Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship
I am incredibly grateful for FLAS, permitting me to dedicate my time to the Portuguese language and Latin American Studies. I first received the award for an immersive 6- week study abroad trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil. After my Public Administration graduation in 2020, I was notified of my second award, funding my Dual Degree in Portuguese and Latin America & Caribbean Studies.
Below, you will find details of my experience studying abroad.
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship; Study Abroad
Summer 2019
The Foreign Language and Area Studies ( FLAS) provided me the opportunity to a fully funded study abroad trip to São Paulo, Brazil during the summer of 2019. For six weeks I attended language classes at the CET study abroad programs branch, and then completed a culture course at one of Brazil's most prestigious private universities,  PontifÃcia Universidade Católica de São Paulo ( PUC-SP). My immersive experience in Brazil connected many topics and language pronunciation skills I often reviewed in the classroom into real life. Brazil sparked my interest into learning and being more active in human rights, politics and language learning.
Study Abroad course reflection
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During my first weeks in Brazil I often spoke " Portunhol", a common term used to describe the mix of words between Spanish and Portuguese. The ability to convert my mind out of the Spanish mentality is crucial when speaking Portuguese. Two languages are similar but inevitably different languages and deserve their own mindset and recognition of differences in accents and form of speaking. Brazilians are very kind in complimenting language ability so I often reminded them to correct me if I spoke incorrectly. Having the confidence in making mistakes, my pronunciation and Portuguese understanding quickly increased. I took this same mentality to my writing. Before Brazil, I had only taken two courses in Portuguese and my writing could not pass over half a page. I often dreaded writing my final research paper for PUC- SP as my understanding of statistics and research in Portuguese was limited. However, with practice, I was able to complete a full research paper you can download below.
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It was helpful that others felt comfortable in correcting me. By the end of the day, my mind was exhausted from translating before speaking and processing during fast-paced environments such as the classroom and even the grocery store! Something that was so common for me in the USA such as speaking, took three times the effort in Brazil. I embraced my difficulties and am very grateful for the opportunity and experience and those that had helped me.
One of my days in Brazil
My days in Brazil often consisted of classes, museums and reviewing course work in the afternoon with classmates and my Brazilian roommates. When possible, we would visit local parks, cafes and explore the area near Perdizes, where our apartment was located. Some weekends we would visit near cities such as Paraty and Rio de Janeiro. The video to the right is a documentation of one of my Wednesdays for a class assignment. My day consisted of going to the gym in the morning, going to my classes, visiting the farmers market, and visiting a local popular area called " Batman Alley". Usually I would be accompanied by my American roommate Amanda and fellow classmate Micheal. While we tried to stay away from the temptation to speak English to each other, I would often be-friend Uber drivers to practice understanding all Brazilian accents
Disclaimer: the quality and audio in the video can be difficult to understand.
My stay at São Paulo
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São Paulo quickly became home. My cohort was very energetic, diverse, friendly, and helpful ( displayed on the second to last bottom right corner). Two of my most memorable moments is participating in a play within the Teatro Oficial famously built by architect Lina Bo Bardi for creating a theater in what used to be an office building and meeting the director José Celso Martinez Corrêa ( image on the bottom right corner).
My second most awakening moment was in the Memorial da Resistência. We learned about the political resistance and repression and had a very eye-opening conversation with a political activist that had been arrested and tortured in the 1980s. Learning about the political environment and human rights within Brazil are two of my favorite topics to further discuss. I did not realize how my own American privileges and filters played a role in the understanding and learning of difficult political environments. My classes, experience and conversations with professors and strangers alike help shape the further understanding I look for.
My visit to Rio de Janeiro
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There is a mix of Paraty, Rio de Janeiro, and Rio de Janeiro in the images above.
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Once finishing my homework, my classmates and I went to Rio de Janeiro for a weekend. As a cohort, we also traveled to Paraty, Rio de Janeiro for an educational visit to the historic downtown and local fishier communities. I enjoyed listening to Samba around the city and in restaurants, in addition to climbing beautiful mountains and enjoying the view!