School

So far, I have had 3 weeks of classes. I have attended classes in both English and Portuguese. My University allows students to spend the first several weeks of each semester attending whatever classes they want, no matter what their initial registration says. Then, students have an official "add-drop" day (similar to ours in the States). In the end, I registered for 2 business courses, a Brazilian history class, and the mandatory Portuguese course for exchange students.

My business classes have been the most interesting so far. Particularly, my International Marketing class has sparked fascinating discussions; Brazil, at least as far as textbooks are concerned, sits right in the middle of "high context" and "low context" countries. In terms of business negotiations, Brazilians care (at least in general), about knowing the personal lives of those with whom they do business.

Nothing truly begins in Rio until after Carnaval, which just ended. Monday, I expect my coursework to increase drastically. In addition, I will be interning for the U.S. State Department affiliate EducationUSA. My job will be to help Brazilian students that want to study abroad in the U.S. Hopefully I can recruit some gamecocks!