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Brazil

1. ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Ideally, you should obtain a student visa from the Brazilian Consulate:

Brazilian Consulate
32 Green Street, London, W1K 7AT
Tel (0207) 399 9000
Fax (0207) 399 9100.
web site: http://www.brazil.org.uk

This visa is valid for 1 year maximum. When applying you should include a letter from this Department stating that you are a bona fide student. You should also obtain a letter of acceptance from a Brazilian university. This visa will require you to register with the Federal Police in Brazil.

Because of these bureaucratic complications, some students prefer to enter Brazil on a tourist visa (issued automatically on entry at passport control). Tourist visas only give you 90 days, but are generally renewable once. If you opt for this solution, you may still attend a Brazilian university on an informal basis.

2. TRAVEL HINTS

As a general rule, it is worth remembering that domestic air fares are high in Brazil, unless you are travelling on an Air Pass, which has to be issued outside Brazil. Air Passes are extremely good value, but limited in time. For details of Air Passes, either contact your travel agent, or Varig Brazilian Airlines, Tel: 0845 603 7601 Fax: 0207 478 2195.

Bus travel, on the other hand, is cheap and of a high standard of comfort, especially on the international or inter-state routes. Leitos are sleeper buses, and cost twice as much as conventional coaches with reclining seats. There are direct coach services to Rio, São Paulo and other Southern cities from Buenos Aires, Asunción, Montevideo and Santiago. There are also buses to Rio, São Paulo and other cities from Corumbá, on the border with Bolivia.

3. STOPOVERS OR INITIAL ACCOMMODATION IN RIO

Whether you are planning to stay in Rio, or merely intend to pass through, you should choose your accommodation with care, and read either the South American Handbook or the Rough Guide to Brazil for advice. You should avoid the Northern part of the city (Zona Norte). There is a wide variety of hotels in the Southern beach area (Zona Sul), which includes Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon. There are plenty of cheaper hotels in the Glória, Catete and Flamengo areas, which are slightly more central. For example, the Hotel Turístico, near Glória metro station, is a favourite with budget travellers, both clean and safe. Avoid accommodation in the centre of town.

4. UNIVERSITY COURSES

The Department has established contact with the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina at Florianópolis, in the South of Brazil, which is willing to allow our students to use its facilities provided that you enrol for a language course at its on-campus language school. Florianópolis is one of Brazil's smaller state capitals. It is situated on an island connected to the mainland by a bridge, and is renowned for its fine beaches. If you wish to go to Florianópolis, you should see Dr Gilmour.

If you wish to go elsewhere in Brazil, you should remember that Brazilian universities do not generally provide special courses for foreigners, nor are they equipped to enrol visiting or temporary students formally. This said, some students in recent years have attended lectures at the Catholic University in Rio.

Address for enquiries:

Professora Rosa Marina de Brito Meyer
Coordenadora Central de Intercâmbio Internacional
PUC-RJ
Rua Marquês de S. Vicente 225, Ala Kennedy, Sala 119K
22453 Rio de Janeiro RJ
Brazil

(Dr. Leu has up-to-date telephone and email details)

Those not intending to go to Rio might consider Salvador, Recife, Brasília, Porto Alegre or Belém.

5. LANGUAGE SCHOOLS

Some students have commented favourably on Portuguese language courses offered by IBEU (Instituto Brasil Estados Unidos), branches of which exist in most main cities.

Students considering Salvador might contact the following schools which have courses in Portuguese for foreigners:

Diálogo
Ladeira da Barra, 3402,
40130 Salvador BA,
Brazil

Casa do Brasil
Rua Milton de Oliveira,
231, Barra,
40.140-100 Salvador BA,
Brazil.
Tel/Fax: 00 55 71 245 5866

Casa do Brasil has the reputation among students of being better value than Diálogo.

6. EMPLOYMENT

Formal employment in Brazil is generally not worth considering, as a work permit is required, normally applied for by the employer. You might find some work teaching English privately, but under no circumstances should you put advertisements in newspapers. A useful organisation to contact might be the semi-private, semi-British Council backed Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Inglesa, where you could meet Brazilians studying English and locally based English teachers. The educational centre of the SBCI in Rio is at Rua Eduardo Guinlé 57, Botafogo. The SBCI in São Paulo is at Avenida Higienópolis 449.

7. VOLUNTARY WORK

The Department has been contacted by an organisation who is seeking volunteers in Brazil. It is part of a project organised jointly by Eton College, Hagerston High School in East London, and this Department, the latter mainly because of the involvement of a recent graduate, Henry Franklin. The aim of the organisation is to teach children from very disadvantaged backgrounds. The children have access to classes in varied subjects¾for example, life-saving skills and capoeira, a Brazilian martial art/dance form. They have asked Bristol to provide a TEFL-qualified student to offer English classes. If you are interested in collaborating with this project, take one of the information sheets and contact the organisation directly. We have the guarantee that Henry Franklin is involved, and he is very well known to us. However, you should be aware that the project is cited in a very poor inner-city area of Salvador, where again you would have to exercise great care, and be very attentive to local advice on safety.

8. MONEY

You should bear in mind that the pegging of the Brazilian “Real” to the US Dollar has made Brazil quite an expensive country to visit, although this might all be about to change after the Argentinian crisis. You should therefore assume that you will be paying the same prices as in this country. You should carry dollar travel cheques and/or have money transferred from your bank in England to a Brazilian bank. The major credit cards are widely accepted in Brazil.

9. HEALTH AND INSURANCE

Please make sure you have read attentively and taken on board the advice regarding Health and Insurance given in the main Year Abroad handout.

If by ill luck you are robbed, credit cards and travellers' cheques are replaceable so long as you have obeyed instructions about keeping track of numbers, notifying theft of credit cards, and so on. You should always carry some money in cash, but not large sums. You should insure yourself against loss or theft of luggage, and you should not take with you any cameras, jewellery, etc. which you would really mind losing. Nine months' insurance will probably cost £250+. If you are taking out a student loan, the health insurance part of your premium should be recognised by the LEA as a necessary expense.

If you have any serious difficulties during your stay in Brazil, please telephone the Department and your home and leave clear messages about what has happened AND WHERE YOU CAN BE CONTACTED. Such incidents are extremely rare.

10. KEEPING IN TOUCH

Please contact both your home and the Department as soon as you have an address. Try to give the Department and your family a phone number where you can be contacted. E-mail is very good for contacting your personal tutor (there is a complete list of e-mail addresses in the general leaflet on the year abroad). If sending part of your dissertation as an attachment to your e-mail message, make sure it can be read by a person using Word for Windows 6, which is the standard program used throughout the University.