Culture Learning - Emily Roth

The Brazilian lifestyle is very different from ours here in the United States. The vast amount of high rise buildings was probably the first thing I noticed flying into Sao Paulo, a city of close to 12 million people. Our cities in Texas looked like nothing compared to these. The average person lives in an apartment and does not have a front or back yard. I found this sad and felt very catastrophic in the city at first. Once we arrived in Recife, Brazil we checked into our hotel, which was located on the beach of Boa Viagem. I soon came to realize that the beach was almost like everyone’s backyard in Recife. The beach was very vibrant and people were out at all hours walking, running, playing soccer, swimming, or just out enjoying the view. The active atmosphere was contagious and I enjoyed the days I could fit a run in my schedule. As I mentioned in my previous post about Cross-Cultural Thinking the Brazilian’s consciousness of a healthy lifestyle is also found in the restaurants and how they base the cost of a meal off of the weight of your plate.  

Another aspect that I noticed was the organization of the streets in Recife. Most streets are one way, making it where you cannot even see the opposing traffic. Honking is also normal there and taken more as an alert for bikers and everyone around rather than as a message of anger and frustration. Luckily I never had to drive while I was there, but it would have been very interesting had I. One of the biggest traffic jams you will encounter in Recife are the ones on the streets leading up to the malls. The malls in Brazil are the place to go when you need almost anything. Unlike here in America, shopping centers or big retail stores outside of the mall were pretty much nonexistent. The mall included sports stores, grocery stores, electronic stores, banks, bakeries, pharmacies, and many other stores.

One thing that is not missing in Brazil is love and affection. This was apparent from the moment we arrived at the airport and were greeted with a kiss on the cheek and hug by Elma, the international relations coordinator for our trip. I felt very welcomed and that I was immediately accepted. I was surprised by it but I actually like the amounts of hugs given and wish that we were a little more affectionate here in America. The love was also seen up and down the beach. I began to notice it at nights that couples were out kissing, hugging and not caring if the world saw their love and passion. We began to call the beach walk at night Lover’s Lane as a joke because that is what it became.

The atmosphere at the state university we attended in Recife was in ways a lot more relaxed than ours here in the U.S. Many Brazilians are late for class and professors are as well, there’s no such thing as the fifteen minute late-class is cancelled rule for professors. I felt less pressure from time this way which was nice. After talking to the Brazilian students I also came to learn that you can drop a class almost as many times as you want and it not affect your GPA. The main motivation for them is to get out of college so that they can begin to generate an income. I liked the less pressured environment at the university we attended. All in all, recognizing these things gave me a better perspective of what lifestyles in other countries are like and allow me to appreciate my own culture along with the Brazilian culture in a better way.