Attending University in Brazil

Hello MarrzBarrz,



On behalf of the entire Expat-blog Team, and as someone who was born and raised in Hamilton, ON and has now been living in Brazil for eleven years, it is my extreme pleasure to welcome you on board. I hope that your experience here on the blog is both enjoyable and informative. I'm sure you will make lots of new friends here, both in Brazil and all over the globe.

Since you are still in the planning stages I would really recommend that you start learning Portuguese there in Hamilton at an accelerated pace if possible. I think you will find that coming here and then trying to learn the language would really be difficult for you and it would probably hold back your education.

I don't know if Mohawk College has any language courses, but you can check with them. If they don't then check the local language schools and see if they have any native speaking teachers (pref. Brazilians since continental Portuguese is a little bit different). You can also check with the Portuguese and Brazilian community associations in Hamilton and while you're at it you might even find a church that holds services in Portuguese. These are all ways I learned the language very quickly and arrived here speaking Portuguese fluently. Chat rooms are also a great way to practice the language - try www.paltalk.com (free download) and you can select Portuguese rooms in Brazil.

As far as universities go please let me know what courses you're interested in, cities you might plan on living in and I will do some checking into courses and get back to you with some information.

Oskie Wee Wee; Oskie Waa Waa; Holy Mackinaw; Tigers... Eat 'em RAW!!

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

PS. I was raised up on the 'mountain'  (don't know how it can be a mountain when it only has one side  LOL)

Hello William,

Thank you so much for the warm greeting to this site & for your post. So far I have found the site quite helpful. I can't express how excited I am to have found you. I've been reading your post all day, you have so much knowledge and I think you are the answer to my prayers. (forgive me if that sounds creepy) I've been hoping to find someone who can sorta help me out! Its pretty cool that you are from Hamilton!

Okay back to the point...

I agree, learning the language here will be much more helpful. I will get on that. When I read in Portuguese I understand most of it, if not all. I believe its due to the fact that I am also fluent in Spanish. I will also be renting movies & music in Portuguese from the library, like you suggested in the other post. But I do know that before making the big move, I would like to spend some time in Brazil. & I think the best way to do that is to do a language course! I found a course & maybe you could tell me if its legit or not... https://sites.google.com/site/secretariappe/
thats the link to it. I would really appreciate it.

I am not 100% sure what courses/programs I want to do. But Law, Fashion, or Interior Design are the ones I'm leaning to. I guess for cities I would say Rio, Sao Paulo. If you have any recommendations, please recommend away.

The applying to university thing is a little complicated for me, I feel like, because I graduated in the USA & have a US high school diploma. But am know living in Canada. But am a Venezuelan citizen.  Also I graduated in 2011 at the age of 17, but have not attended college/university for personal reasons. Its confusing, at least to me, because I am not sure which protocol to follow... if you could guide me in this  or know someone who could I would highly appreciate it!

I don't know if you know this but the Ivor Wynne Stadium was close this past October &  is slated for demolition to be replaced with a new stadium.  Just thought you might want to know if you didn't already...

Thanks again,
Maria

p.s I know, I still don't get why its called the mountain. but ooh well.

Hi Maria,

The PPE program that you linked to is put on by UFRGS, Universidade Federal de Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre - RS. You can get a feel for the area by doing a virtual tour using Google Streetview for fun. I've looked over the program and it seems quite good. If you want you could check for similar programs at UFRJ, Universidade Federal de Rio de Janeiro or USP, Universidade de São Paulo too. They probably offer similar courses as well.

Are you thinking about coming to Brazil as a tourist for a visit before actually making this big step? It might be a wise idea if you can afford to do so. It will give you a chance to check out courses and universites firsthand and learn about the country, the people and their culture. I think the Law Program would be exciting personally, but that's just because it interests me. You have to go your own way.

Join in a few more forum discussions, post something or respond to a few postings in order to "activate" your private message privileges and then we can correspond to help your planning. I will be really pleased to be able to help you in any way possible. I too think it's really cool to have finally met somebody on the blog from my hometown. I have a lot of family still residing in the Hamilton area. I came from a very large family on both the paternal and maternal side.

Warmest regards,
James (your new bud - need an adopted grand dad? LOL)

PS.  Check out these programs at UFRJ (Rio)

http://www.ufrj.br/detalha_noticia.php?codnoticia=1017

and

USP (São Paulo)

http://www5.usp.br/internacional/cursos-de-portugues/

Hi James,

I will do what you have recommended. I am glad that you have found someone from your hometown aka me. It's been FREEZING here! I hate it. I don't like the cold, I was able to tolerate it when I lived in the US, the weather right now is unbearable, for me at least. I miss the warm weather of South America.  It is also one of the reasons that influenced me to move to warmer climate.

ttyl,
Maria