Rio de Janeiro, the City of God

Rio de Janeiro is also known as the City of God, and there’s a reason why.  To anyone who ever visited it, it is a place inseparable from caipirinhas, the usually crowded beaches, fresh coconuts, the home to multiple football teams, Cristo de Redentor and of course the lovely Brasileiras in their bikinis. On rainy days such as today, I often recall the days where all I had to do was go to the beach, have some fresh coconut water and eat some ‘Biscoito Globo’.

Studying Abroad
During my studies in Tilburg, I had the opportunity to explore this amazing city under the pretext of ‘studying abroad’. It was about this time three years ago that I was heading to Schiphol for my semester abroad in Brazil. An exchange is foremost an opportunity to ‘pursue individual academic goals’ in a place other than the Netherlands. There is however, a reason Tilburg University is listed among the best universities worldwide and Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC) is not. In my view, the courses taught in English are only set up for exchange students (90% of the courses at PUC are taught in Portuguese) and are pretty low level.  It was either this or we got an exceptional collection of bright international students since nobody scored less than a 9. Nonetheless, the teachers were super friendly and lectures were in relatively small groups. Also, as part of Brazilian (or at least Rio) culture arriving late in class is no problem whatsoever. Besides the courses in English, the Portuguese language course which is mandatory for international students, was very well structured and actually taught me to speak Portuguese. Also PUC offers more in-depth courses, however, these are taught in Portuguese which might increase the difficulty up to a point incomprehensible for the average student. Furthermore, lectures are mainly scheduled in the morning which usually gives you the rest of the day to study.

The Beach
So, what do you do when you got the whole afternoon to study? Right. You go the beach. One of the perks making use of the accommodation program is that, as part of PUC policy, all the host families are located in the better neighbourhoods of the city. In practice, this means either in Copacabana or Ipanema. This is of course very convenient since this is also where the best beaches are. Along the beaches of the Copa and Ipanema there are several guard towers which are called ‘postos’. These postos divide the beach into a reflection of society and it is not a bad thing to know before you go there, something I did not. Posto 11 and 12 are mainly visited by young families and their children, posto 10 is where the foot volley fields are found, posto 9 is where the young and trendy people go. Posto 8 is the area where the gay community of Rio gathers and of course this is where I first went. Posto 7 is where the surfers are and where the locals smoke weed at night. Copacabana is less divided into sections, however, most tourists can be found at posto 3 and 4, mainly because these are in front of a lot of hotels.

 Nightlife in Rio de Janeiro
As a student in Rio part of your daily routine is to explore the nightlife. One of the most renowned places to go at night is Lapa. Lapa is a neighbourhood characterized by its historical ‘Arcos da Lapa’, build by one of Brazil’s colonial ancestors and the Escadaria Selarón (also featured in one of Snoop Dogg’s music videos). However, from Thursday night until Sunday the streets of Lapa become car free and turn into a giant bar with caipirinhas and corndogs for next to nothing. At night this place is flooded with transgender people who might try to drug or rob you. On my first night here, I almost got robbed and although not experienced myself, it is not uncommon for ‘girls’ to offer you a drink which will leave you unconscious at the curb within minutes. The next thing you remember will be waking up on the side of the road to find your phone, wallet and shoes gone. Nonetheless, I have experienced some of my most memorable nights here. In the beginning you just buy your drinks at the main road, since all the alleys seem kind of dodgy. But once we knew the neighbourhood a bit we wandered around through these alleys until we found the best (and cheapest) caipirinha stand of them all, offering half liter cups for only 2 or 3 euros. Once back on the main road you will find people jamming with their bongos, doing capoeira or homeless people trying to sell you for drugs.

This is only a small impression of all the stuff I experienced in Rio and I can continue writing on, however, it is probably best to experience it yourself.