University Press fellows visit to Unipalmares University. We spoke to these two amazingly strong, inspiring, successful women who had come from completely different environments but who had to fight to get to where they were. It made me realise that I have no right to complain about hard work!
And this may sound unbelievably trite, but I learnt things about myself, being removed from all I was used to made me look at my life, who I was and where I wanted to get to.
And something I haven't really had a chance to mention in detail but something I think we were all grateful for was the warmth and love the Brazilian people extended to us! We met some absolutely amazing people along the way. I don't think it is a stereotype to say that Brazilians in general are a very welcoming and warm group of people. Well the ones I met certainly were anyway! I don't think I have ever come across people quite as giving as the ones I met in Brazil. People who had never met us before were opening up their houses to us and welcoming us into their family. But it wasn't just the people involved in the programme, who were so kind to us. Just people generally on the street were very friendly, in shops and when asking for directions. In Brazil kisses and hugs are all part of saying hello. It was lovely! Even though we were half the world away from home, I never felt lonely or sad, a lot of it due to the kindness of the people we met!
So thank you to everyone, but especially the people at Cultura Inglesa, the staff at British Council (especially Roberta and Graeme!), the students and staff at Colegio 7de Setembro, the very kind people at Cambridge University Press Brasil and of course Marcia, Pedro Marcela and Luan!
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Another quick blog. It has to be quick because I am on the hotel computer, which is shared between about 1000 rooms. I do feel a bit ashamed when I see how few blogs I´ve done in comparison to the China and India fellows, but it has been hard to really get access to computers and internet. So if I´ve not answered emails, everyone now knows why!
I guess I just wanted to write a bit about Sao Paulo as I haven´t written anything yet about this amazing city!
On the first night we had a security briefing, from Keith Squibb of the Foreign Office. Which was very much needed but really hit home a bit. Gradually though we realised that although Sao Paulo can be a dangerous city, and bad things can happen to everyone, all we need is a bit of common sense and awareness.
The area- The avenida Paulista is gorgeous. I look out of my hotel room in the Estanplaza Paulista and see huge glass skyscrapers and people rushing around to and from work. It is such a change after being in Fortaleza where on the whole the people are a lot more laid back. I have noticed however, that despite warnings from the northeastern brazilians, that Sao Paulo hasn´t been that cold! In fact we´ve been very fortunate. And my coat hasn´t left my suitcase all trip!
I have to mention Cambridge University Press where myself, Jamie, Akilah, Victor and Adam have been working during this stage of the programme. They have been very welcoming to all of us and continue to find new places to show us! I really have had an insiders look into the world of publishing! I have also learnt a lot about ELT (English Language Teaching), which is very useful to me as a language student. In fact, it would have been very interesting for my action research project which I completed in Fortaleza.
CUP is very different from the other companies where the fellows have been placed. Although it is an international company with offices and representatives all over the world, it is in a different kind of business from KPMG, HSBC and Cadburys. For a start it is a lot smaller. There are only around 20 people in the office where we work.
So far however we have been totally immersed in their world. We have visited warehouses, distributors, schools and even the launch of a new book store in Sao Paulo! Tomorrow they are taking us to Santos, which is apparently a beautiful port just outside of the city, where we may even be able to take a boat ride!
Another amazing thing about this trip has been the food. Every night there is a new restaurant with a new type of food for us to try! It´s fantastic! Of course we have tried Brazilian cuisine, but also Arabic, American, Korean and Japanese food! We even went to a country and western club restaurant a couple of days ago!
Sao Paulo is a fantastic city, I can´t imagine anyone ever getting bored! I love it here. There are so many museums and theatres, it´s bliss.
So I´m just going to wrap up by saying; Your postcards are in the mail!
Tchau for now!
Beijos
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Laure Venier
0 Replys
And thankyou for the toast appreciation lol, I'm going to change it soon though, I like to keep changing the Bebo scenery 
