Day 11
As I am flying from São Paulo to Curitiba, I finally have the opportunity to sit and reflect on my study abroad experience thus far.
City #1: Salvador.
Since I was already flying across the globe, I took the opportunity to visit a few of my Brazilian friends in their home cities. I arrived five days before my actual program to a city called Salvador in the state of Bahia, which is famously known for its Carnival festivities.
I stayed with my close friend, Bruno and his family. Although he spoke English, no one else did, and I was fully submersed into a different language and culture all at once.
My “mini host family” experience was wonderful as they toured me around their city — from Pelourhino, the Historic Center of Salvador where Michael Jackson shot his music video for “They Don’t Really Care About Us,” to the beautiful beaches with the most delicious seafood all around, to a private tour of the Arena Fonte Nova Stadium that was used for the World Cup. I’m so grateful I had this opportunity to experience and get to know better this unique city, people and culture.
City #2: São Paulo.
The transition from vacation mode in hot, sunny Salvador to intense work mode in cold and rainy São Paulo was a little hard at first. In a city of over 20 million people, the culture is very much “go, go, GO!”
And we were thrown right into it. It was really exciting in a way, but I was completely exhausted at the end of every day.
It’s really amazing to see the sustainability successes and failures of this city, but it’s even more interesting to compare it to my home country. I learned that the water crisis in São Paulo was crazy similar to the water crisis in Los Angeles, and it makes me wonder:
How many other cities are also in the exact same situation? How can we used the strategies attempted and the lessons learned in one city, and apply it to another? I think it is a great opportunity for cities or other institutions to collaborate when it comes to trying to solve wicked problems, and we might all be able to reach a solution a lot quicker.
Yesterday, our last day in São Paulo was definitely my favorite in this city. We visited an organization called MST which roughly translates to the Landless Rural Workers Movement. Before we arrived, we were told some insane stories about how the media typically portrays this organization as violent and dangerous, and at one point, they were even classified as a terrorist organization!
When I got there I quickly saw for myself how wrong all of this was.
The people we met and talked with were some of the most gentle, kindhearted people I have ever met in my entire life. This was a very emotional moment for me as I wondered how the media could be so wrong, and how so many people falsely believed it. This really made me realize the power and importance of the media, which I think I typically forget about when talking about sustainability problems. It really taught me to take everything with a grain of salt and to realize that every story has (at least) two sides.
Soon we will be landing in the city of Curitiba, and I am so excited to see what this next adventure will bring!