University

University of Brasilia is the areas public university. The public university system is very competitive, as these are considered the best universities. An added bonus for student is that the public universitites are free of charge, where the private ones can be expensive. Students must pass the Vestibular exam, in a way similar to our SAT or ACT, but much more high stake.  This exam alone determines if a student will be accepted into the university system. The exam has a foreign language,either English or Spanish.  Students take this test very seriously.

The private high schools are considered better than the public high schools, so much of the public universities population traditionally comes from the private high schools.

While sitting in a class on Applied Linguistics, in Portuguese,  I gained a better understanding for my students who are new to the US and are in the process of learning English.  Isabel would translate some things and I could catch onto some main ideas, but overall there were conversations and presentations in the classroom that I had no clue about.  It was very interesting though, as I did meet other teachers who teach English as a foreign language.

 

Most students attend the university that is closest to their family and high school.  It is not very common for students to attend universities in other cities or states.  At the university there were only two dormitories, and there is no Greek life, or university sports teams.  Unlike the US universities, students were not displaying clothing from the university.  I did get to see the common eating area that is at a reduced cost for students, and each major/school has a small room as a common area for students to relax or study.  There is not one large student union.

School logo

Library

These are the steps leading into the library.  Thought this looked very clever!

One of the dorms (there is construction being done)

The campus has one large building with the general classes, then smaller buildings for specific majors.  This is the larger building. The building has an open area in the middle, but the sides where the classrooms are located have a roof.  There is lots of greenery and shrubs in the middle lower area.  The building is 2 levels, plus a basement.

Snack and coffee shops in the main building. (Yes this is where you can get some coffee to go!  But there is only one size of coffee!)

In the basement there is a great vegetarian restaurant!  (Have not seen many of them on this trip!) This is soy with cassava (a native root plant used in many Brazilian meals), brown rice, beans and veggies.  They also have a banana pie, that was incredible - whole banana, whole wheat, brown sugar and some cinnamon.  I want to try and find the recipe.

The window of specific colleges student approach if they need something.  Professors do have offices as well.