Dive into Brazilian culture, politics, and society Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

This question is difficult to answer. Evaluating CET for its academic rigor, apart from comparison to other programs, I give the program a 3 star rating. But comparing CET to other known programs, such as CIEE, I would give CET a 4 star rating. Here’s way: CET is still a young program, only having completed three semesters, and still working out the kinks of academics based on each groups feedback from the previous semester. In general classes felt a bit unorganized and lacking coordination between guest speakers. That said, I did learn quit a lot from each course and more than I would have learned taking the same course at my host institution since our CET courses included academic excursions, some overnight, and lecturers who were experts in their fields and willing to share their projects with us. Apart from these courses I took an intense Portuguese class and since I was the only non-Spanish speaking beginner, CET staff were incredibly accommodating and designed a private course for me with one of the best professors I have ever had. Now, in comparison to other programs like CIEE, I believe CET offers more rigor. Several of the students in our program took direct enroll courses at PUC-SP, where CIEE students take all of their courses, and I heard many complaints from students within my group and those within CIEE of how little material was covered, a lack of knowledge learned, and a lack of evaluations. I know it is not my place to evaluate another program that I was not enrolled with, but in comparison I strongly believe CET offers more academic rigor, something I would like to know if I was choosing between these programs.

On-site administration of your program

CET staff were absolutely incredible. They were by far my favorite aspect of this program. Sergio, Sulia, and Giselda, went far out of their way accommodate our every need and ensure that we had the best semester possible. From organizing elaborate trips to Salvador to taking us to museums in Sao Paulo to accommodating any academic or housing dilemmas to accompanying us to the hospital in the wee hours of the morning, CET staff were available for any and everything. I really can’t say enough about them, they were fantastic staff who became lifelong friends by the end of the program.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

This is a difficult question for me to answer since like any housing it was hit or miss. With CET we lived in apartments with Brazilian roommates our age and other students from the program. I loved the other students I lived with from the US and our Brazilian roommates were very sweet but they were not around enough to talk to. A huge part of housing is gaining language immersion and help through conversation and since our roommates were rarely home we didn’t improve our Portuguese as much as we would have liked. HOWEVER, we were only one apartment of many, other students with CET had fantastic experiences with their Brazilian roommates who showed them around the city, went out with them, and spent many nights having long conversations in Portuguese. One girl on the program dramatically improved her language skills talking with her roommates everyday. So, I think CET should have a better monitoring system, ensuring that all Brazilian roommates are making an effort to talk with their American roommates and show them around the city but odds are if you do this program you’ll get some good roommates and if you don’t, CET staff will be sure to help you find a better arrangement.

We did all our own cooking so there isn’t much to evaluate with the food. Grocery stores are decently cheap and there are many corner luncheonettes if you don’t feel like cooking. I really enjoyed the freedom of choosing my own meals rather than being tied down to a bad dining hall or having someone else cook for me.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

This question really depends on what you want out of your experience in Brazil. If you want to go out and explore the culture of Brazil and Sao Paulo, it is very easy to do and CET provides you with all the tools and excursions necessary to do so. However, if you don’t feel like integrating into your local society then it would also be easy to sit at home and stay in your own American bubble. So the cultural integration is really what you make of it. Personally, I did a lot of traveling while I was in Brazil to explore other cities, went out on the weekends, and went to several cultural films, museums, parks etc. in addition to the numerous excursions CET offered. These excursions include, but are not limited to, a week long seminar in Salvador, Bahia, a weekend trip to Paraty, RJ, a weekend trip to an urban indigenous village in Sao Paulo, and numerous day trips within Sao Paulo to see museums, cultural centers, art etc.

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I, unfortunately, spent several months fighting off different infections so I had plenty of experience with the healthcare provided in Brazil. CET provides HTH healthcare insurance which works through reimbursement so you have to pay money up front for hospital visits and medications but then you are later refunded. I had no trouble being refunded, they mailed me a check, but having to pay upfront can be difficult when hospital visits themselves are upwards of R600. And CET staff were fantastic in helping me get to the hospital, translate my needs, and fill out forms for reimbursement.

I did not feel unsafe in Sao Paulo. Like any city you should take precautions when walking by yourself or in small groups at night and never carry too much money on you, but I was never in a situation in Sao Paulo were I felt threatened or scared. The neighborhood we lived in, Perdizes, was incredibly safe and I never felt scared walking around by myself at night coming back from class. The only situation where we felt unsafe was when a group of us took an independent weekend to Rio de Janiero and got mugged, but that really had nothing to do with the safety of the program.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

Very easily, the exchange rate was great (R4=US1), so eating and traveling was cheap and easy. Every tuesday we went to an outdoor market where we bought the weeks produce for less than $10, and the rest of our food was between $30 per week depending on what you buy and how much you eat out. You can also eat right at PUC for R10, roughly $2.50 for lunch or dinner. Weekends away were also very cheap if you take the bus and stay in a hostel or airbnb, we would probably spend in total $200 for a long weekend in Rio or Florianopolis or Curitiba or wherever we wanted to go

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

There are very few people in Sao Paulo who speak English so you'll be forced to use Portuguese alot. But that said it would be very easy to just speak with the other students on the program in English and not go out and practice your language. But as a beginner I had portuguese class 6 hours a week and homework after words so I used my portuguese pretty much every day. Also for academic and recreational CET excursions all the lectures/tours were in Portuguese so I often needed someone to translate for me so I understood everything.

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• Apartment

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• Local Students
• Americans

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• Local Students
• Americans

• Staff
• Brazilian people
• The other students from the US

• Offering volunteering opportunities
• organization
• academics