Follow the jump links to learn more about Brazil:
Lifestyle and Family Living
Teen Life
Dress and Appearance
Diet and Meals
Educational System
Geography and Climate
Population
Language
Government
Religion
Spending Money
Safety and Support
Fun Facts Lifestyle and Family Living
Brazilians are generally affectionate and expressive with close-knit families.
In the typical Brazilian family, the wife usually has a job, supervises the children and manages the household while the husband is involved with work outside the home.
Children are expected to help with the household chores. Families are protective of the children, particularly the girls. For example, teenage boys have more liberal curfews than their sisters.
Teenagers are expected to keep their parents informed of their activities, such as when they go out and where they are going.
Brazilian host families, like all AFS host families worldwide, are volunteers and are not paid. They open their homes to students in order to share their community and culture as well as to enrich their own family lives.
Students may be placed in any region in Brazil, mostly with middle-class families.Teen Life
Some, but not all, schools offer extracurricular activities like sports and crafts clubs. Getting involved in local community organizations is a great way to meet people and make friends.
Because of the tropical climate, outdoor activities are common. Soccer is the national sport of Brazil, now played by girls as well as boys.
Traditional dances, festivals and street parades are popular and vary from region to region. Carnival is the most famous festival in Brazil, occurring between mid February and early March.
On weekends, Brazilian teens like to get together with friends in each other’s homes, go to movies, hang out in the town square, or go to a favorite local café.Dress and Appearance
Brazilians like to wear European fashions and are very style-conscious. However, teens prefer casual clothing.
Students are encouraged to bring one or two nice outfits for special occasions (dress shirts and ties for men, dresses or skirts and blouses for women).
If you are placed in São Paulo or the southern regions of Brazil, you will need warm clothing for the winter months.
Most schools require students to wear uniforms. Uniforms consist of jeans, tennis shoes and a school T-shirt (sold in Brazil for approximately US $15).Diet and Meals
In Brazil, eating well means eating a lot. Most Brazilians eat two large meals a day which are lunch and dinner. Breakfast is quick and light.
Meal times are important family gatherings, and all members of the family are expected to be present unless they have excused themselves in advance.
The staples of the Brazilian diet are arroz (white rice), feijão (beans) and farofa (manioc flour), also called farinha. These are usually served with carne (beef), carne de porco (pork), frango (chicken) or peixe (fish), and lettuce and tomato salad.
Barbecued meat is very popular and traditional foods also include African-influenced fish and chicken stews.
Feijoada, the national dish, is a bean dish prepared with air-dried beef, smoked tongue, pig’s ears and tails, garlic and chili peppers. Over this is added pulverized farofa, and the whole dish is garnished with collard greens and slices of orange.
A variety of fruit and vegetables are available throughout the year, though it is extremely difficult to place vegetarians. In Brazil it is considered inappropriate for individuals to request special foods, to prepare separate food for themselves or to raid the refrigerator.Educational System
Brazil has both public and private schools. AFSers can be placed in either kind of high school in the equivalent of second-to-last year with classmates ages 15 to 17 years old. Students attend classes in either the morning or the afternoon.
Ten or eleven subjects are offered such as Portuguese and Brazilian literature, chemistry, physics and biology, math, geography, Brazilian and world history and physical education. Some courses are elective, such as languages, art, and cooking. Students are responsible for presenting group research and are expected to get involved.
All instruction, with the exception of foreign languages, is done in Portuguese. In the beginning, you may find it hard to follow, but as you learn more of the language, school will become less challenging, so be patient, work hard, and keep at it!
While it may be possible to obtain academic credit for the coursework you successfully complete abroad, AFS cannot guarantee this. Please discuss your plans with your school before you go abroad.
Geography and Climate
Brazil is the largest country in South America. It lies on the equator line and borders ten countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela).
Brazil’s topography is quite diverse and ranges from the Amazon basin in the north and west to the Brazilian Highlands in the southeast. The Amazon River system carries more water to the ocean than any other river system in the world. It is navigable for its entire 3,200 km (2000 mi) length within Brazil.
The Brazilian Highlands and plateaus generally average less than 1220m (4000 feet) but the highest point in Brazil is Pico de Neblina at 3014m (9888 feet). Extensive uplands lie in the southeast and drop off quickly at the Atlantic Coast. Much of the coast is composed of the Great Escarpment which looks like a wall from the ocean.
The climate varies from arid scrub land in the interior to the impassable tropical rain forests of the northerly Amazon jungle and the tropical eastern coastal beaches. The south is more temperate.
Rainy seasons occur from January to April in the north, April to July in the northeast and November to March in the Rio and São Paulo area. The Amazon basin, occupying more than sixty percent of the entire country, receives more than about 200 cm (80 inches) of rain a year in some areas. Brazil’s rainy season occurs during the summer months. Almost all of Brazil is humid has either a tropical or subtropical climate. Eastern Brazil suffers from regular drought.
Population
The population numbers about 196 million; Brasilia is the capital of Brazil and São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are Brazil’s largest cities.
Brazil’s population is largely made up of people of European (54%), American Indian, and African descent. Brazil has the largest population of people of Japanese descent outside of Japan.
Language
Portuguese is the official language of Brazil. English is widely understood. Indigenous tribes living on reservations speak their own languages.
Government
Brazil is a federal democracy with three branches of government: executive, legislative and judiciary. The National Congress is composed of two houses, the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate.
Religion
Although officially most of the population (73%) is Roman Catholic, Brazilians are used to and believe in a great variety of beliefs. Still, Christianity is the most widespread religion. Many families attend weekly services, and the youth religious movement is getting stronger.
Spending Money
The the Real (plural: Reais) is the official currency in Brazil.
Your program and country information packet (provided in the months prior to your departure) will give you an idea of how much spending money is appropriate and whether you should arrive with any amount of the local currency in hand.
Host families pay only for ordinary family events in which you are expected to participate. When you do such things as shopping for yourself or going out with friends, the expenses are your responsibility. Depending on the cost of living in your host country, we recommend you budget about $100-$300 per month.
Remember: never travel with large amounts of cash. Instead, bring travelers checks or follow the advice in the country and program information packet. Another option for obtaining money while overseas is to use a debit card linked to a checking account back home (but try not to use a debit card for daily purchases since there are ATM and currency exchange fees). Or, you can transfer money using wiring services such as Western Union.
You and your parents should determine a budget and preferred money transfer plan before you depart so that you are not caught without spending money while abroad.
Be conscientious of your spending since conspicuous consumption may not be viewed favorably and spending more than your peers and family may create a distance between you and them.
Safety and Support
AFS has the utmost concern for the welfare, safety, and security of our participants. We’ve been exchanging participants throughout the world for 60 years—that’s six decades of history and experience in international education with an exemplary record of safety, security, and service.
AFS maintains a network of experienced staff and trained volunteers who provide support in each country. In the event of an emergency, 24-hour assistance is available to students, their parents, and the host families. Furthermore, your AFS tuition includes comprehensive medical insurance coverage to ensure that medical care is available to our participants anywhere in the world and at all times.
While we have the above support structures in place, we also encourage you to take responsibility for your own safety and we give you the guidance to do so. Many of the AFS orientation activities, both at home and abroad, are intended to give you the tools to stay safe. We also provide country-specific safety tips to each participant prior to departure.
Learn more about the AFS safety and support network.
Fun Facts
- Brazil has the biggest Carnaval parade in the world where thousands of samba schools from all over the world compete.
- When the Spanish explorers discovered the river through what is now Brazil in the 1500s, they were attacked by women warriors. The explorers remembered a Greek legend about women warriors called Amazons. The explorers named the river after them.
- The Amazon forest is also known as the “Lung of the Earth.”
- Brazil is the only country in the New World to have been the seat of government for a European country.
- In December 2001, Brazil produced a scented postage stamp to promote its coffee—the smell was intended to last between three and five years.
