The GoAbroad Travel Guides and Resources are well-written articles aimed at delivering fresh and timely information to different types of travelers, from students on a study abroad trip to volunteers helping fulfill a worthy cause in another country. These guides and resources are contributions from professionals in the field of travel and international education.

Feel free to browse through the articles. To start you off on your virtual journey, we recommend this article:

Brazil: Study Abroad in the Land of Carnaval, Soccer, and Beaches

Brazil, the land of carnaval, soccer/football, and beaches; there cannot be much more to ask for from a study abroad program or overseas opportunity. However, what really attaches a student who will study abroad in Brazil is the Brazilian perspective on life. This perspective is hard to explain but can be best exemplified in their music. One of the most popular carnaval songs in Brazil goes “Paz, Carnaval, Futebol! Nao mata, nao engorda, e nao faz mal!” Which literally translates to “Peace, carnaval, soccer! It doesn’t kill, it doesn’t make you fat, and it doesn’t do anything bad.” As awkward as it may sound, it somewhat explains the outlook on life that Brazilians have, if it’s fun, doesn’t kill you or bad for your health, enjoy it!

The carefree perspective that every Brazilian has is shown in many aspects of daily life. For example, before going out to a bar or restaurant on a weekend, friends may spend some time drinking at a gas station. In the United States, a gas station is usually seen as a dirty, cheap place. However in Brazil there are tables and chairs outside the gas station allowing friends to hang out, catch up, have a couple of cervejas or beers and just enjoy life together. After that then maybe they’ll go to an open-air bar, which is a pretty typical style of bar in Brazil.

When studying abroad in Brazil, many students find Brazilian Portuguese language is fun to learn. It is a vibrant language that has many distinctive qualities to it. For example, there is one word that is completely unique to Brazilian Portuguese which is saudade. To have saudades means that you are missing something or someone so much that you feel it inside, or have a heartache about it. When a student describes how they miss Brazil, they “I have many saudades of Brazil” or in Portuguese “Tou com muitas saudades do Brasil.” Other Portuguese rules can make conversations or words very funny. The letters, ao, put on the end of a word make whatever it is describing big. So for example, if you want to say very big, you would add ao to the end of grande (which is big in Portuguese) and it would become grandao. As a foreigner, it’s easy to play around with Portuguese. There was one student who amused a lot of Brazilians when he would say rapidao!” He of course meant to say very fast, but it literally meant big fast.

Students that do an internship opportunity or study abroad program in Brazil whom end up learning Portuguese and later on travel to a Spanish speaking country can testify that these ‘unique’ Brazilian words leave them confused in certain situations when speaking Spanish. For example, in Brazilian Portuguese, to say of course you would say, com certeza, which literally means with certainty. So when it comes to Spanish, students have tried to say the same thing, only to be met with confused looks from their peers when they say con seguro, which means with security.

Doing an overseas program in Brazil will provide you with a time full of experiences that will stay with you for life, from learning Brazilian Portuguese to experiencing Carnaval. Whether you go abroad for an international study, internship opportunity, or just to see Brazil, you will leave having many saudades of your experiences there.