5 Things I Learned About Brazil in 72 Hours

                             Beco do Batman

Olá from São Paulo, Brazil! It’s been 3 days since I arrived in this beautiful country but in that short period of time, I’ve learned quite a bit about the country, the people, the culture, and of course, business practices in Brazil. We began the program with a marketplace exercise, which required us to haggle with vendors in Portuguese. The exercise was followed by a visit to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Ibirapuera Park, and Beco do Batman (also known as Batman Alley).

Jardim Botanico – Sao Paulo

Day 2 provided us with ample free time to explore the city at our leisure – a small group of students and myself explored the breathtaking botanical gardens of São Paulo in hopes of seeing Marmoset monkeys, before getting ready for our delicious Churrascaria welcome dinner at Vento Haragano, followed by a visit to a popular Samba bar. Our first official day of the program began the following day with meetings with Azul Airlines and DNA Shopper Mobile Retail. Thus far, I’ve learned some pretty valuable lessons after my first few days in São Paulo:

1. Portuguese is a lot more difficult to pronounce than I had anticipated.

I underestimated just how complex the pronunciations could be. I assumed that with my ability to speak (and pronounce) a number of languages, including Spanish and Tagalog, that Portuguese would also come easily. For example, the tilde over a vowel requires a nasalized pronunciation because some Portuguese words sound like they contain the letter n, even though they don’t (i.e. São Paulo).

2. Roughly 3% of Brazilians speak English fluently.

I expected English to be more common than it actually is in Brazil. I came to the country knowing absolutely no Portuguese and struggled the first day with basic communication. Although it was challenging at times, I found that this provided me with a unique experience and forced me to quickly learn a few Portuguese words.

3. Don’t wear high heels to a samba bar.

We spent our second night in Brazil at a samba bar and thoroughly enjoyed the exciting atmosphere. After about an hour of dancing, however, my feet were killing me! It was then that I realized that no one else was wearing high heels. After sitting down to take a break, one of the locals kindly imparted some valuable advice: “don’t wear high heels to a samba bar.”

4. São Paulo has the second largest Japanese population in the world.

Second only to Japan, Sao Paulo has the second largest Japanese population in the world! Liberdade is known as the city’s Japantown and it contains a variety of Japanese markets, stores, and restaurants. I also found it interesting that a large number of restaurants offered sake as an option for their Caipirinha, which is Brazil’s national cocktail (usually maid with Cachaça).

5. Brazilian businesses utilize a very hierarchical corporate structure.

Most businesses in Brazil tend to be organized in a strictly hierarchical manner, with decisions made at higher levels of the organization and flowing from the top-down. Interestingly, Azul airlines, the 3^rd largest company in Brazil, deviates from this structure and utilizes a more flat structure, which may be attributed to the number of expatriates working in the company.

                      Meeting with Azul Airlines

I’m only 3 days into the program and, as you can see, I’ve already experienced and learned so much from all of these activities. We’ll be heading to Rio de Janeiro next – I can’t wait to share the rest of our experiences with you!