Back to school

Today I was back to school to tell year 13 about the Fellowship. It was great telling people about my experiences - some who didn't believe it and they had already started to choose which country they would like to visit. Hopefully in the summer of 2010 there will be a fellow from my school!

I am preparing for university now and have a little bit more to do before I leave for Exeter on the 26th.

Nick

Back in the UK

So I'm back after an amazing 6 weeks. I'm already missing Brazil and struggling to over come the jet lag.

I have still got a lot of unpacking to do along with university preparation! I'm excited about the next few weeks and spreading the message about the fellowship along with showing my photos!

Will keep posting

Nick

Saturday 29th.

So I'm flying home late this evening. I can safely say I am going to miss Brazil.

I woke up very early today to start packing - after unpacking my bag and then repacking it several times I think I'm nearly at the stage where everything will fit in. I have also had to adopt techniques such as asking fellows if they would like to borrow a book of mine to read on the plane.. Its worked - therefore giving me more room in my luggage!

Last night we had an exhibition at the British Council offices - this gave each fellow to express themselves and share their thoughts about Brazil. It was excellent to see a large range of different perceptions and ideas. There were also speeches and comedy acts from some fellows.

Once I have finished packing I plan to go and meet my host for one more time and see their family, although I have a feeling it won't be for the last time!

I can easily say that I have had an amazing time out here in Brazil and I will have lifetime memories.

I will continue this blog when I'm back in the UK.

Nick

Last few days in Brazil

So I am now back from Sao Carlos having visited a social project of KPMG's and also visiting a client.

I will explain the project in some detail. The project takes care of 220 children aged from 10-14. These children are from the poorest backgrounds in and around Sao Carlos - it enables the children to attend extra classes in the morning and afternoon as well as school classes at a local public school. It was clear from visiting the project everybody is very passionate about it and that the children benefit greatly.

I fly back to the UK on saturday night. I think its going to be huge shock getting back to the UK - but I am excited to tell people exactly what I got up to!

I have uploaded a photo of a typical feature of Sao Paulo - it shows the traffic and the constant rush hour!

Nick

Great day in Sao Carlos!

Another great day, went to KPMG's CSR project this morning and was shown who was boss at football - Brazilians are very good at football! After being warn out this morning on the football pitch I then went to Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz is one of KPMG's clients, they make sugar and ethanol. It was amazing to see the process and the amount of work that went into the production and the scale of production.

I am going back to Sao Paulo tomorrow for a farewell lunch at KPMG and we will meet the director of KPMG Brazil.

Sorry for how short the blog is, got a lot going on tonight along with a dinner with KPMG. The weather is very good in Sao Carlos and it required my to apply my factor 50, I know one thing I wont miss about Brazil is the weather!

On my way to Sao Carlos

One thing I have noticed about the state of Sao Paulo is that no matter where you are travelling you can never escape the traffic. Were going to a city with a population of 300,000 but the traffic is like rush hour on the M25 and worse! This traffic is due to the Tour Do Brasil which is a cycling event throughout Brazil.

Yesterday we visited the 3rd largest aeroplane manufacturer - Embraer. It was a very impressive visit - unfortunately no photos were allowed due to security. It was amazing to see 2 British Airways planes and to think that soon they would most likely at Heathrow.

Ill try to keep posting - frequency depends on the internet connection.

As you can see from the photo its a lot greener compared to where we have been

Nick

End of the 5th Week

So my first week at KPMG has been amazing and they have easily met my expectations. I expect my next week with KPMG to be very good - tomorrow were off to visit Embraer at business that make aeroplanes then were off on a trip to Sao Carlos 3hrs from Sao Paulo. We will be looking at KPMGs CSR project called little citizen.

Today myself and a few fellows went to another Corinthians game, final score 3 -3. All in all it was a great game but it did rain for the whole 90minutes!

The weather has taken a bit of a U turn, its been quite cold - around 15 degrees and there has been some rain but this doesn't stop me doing anything.

What a day!

Today started at 4am when I was logging onto ucas checking my university application - I am pleased to say that I got into Exeter! Following this news I went to KPMG and had a tour of each of the 20 floors by foot, it was tiring but there were some amazing views of Sao Paulo and it helped me appreciate how many people work in the building.

This afternoon I went to meet some hosts with some of the fellows. As my host lived nearby we went back for something to eat and to celebrate my results. I am very tired but I know I will remember this day for a long long time!

Nick

Natura Visit

Managed to get up 5 and get the 6.15am taxi. This morning we went to Natura which make natural products as I mentioned in my last post. Its an amazing business and the headquarters is amazing - as you can see from the photos! It was great to see such an environmentally aware business and see how they operate.

After sitting in the Sao Paulo traffic we returned back to KPMG to talk to HR and look at the career options! It is a very very demanding career but if you are prepared to work hard the rewards are huge.


Just a quick update today, will update again soon.

Nick

1st Day at KPMG

Had an early start at KPMG but it was very worth while! This morning we had a presentation from 2 senior partners – they spoke a bit about Brazil then spoke about some of their clients such as HSBC, Citibank and Johnson & Johnson - KPMG have 17% of the audit market in Brazil.

After going for lunch with the partners we returned back to the office – here we spoke to risk management and risk advisory along. This was really interesting to talk about some of the risks global firms are open to such as computer hacking as well as learning about the career path at KPMG and the promotion opportunities at the firm. We spoke to Leandro who had gone from a trainee to a senior manager in under 10 years!

I can tell I will really enjoy my 2 weeks with the firm. Tomorrow were visiting Natura – this company make natural cosmetics and have gross revenue of over £1,000 million. KPMG audit the firm and they won the most sustainable company award 2008.

I have uploaded a few photos of the group so you can see what were have been up to. One photo shows us with our new KPMG bags!

Must dash, need to leave the hotel at 6.15am tomorrow as we are off to Natura for 7am.

Nick

Ends of 4 weeks

Writing this at the end of 4 weeks in Brazil. The last 2 weeks I have had a really amazing time with my host family. Igor my host brother was great fun and he always seemed to have energy! He has kept me very busy – looking at sights around Sao Paulo, 2 x football matches and lots of partying. Today I went to my second Corithians game and they won 2 – 0 so that was good as the team they were playing were 3rd in the league. I have put up a photo of myself and the host family along with a photo of Ronaldo the footballer who was at the football match today!
I have just got back to the hotel for my first night as last night I stayed with my host family for an extra night. I have put a photo up of the view from my hotel room.


Tomorrow I start my 2 week placement at KPMG and I am very excited! I have got my suit out and luckily there are no huge creases – still need to polish my shoes. Tomorrow I will be having a welcome coffee then meeting some managers from different KPMG departments such as corporate citizenship. In the second week of my placement I will be going away for 3 days to Sao Carlos to meet KPMG clients etc.

I will let you know how my first day goes, I’m planning to get an early night tonight to catch up on all the sleep I have missed!

Keep checking for updates.

Nick

Sunday in Sao Paulo

Just writing a quick update and will post later with photos etc. I am just about to go to another football match then after I will do a bit of shopping. I'm starting atKPMG tomorrow and cannot wait. It is going to be a really interesting 2 weeks as they have planned lots for us to do. I will let you know more details later

Nick

1st Day At School

So managed the 6am wake up and 7am start at school. It was great to see the school in action, it didnt seem haunted like it had last week due to the swine flu. It was the first day back for all the students after the winter holiday so everybody was a bit excited and i didnt see much work getting done! It was quite difficult understanding a physics lesson in Portuguese! Woke up to rain in Sao Paulo this morning but already the weather has changed and there is a lot of sun!

Off to meet a Brazilian politician this afternoon so that should be interesting as many of the students at the school say how the politics here is corrupt!

I better dash, need to grab some lunch

Nick

1 week in Sao Paulo

So I have completed my first week in Sao Paulo now. Next week I will be going to school. Its going to be ite a shock because school starts at 7am! So that will require getting up at 6am at the latest. I cannot wait to see the school in action as it has bout 2500 pupils. I am relaxing this weekend after quite a hectic week. Yesterday we went to watch a Brazilian TV program being made - I dont think any of us understood what was going on but there was some good music. I have uploaded some photos of my past few days for you to look at. I also visited a drink reception where the fellows spoke to memebers of the British Council as well as that there were about 20 teachers from around the UK that were visting Brazil for the week so it enabled us to share stories and spread the word about the fellowship programme.

I better go as I think were off out soon. I will let you know how school goes and if I manage to cope with the early start!
Nick

Sao Paulo Photos

I have uploaded a few photos from Sao Paulo, hope you like them.Having an amazing time. Still cannot believe the scale of Sao Paulo, there is so much traffic and a great atmoshere in the city. Been very lucky with the weather, having a lot of sun had 25 degrees today and its winter.

Nick

Sao Paulo

So had my frist few days in Sao Paulo now with my host family. I still cannot belive how large the city is and the traffic never stops - 21 million people+. I am here for 2 weeks at a school but as there has been warnings of Swine Flu throughtout the state - schools have been closed for a week; I have a week off school but were still doing most of the activities planned. I will try to post some photos on here soon, my laptop isnt connected to the wifi yet so I am not able to upload photos.

Thank you for all the emails you have been sending me and happy birthday grandpa. I hope you have a great day

Keep checking for more posts

Nick

Last day in Rio

Ok so just packed and ready to head off to Sao Paulo for 4 weeks. Leaving Rio - weathers amazing and off to see the christ statue this morning. Sorry this post doesn't have a photo. I'm having to type it out in a rush so don't have time to upload a photo. Will update you when I get to Sao Paulo.

Nick

Brazilian Newspaper Article

I mentioned the arts project - Nos Do Morro; today I was in a Brazilian newspaper. I have posted a photo of the article. If you click on the photo it should enlarge the article.

Will update you soon

Nick.

Last Days In Rio

I have once again been very busy. In some of my spare time myself and a few of the other fellows have been exploring the surrounding areas of Rio. We managed to find a small surf village that was very undeveloped,'
Itacotiara'- it was great to see such a contrast to the busy city life in Rio. The following day we had a walking tour of Rio along with a visit to the 100m high cathedral. It had 4 huge stain glass windows and was a great piece of architecture that stood out in the centre of Rio. I have put some photos up of the views of Rio.

I'm beginning to pick up Portuguese much faster now I know the basics. I'm looking forward to the 2 weeks with the host family in Sao Paulo although I will miss Rio and the beach!

Today I visited another favela. This was much larger to the one I previously visited and was in the heart of Rio. We spent our afternoon at an arts centre - they put on a special drum performance and we also danced and did some acting. One of the locals we met was in star the film - City of God, this is a film based on a true story of life in a favela and the dangers of living there.


I better go - need to get something to eat.

Will keep updating

Nick

Sugar Loaf Visit

As it was a Sunday we had some downtime to relax - This afternoon we went to Sugar Loaf mountain, it required 2 cable cars to get to the top each taking about 5 minutes. The views of Rio were breath taking and we timed it perfectly so we could see the sun set. I have put a couple of photos with this post of Sugar Loaf. Off out soon for something to eat then were all going to the beach for a game of football - Will need an early night tonight as back to Portuguese lessons tomorrow!

 

Nick

Week 1

I have been in Brazil for just over a week now and it has flown by! I have been very busy and I am now able to hold a small conversation in Portuguese. This morning myself and the other fellows visited a local market where we bought lots of fruit and vegetables which was then used to make lunch at the language school - Luckily each group managed to get what was on their shopping list and some of us even negotiated in Portuguese. I am now back in the hotel writing this, later this evening we are going out to Lapa which is a area in Rio with many bars - Everybody is trying to get some sleep before this evening.

On thursday we visited Fort Santa Cruz da Barra - This was used to protect Guanabara Bay from invasion. I have uploaded a few photos from the visit. The view was amazing particularly the view of the Sugar Loaf.

I must dash, need to have a rest before this evening. Keep checking for updates

Nick

What have I been up to?

You have probably noticed that most of my posts have been lacking context. I have been very busy recently and had limited time on the internet. I am going to update you on what I have been up to and what ill be doing in the coming days.

Starting off with Portuguese lessons, every day I have been having a lesson that's about 3 hours long after this we go out an use the language and see more of Brazil. Portuguese is a tough language but I'm picking it up quickly!

I also visited a modern art gallery - this is the building that looks like a spaceship. The exhibitions were from local Brazilian artists and it gave me the opportunity to understand more about Brazilian arts and culture. Each piece of work subtly told a story or an image from around Brazil.

The following day (yesterday) we all went to a favela. This favela has been fighting crime and has succeeded. The common issues of drug trafficking and gun crime have been eradicated. There is a huge community in the favela and everybody works together to make the community stronger. There was a shop that had been set up with the help of an NGO that sold clothing produced by the locals; me and a few other fellows are looking into starting a business that will sell this clothing in Brazil. I have posted a few photos of the favela on this post.

I have a few activities coming up in the next few days such as hand gliding and a visit to a fortress as well as dinners with NGO representatives and of course more Portuguese lessons!
I will keep you up to date with what I'm up to.

Thanks again

Nick

I have been very busy recently - Had my first few Portuguese lessons also been to to a local modern art gallery - MAC Art Gallery - (Museum of Contemporary Art). I have put some more photos up on here. Take a look. Drop me an email for anymore details / Information

Thanks nick

Football in Rio...

Just got back from the most amazing football match I have ever been to, will post a bit more later but here are a few photos. First lesson in Portuguese tomorrow, should be interesting!

Another day in Rio...

Starting my language ourse tomorrow, cannot wait as currently my portuguese is very limited. Today is my day off, all the fellows have planned to go to the beach and then were off to a football match at the maracana stadium - this apparently is huge and has a capacity of 200,000, the atmosophere will be amazing. Check out more of the photos, I will keep updating the blog.

1st Day in Brazil

26hrs later, arrived in Rio De Janeiro! Minimal sleep and still posting on my blog now. Managed to find some locals to play football on the beach with, we won which was a surprise! I have posed some photos of rio from the air and ground. The city is constantly buzzing and crossing roads is proving to be hard as drivers never stop.

Got a great few weeks lined up. Will keep updating. Hope you like the photos

Nick