Reception booklet porto alegre

GET READY FOR THEEXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME

Porto Alegre Redenção Park

Are you ready to live a great experience abroad? You can’t imagine what is waiting for you! You will have a lot to discover, to do and to see, so don’t expect getting bored so soon. First of all, you need to know some important information about Brazil and Porto Alegre, which will be very useful to you during your exchange travel and that is what this booklet is for.

Porto Alegre is a great city just waiting for you to enjoy it in all its aspects: the people, the culture, the nightlife, the gorgeous sunset, the food, among other things. And besides you’re about to arrive in Brazil, a tropical country, known as the land of soccer, sun and “carnaval” - but it actually has a lot more to offer that this.

This means you will live in a plural country where many different cultures coexist. We hope you will love and remember the time you spend here! As far as this booklet goes, we hope it helps you in preparing yourself for your exchange travel and your stay in Porto Alegre. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to write to us. Make good use of it! We are looking forward to meeting you!

GET READY FOR THEEXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME

BRAZIL map

capitalbrasília

porto alegre

GETTING TO KNOW A LITTLE BIT ABOUTBRAZIL AND PORTO ALEGRE

Country’s Full name: República Federativa do Brasil

Territory: The largest country in Latin America, covering almost half of the continent of South America (47,3%), Brazil takes over an area of 3,300,170.941 square miles (or 8,547,403.5 square km). It is the fifth largest country in the world. The Atlantic Ocean stretches along the entire east coast of the country, providing more than 4,500 miles of seashore, where visitors may enjoy the most beautiful beaches.

Population: 202.768.562 habitants (in 2014)

Federal Capital: Brasília

Government: Federal; Presidential; Constitutional Republic

On the right: On the first row you will find the new Real bills that have started circulating on 2012. On the second row there are the old bills, which still have value.

Below: the Real coins.

chek outthe realbills andcoins

Current president: Dilma Roussef (the first Brazilian female president)

Time Zone: UTC -3

Currency: The Brazilian monetary currency is the Real (R$ or BRL) – Reais in the plural. 100 centavos of Real equal to R$1,00. Most major international credit and debit cards are accepted in Brazil, but credit card receipts from stores and restaurants will be priced in Reais al-though you will be billed in the cur-rency of your own country, the official exchange rate having been taken into consideration.The official exchange rate to the United States Dollar (USD) can be found on the newspapers daily. For today’s rate, visit this site on the internet:http://www.bloomberg.com/analysis/calculators/currency.htmlYou cannot use foreign currencies to pay for things in Brazil. These oper-ations are illegal, so you will always need to exchange your money for Reais when you need to use it. In Por-to Alegre you will easily find places to exchange your money, so don’t worry about this.

Language: The language in Brazil is Portuguese. Spanish and English may help you to get around but they are not widely spoken on the streets.

People in your circle will surely be able to communicate with you in English or Spanish, but since you won’t spend all of your time there these languages won’t suffice. Thus, you should consider learning the Portuguese basics before coming to Brazil. To do this you can download some useful smartphone apps – like Babbel - and AIESEC might even be able to arrange you some introductory lessons, but you should negotiate this after you arrive and settle down in the city. you may also find articles like this one helpful <http://wolflilt.com/learning-portuguese/>.

The Brazilian people are usually very eager to communicate so they will be open to try and understand you, even if they don’t speak your language, but you should be aware that speaking a second language is considered a privilege for most of the people in the country. Therefore, it is going to be up to you to find ways to be understood on the first months when you will be adapting, so let your hands loose and start the mimics!

Guaíba’s Lake in Porto Alegre

Porto Alegre Borges de Medeiro’s Boulevard

Immigration: At immigration, non-Brazilians will have their passport, visa (if required) and any other immigration formalities checked. All information about getting a visa will be sent to you.

Like most airports, the airports in Brazil have different lines for national passport holders and foreign visitors. Foreign passport holders should make sure they get their passports stamped and that they retain half of the immigration form they fill in on arrival (you should keep tat safely with you for the rest of your stay in Brazil). Visitors who miss getting their passport stamped or who lose the form will have to get clearance from the Federal Police to leave the country and – as well as being delayed – may have to pay a fine. Customs officials normally inspect the baggage of around 30 per cent or more of incoming passengers. Besides clothing and personal effects, tourists entering Brazil may bring in one of each of the following items: radio, tape/CD player, typewriter, notebook computer, movie and still camera.

Religion: Catholicism is Brazil’s largest religion but Protestants, Jews, Evangelical, Christians and Afro-Brazilian religions, such as Macumba, Candomblé and Umbanda, are all present and practiced in Brazil.This means Brazilians are very tolerant about different religious beliefs, but be aware that religion is a big part of life in the country. You may find some people to be very superstitious and expressions as Vai com Deus (Go with God), Graças a Deus (Thank God), Minha Nossa Senhora (My “Our Lady”) are really common in everyday life.If you are somebody who holds religion as a very important part of your life, you will surely find a place to practice your beliefs away from prejudice. Ask your AIESEC office for places of prayer for your faith and they will surely advise you on how to proceed.

Porto Alegre - Moinhos Park

Porto Alegre Spring

Climate: due to its vast territorial extension of continental dimensions, Brazil has a rather varied climatic typology. In addition to its great extension, there are other factors like, altitude and ocean proximity, which influence the different Brazilian climates.The outcome of this climatic differentiation is the many exuberant landscapes, turning Brazil into one of the countries with the most varied and complex ecosystems in the world. The Brazilian territory is divided into climatic zones: 92% of the land is located between the line of the equator and the tropic of Capricorn. Therefore, one might easily see that the Brazilian climate is predominantly tropical, presenting also equatorial zones and sub-tropical (temperate) zones along the remaining 8% of the national territory. For all of this, the visitor may find (the not so common) snow in the south of the country as well as enjoy the tropical heat of the Amazon Rain Forest, not to mention the beauty of the seashore.Plateau cities such as São Paulo, Brasília and Belo Horizonte have milder climates averaging 19°C (66°F). Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Natal and Salvador on the coast have warmer climates balanced by the Trade Winds. Rio, for example, has an average temperature of around 26°C (80°F) which will climb into the high 30s or low 40s (over 100°F) during the summer months. In the southern Brazilian cities of Porto Alegre, Florianópolis and Curitiba, the subtropical climate is similar to parts of the US and Europe, with frosts occurring in the winter months (July-August) when temperatures can fall below freezing; summers are hot, however. Seasons in Brazil are the reverse of those in the Northern Hemisphere: The current weather conditions in Brazil can be found at www.weather.co.uk by selecting the required city.Specifically about Porto Alegre: come prepared for all kinds of weather. You will face cold temperatures between June and August (0 – 10°C) and also very hot summer days (30 – 40°C), from December to March. We also get a lot of rain throughout the year, so no matter if it is summer or winter, expect to use your umbrella.

Clothing: Brazilians, even in the major cities, dress casually out-side the office. None of the country’s top restaurants insists on collar and tie although the occasional club does.

Collar and tie still predominate in formal office and business and most workingwomen wear dresses or skirts. If you are sensitive to cold, you should remem-ber to pack a jacket or shawl when coming to Brazil as some of the buildings and restaurants can be a little over enthusiastic with the air conditioning. When packing, keep in mind that big cities are fashionable, cosmopolitan and not small tourist resorts. If you forget to bring some item of clothing with you, you will certainly be able to find what you forgot in any of the big shopping centers. If heading further south in South America, remember to pack some warmer clothes, especially during the Southern Hemisphere’s winter months.

Specifically about Porto Alegre: don’t expect to dress very differently from what you would in another big city around the world. You should just remember that you will arrive in a city with big social inequalities (just like on the rest of Brazil), so dressing your best in every part of the city is not advised. You might be targeted, as a foreigner and as somebody who wears expensive clothes, as a subject to robbery in the more dangerous parts of the city.

bonus,Dock’sSunset

riograndedo sul

Rio Grande do SulLocated in the extreme southern part of Brazil, occupies an area of 282,062 sq. kms. The state has 467 municipalities, and the capital is Porto Alegre. Rio Grande do Sul is the country’s largest producer of grains and is embroiled in controversies over the cultivation of genetically modified organisms. The leather and footwear industry is also traditional in the state.

History: Spanish founded Jesuit Reductions in 1627 near the Uruguay River, but they were driven out by the Portuguese in 1680, when the Portuguese crown decided to exert control, creating the Colony of Sacramento. In 1687 Portuguese Jesuits established the Seven Mission Nations. In 1737 a Portuguesemilitary expedition took over the Mirim Lake. In 1742 the colonizers founded the town of Porto dos Casais, later called Porto Alegre. The territorial struggles between Portuguese and Spaniards ended in 1801, when local inhabitants (“gauchos”) assumed control of the Seven Nations area, which they incorporated into their own teritory. In 1807 the area was raised to the category of captaincy. Large groups of Italian and German immigrants began to arrive after 1824. The society of large ranches thus began to coexist with small agricultural properties, leading to a diversification of production. During the 19th century Rio Grande do Sul was the site of federalist insurrections, such as the War of the Rags(“Farrapos”) in 1835-45, and the state participated in the war against Rosas (1852) and the Paraguay War (1864-70).

Rio Grande do Sul Flag

meet the “gaúchos”

He is a Gaúcho!

Local political disputes were intense in the early years of the Republic, and it was only during Getúlio Vargas’s state administration (1928) that peace came to the state.Be aware this does not apply for your business environment, where, on most cases, once you have scheduled something, expect that to happen.

- Punctuality: this is a sensitive issue here in Brazil. While we try to keep a punctual schedule on the business environment, on our social lives this doesn’t apply so well. Usually people aren’t going to be on time for appointments, and being punctual isn’t always seen as a good thing. So this is going to depend on what you arrange with the people with whom you are meeting and about saying how you usually deal with timeframes.

- Straightforwardness: in Brazil you are going to notice that, if people want to talk to you about a sensitive subject, they tend to beat around the bush a while before getting to the specific subject. So you should know it is seen as polite for you to make some small talk before getting to business. Going straight to the subject or pointing opinions straight out may be seen as harsh and rude.

Who would imagine that couples coming from Açores Islands (Portugal) who would settle the regions of Missões, would fall in love for a river shore and here established at march 1772 a town called “Porto dos Casais” (Port of Couples)? Well, this is the origin of Porto Alegre, which name was changed one year later. Today Porto Alegre has about 1,5 million inhabitants who descend from more than 30 different ethnicities. Surely you’ll find someone from your country through the city or region!! It is the capital of Rio Grande do Sul (the southern State of Brazil) and it is far from: Montevidéo (Uruguai): 900km; Buenos Aires (Argentina): 1100km.

The gaucho capital is in a privileged location. A strategic point within the Mercosur, Porto Alegre is the geographical centre of the major routes within the Southern Cone and it is located at equivalent distance both from Buenos Aires and Montevideo, as well as from the capitals of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Its visitors encounter an important business centre and the gateway to the major tourist attractions in the region. Visitors strolling along Porto Alegre’s streets will be surprised by its perennial vegetation, its hills, and ponds. Also dazzling is the conserved condition of its historical buildings, which give shelter to its memories and culture. But what really charms its visitors is a surprisingly harmonious match of the welcoming manner of a smaller town with the fast hustle and bustle of a large urban centre, its architecture as an icon of modern times and the cultural heterogeneity. Such is Porto Alegre, past and present constantly balanced – always accompanied by barbecues and a nice chimarrão – sort of tea made with Yerba Mate and hot water poured inside a bottle gourd.

Well, the city is waiting for you to check out all these data and to find out a lot of other different things about the capital of the State of Rio Grande do Sul.Transportation: We normally use buses or micro-buses (called here “lotação”) to move from one place to another. Most of buses go from downtown to a neighborhood and vice-versa; others go around the city. A bus pass costs R$ 2,80 and a micro-bus pass, R$ 4,20. There is also a surface metro, that works everyday from 5 a.m. to 23:20 p.m. and goes from Porto Alegre to São Leopoldo, passing through 16 stations in another cities of the metropolitan area; the unitary ticket costs R$1,70.

Some APPs that can help you to go around: Moobly Porto Alegre, POA trânsito, Moovit, EasyTaxi. Also, starting 2014, Google Maps synchronized with the city’s public transportation system, which means you can easily see which buses you need to take to go anywhere in the city.

So how much money should I bring with me?We cannot precisely tell you how much money you should have with you (because that depends a lot on your daily habits), but taking a look at the whole booklet, specially the part about cost of living, you should be able to calculate how much you will need.

HAVEA SAFE TRIP ANDSEE YOU SOON!

HAVEA SAFE TRIP ANDSEE YOU SOON!