I found Andre Simores’ talk very interesting. He talked about many facets of Brazil and its education system and gave me a good view of the country.

As a professor there, he provided an accurate description of the educational system found in Brazil. Compared to Brazil, American institutions of high education are much better funded and run. A large part of this was that many American Universities are private while most Brazilian counterparts are public.

The political institutions of Brazil are not as well developed as in the US with corruption plaguing many Brazilian politicians. This means that funding for higher education is not a priority for Brazil. Even in public universities in the US, fundraising is a huge priority with donors providing a significant portion of the money. Since Brazil doesn’t have this luxury, their institutions do not remain well funded.

Simores also focused on the economy in his talk. Brazil has a large agriculture industry like the US, but other parts of its economy are not as well developed. Countries like Brazil who are underdeveloped with rich resources really benefit from a well run and transparent government so their resources do not increase corruption and inequality. An example of this is Nigeria, since oil was discovered, the average Nigerian has actually gotten more poor since most of the profits from its natural resources have only gone to a small number of individuals.

For Brazil to have a better higher education system and more developed economy, the government needs to fundamentally change to become more democratic and more accountable.

Two weeks ago Andre Rozemberg Prixoto Simores, an agricultural economist from Brazil, spoke to the Rose Scholars about the beautiful country of Brazil. He focuses on the crops that are grown in the country and the fertility of the soil in order to benefit the fruits that are produced each season. During his lecture, he spoke about the various states within the country of Brazil, the one’s that are popular as well as the one’s that contain more naturistic landscapes that are less inhabited. As expected, Mr. Simores spoke about the love of soccer that is embedded in Brazil’s culture; I can not deny Brazil’s team being one of the best soccer team’s in the world every year. Personally, I try to not cheer for Brazil’s team during the World Cup, which happens every four years, simply because they always make it to the semi-finals. I like rooting for the underdogs.

Brazil is a country filled with so much beauty and history that tourists can really gain many life lessons and experiences by visiting. A part of Brazil that has always touched my heart are the favelas that continue to be a large part of Brazil’s impoverished society. As Mr. Simores explained, though Brazil is rich in agriculture and tourism, an important part of the country is the corrupt government that rules as well as the huge gap between the very rich and the extremely poor. The favelas are made up of houses built practically on top of each other, with children wearing barely any clothes and the families have very limited access to water. Additionally, the Amazon Rainforest, that remains home to many indigenous tribes, contains poverty as well, though tourism in these areas keeps these families alive.

I personally would love to visit Brazil some day. As a child of two Peruvian parents, Bazil is a neighboring country that contains such rich flora and fauna with historical landmarks that it has always been a dream for my family to travel there. More importantly, as a lover of dance, attending Carnival to enjoy the people, the food, and all the festivities is something I plan on crossing off my bucket list some day. It was wonderful having Mr. Simones and his wife here to speak with us. It is also inspiring to know that he is staying at Cornell, gaining knowledge to bring back to his home country so as to make it a better place.

Watching the 2016 Summer Olympics, I was fascinated by the culture and landscape of Rio de Janiero, Brazil. The beautiful coastlines, colorful art, and the tropical climate showed the vibrant and warm atmosphere of Brazil’s people and their surroundings. Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world by area and population and has one of the largest economies in the world. The country’s rich history and breathtaking natural reserves make it the ideal tourist destination and one of the most popular countries in South America. Even though I was aware of the Brazil’s contribution to world tourism, I was more interested in learning about Brazil’s economy and the lifestyle of its citizens. Andre Simores’s talk about Brazil opened my eyes to the modern economy and society in Brazil and how land and climate affect day to day living in the country.

Andre started out by mentioning that the work culture in Brazil is slightly different that in the US. People usually get a two-hour break for lunch during which they go home to have a heavy meal full of rice, beans, and meat, and then return to work. The hot and humid climate in Brazil is not conducive to working outdoors for long periods of time, therefore workers usually take long lunch breaks to cool down before starting work again. Andre works in the agriculture industry mainly with dairy production. His area of expertise deals with dairy supply chains and the diffusion of innovation among dairy farmers and technology. Andre showed us different images of regions across Brazil. The terrain and landscape varied through each of these regions and I was surprised to see how the climate and environment changed from one region to another. While Andre and his family, reside in a hot and humid region, there are wetlands, deserts, and tropical lands scattered all over Brazil. The diversity of Brazil’s land truly makes it one of the most desirable places to visit in the world.

After hearing Andre speak about how the physical geography of Brazil varies vastly within the country, I was interested in learning more about the huge contrast. The fact that Brazil holds both the Amazon Rainforest and Brazilian Highlands is particularly captivating for those exploring the country. After reading about both the rainforest and Highlands, something interesting I found out is that the Amazon River is home to approx. 1/3 of all known animal species and makes up half of the world’s rainforests. Considering this information and taking into account the Highlands, it can be concluded that Brazil’s topography is pretty diverse, making it interesting to study and visit.

In terms of Brazil’s economic geography, Sao Paulo is responsible for about half of the country’s GDP and 2/3 of manufacturing. Something noteworthy about this topic is the fact that Brazil’s sugar cane production (12% of the world total) is used to create gasohol which powers a portion of Brazilian automobiles. Given the fact that Brazil’s key industry is automobile production, we can see that Brazil is vertically integrating its production, which is an interesting strategy.

I really enjoyed last week’s Rose Cafe with Andre Simores from the Mato Grosso do Sul State University in Brazil. During the talk, he touched on a multitude of topics related to his native country, but I particularly enjoyed two of the topics in particular, because I believe they can be related to events in our own country in recent times.

Simores mentioned how in Brazil, there exists fuel made from 100% sugar cane ethanol, and how this supports a vast agricultural industry while also reducing fossil fuel emissions. I mentioned that in the U.S., we also have fuel partially made from ethanol, although in our case, it’s made from corn. I have conflicted feelings about the use of ethanol. On one hand, as Brazil demonstrates, it can be quite effective in cutting down on pollution, but in the United States, it has caused a negative economic impact due to the existence of vast, unsustainable subsidies provided to agribusiness (I wonder if this is also the case in Brazil?). In the end, I think I would support its usage, although I wonder if there’s a way to easily break up agricultural oligopolies in existence.

I also asked Simores about the recent impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff. He claimed that this was the exercise of democracy in a nation which had only recently transitioned from authoritarian rule, but qualified that the policies made by the Workers Party of Rousseff and her predecessor, Lula de Silva, had benefited many by bridging the divide between the poor and the rich. He also seemed to imply an impeachment had been politically motivated. I think this raises interesting questions about President Trump. Would it be fair to remove him from office, or would this be an abuse of our democratic institutions?

Last Wednesday, Andre Simores, a professor at Mato Grosso do Sul State University, came to give a brief talk about his life and experiences in Brazil. He specifically targeted points of interests such as the famed Rio de Janeiro and spoke about the local landscapes and cultures of cities of Brazil that he has visited in the past. Since most of my exposure with Brazil comes from the Olympics, it was eye-opening to listen to different experiences of someone who has been there for most of their life.

The first difference that Professor Simores pointed about between Brazil and Ithaca is certainly the weather. Since Brazil is near the equator it barely gets cold there while we recently had a snow storm that gave us a cozy snow day. But besides the expected weather difference, I was surprised when Professor Simores pointed out a cultural difference. In Brazil, people typically eat a dinner-type of meal (rice, beans, meats, etc.) during lunch time while resorting to breads, milks, and cheeses for dinners. He had said that he did not expect there to be a full course meal for dinner and I thought this was interesting since I would certainly be hungry if I only ate breads and cheeses for dinner.

In addition, beyond listing some small cultural differences, Professor Simores introduced to us a lot of the different landscapes that decorate the land of Brazil. For instance, there’s the Amazon Rainforest, which is a popular for tourists and researchers since there are vast number of species and organisms that inhabit the woods. There’s also the Pantanal, which is the world’s largest tropical wetland area. In fact, this destination has been here for so long that the horses here have evolved to the point where they can navigate through the wetlands easily!

But besides talking about the points of interests in Brazil, Professor Simores also talked about the education system in Brazil. And much like how tutoring is in the United States, people who have the resources to get an early advantage (which, in Brazil, is done through private high schools) are typically the ones to go to better universities. This is certainly a problem that is plaguing Brazil since there’s a definite line between the rich and the poor. Professor Simores attributes this to a lot of government corruption. And while he thinks that it’s going to take some time to fix, Brazil is certainly moving forward and starting to rebuild their economy for a better future.

Two weeks ago, we welcomed Andre Simores to Cornell, a visiting agricultural economist who spoke to us about life in Brazil and the agricultural economy. He had spoken to us about his experience being a professor at Brazil, and the differences between American educational institutions and Brazilian educational institutions. In his opinion, American institutions are much more prosperous than Brazilian institutions. To me, likely reasons for this are that American institutions are largely research facilities, and therefore draw faculty who want to do research. Furthermore, the cost of attendance is 60k+ a year, and therefore the university receives funding to provide the best educational opportunities possible.

I enjoyed the part of the talk when Simores used google maps and google images, with the aid of his girlfriend, to show us the geography of Brazil, and the locations of the cities that he lived in and other populated cities. I was not familiar with the geography of Brazil nor the scenery and agriculture, and enjoyed this casual way of becoming better affiliated with it. Before this talk, I was only really familiar with Rio de Janiro due to the olympics.

Finally, as he is an agriculture economist, Simores also spoke to us about the agricultural economy in Brazil. He stated that Brazil’s agricultural economy was not nearly as well developed as the United States’ in some parts.

Altogether, I really enjoyed the insight Simores had to offer on various topics, and enjoyed his cafe.

Last Wednesday I participated in Rose Cafe with Andre Simores on the topic of Brazil. Simores touched topics range from geography, culture, to governance. It was interesting to me when he mentioned some of the differences between the U.S. and Brazil. In Brazil, although the universities are free, one needs to have good grades to get into those universities; and public high schools are not good enough. In other words, in order to get college education, one needs to have the financial resources to enroll in a private high school. This is very different, as in the U.S., to some extend, one needs to have financial resources to get quality education in both high school and universities. It was also interesting that for Brazilians, the most important meal of the day is lunch, when they will have rice with bean, and steak; whereas here, we have more food options at dinner. In addition, Simores also discussed the political environment in Brazil and it seems like Brazil is on the path to become more democratic country.

To be honest, I did not have much knowledge about Brazil other than key words like rain forests, soccer, Rio de Janeiro, and the Olympic Game. I wonder why my knowledge about the country, which has the fifth largest population, is so limited; meanwhile I know a lot more about developed countries, even those I have never visited. I tried to recall the textbooks I read and I don’t remember learning about Brazil in world history. The only detailed discussion on Brazil I encountered before was in the Global Cities class I took last year here in Cornell, when I had a reading talking about the aftermath of the 2016 Olympics.  I realized that there are only selected countries with significant political and economic impacts being featured in textbooks; and Brazil with the fifth largest population in the world, is not included. Therefore, it is the power dynamics behind the decision to include certain countries into the discussion of world history and to ignore others that results in my limited knowledge. And all I could do now is to make up the missing knowledge through other sources.

I was particularly intrigued with Brazil and its history and culture after watching City of God a few weeks ago during one of Flora’s Friday Films, and it was to my pleasure that Professor Andre Simores, an animal science and economics professor at the Mato Grosso do Sul State University, came to speak at last week’s Rose Cafe about just that.

As an equatorial country, Brazil is known to be hot and humid; however, because the country is so large, there are many varying ecosystems within Brazil. Professor Simores elaborated more about the different climates in these various ecosystems. He spoke about the Cerrado, a tropical savannah region, the Pampas, which are fertile lowlands, the Pantanal, which are wetlands, the Amazonia, the rainforest region, and Caatinga, the drylands.

He also spoke about some interesting cultural differences between Brazil and the U.S. One topic that intrigued me was the Brazilian school system. Brazil has tuition-free public universities, which is amazing to a U.S. private-goer myself. However, the good high schools are private, and you must go to a good high school in order to get into a good college. This is the reverse of the U.S., where many of the high schools are public, but you must pay tuition to go to a private college. It makes me wonder what the pros and repercussions of each system are. Perhaps the American system is set up so we have more room for error–if we fool around when we are younger, this doesn’t stop us from going to a decent college However, it seems like Brazilians have a lot more to lose if they don’t get into a good high school.

It was interesting to hear about cultural differences such as this one at the talk last Wednesday–I am sure there are countless more. I wish Professor Simores the best during his stay here in the U.S., and I hope he enjoys living here on Cornell’s lovely campus.

From the last Rose Cafe, our speaker Andre Simores is a Ph.D. in Applied Economics and a Professor in his home country.  He spent his time allowing us to experience the beauty of Brazil’s landscape and gave us an insight into Brazilian culture.

Brazil is the fifth largest country behind China, the United States, Canada, and Russia. They use Celsius degrees and the metric system. He mentioned that the weather outside that day was about 10 degrees Celsius.  He explained what were appropriate dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. For breakfast, people ate bread and fruit, while drinking milk.  For lunch, they had a dish that included rice, bean paste, meat, and veggies.  For dinner, they ate a sandwich. People usually worked from 8-12, have a two-hour lunch break, and then continued to work from 2-6. The capital is Brazilia. He showed us pictures of other cities in Brazil and gave brief descriptions of the agriculture that make them unique from one another.

Pantanal is known for its breed of horses that can eat grass from the bottom of water which means that they have adapted to wetlands Pampas is a  flat area that has very productive soil. Amazonia has a dense rainforest. Cerrado has small trees. Caatinga is the poorest area in terms of agriculture it seems to represent a desert, water from the rivers are used to grow agriculture there.

Last Wednesday I attended the Rose Café lecture on Brazil with Andre Rozemberg Peixoto Simoes, a doctorate student at Federal University of Vicosa studying modern economy and society. Mr. Simoes’ talk was interesting. I knew Brazil was one of the most populated countries in the world, but I didn’t realize it was the fifth largest country in the world. I was also surprised to learn that Brazil has many diverse environments including a vast wetland known as the Pantanal which is home to some of the world’s most unusual flora and animals. Brazil’s Northeast region is one of the poorest regions in the country. I was surprised to learn that this area also has a lot of dry land and boasts some of the most beautiful beaches and resort areas including the Praia da Barra da Tijuca near Rio de Janeiro. This helps the economy because it boosts tourism, but the area is still home to many of Brazil’s poorest residents. This is just one example of the wide gap between Brazil’s rich and poor that has plagued Brazil in the last decade. It was interesting to learn that one of the reasons for this gap is because Brazil has only been a democracy since 1985. Since democracy took hold in Brazil, its government has had two impeachments which have led to corruption and economic hardship. Mr. Simoes’ research focuses on another economic problem, the fluctuating price of milk. It was interesting to learn that the price of milk is not controlled by Brazil’s government as it is in the United States. Instead, if too much milk is produced, the price drops dramatically and farmers starve. Mr. Simoes suggested that in order to boost the economy, the government should make it easier for more people to get an education. I did not realize that a college education in Brazil is actually free, but only wealthy students can afford to take the necessary classes and tests to gain admission. Overall, I found the lecture very interesting because I have never travelled to Brazil so it was exciting to see pictures of the beautiful country and learn so much about it. My favorite pictures were of the Amazon Rainforest. One day, I would like to see it in person and see if the pictures do it justice.

This past Wednesday I attended the Rose Cafe and heard Andre Simores discuss Brazil’s culture and natural landscape. I have never traveled outside of the US or Canada, so I found this to be very interesting. Hearing Andre discuss his country was very intriguing. He pulled up pictures to show us what the different areas of Brazil looked like. These pictures varied from dense rain forests to desert like regions. I had no idea that Brazil had an environment with such a high amount of variation. It was also interesting to hear about the school systems and how the public colleges are the most prestigious. This is the opposite of what is true in the US. Andre explained that those who make it into the public universities mostly come from private schools. So even though University is free, it is mostly the wealthy that go to the public universities. This was an interesting concept to me. This limits higher education to only those that can afford a private school tuition.

Overall, I found this talk to be very interesting. It was nice to learn about another culture and their perspectives on certain things such as education.

Last weeks rose cafe included a discussion about some of the sites and interesting facts of Brazil. House guest Andre Simores was an interesting hour where he discussed many simple facts about brazil ranging from education standards to places to visit. I personally don’t know much about Brazil. As a Bolivian woman, I go to South America quite often to visit family and friends. While I have accustomed myself with most of South America, Brazil still seems like a foreign land to me. I have never been to Brazil and the presence of Portuguese seems a daunting barrier. I have heard about the highs and lows of Brazil, from the amazing tourist opportunities such as the beaches, landmarks, and cities, but also the lows such as high rates of poverty and crime. We had also discussed the difference in education between Brazil and the United States. Simores discussed that the two countries were similar in types of higher education, and that public universities in Brazil were some of the best universities offered. But difference arose in primary and secondary school, where the public system was viewed as lacking. If families could afford it, they would try by any means to send their children to a private school. Going to a private school for primary and secondary school was one of the best ways to ensure a child would be able to attend a good university. These are very interesting disparities between the two countries Brazil is an interesting place I would definitely want to visit and hopefully will be able to at some point in time.

I went to a Rose Cafe last Wednesday where we learned more about Brazil. The speaker spoke about the diverse climate in Brazil, from beaches to wetlands. This really surprised me because I thought that the majority of Brazil was rainforest. The speaker also talked about how the president recently got impeached, and that when I realized that I really did not know much about Brazil. It’s one of the biggest countries in the world, so it was a bit startling to realize how little I knew about it. I remember very briefly going over South America in 9th grade, but we spent 2 weeks talking about the entire continent. And now in college, as a science major, there really wasn’t any reason to take a class about South America or Brazil. It can be hard to teach students everything about the world, and the education system has to pick which pieces of information to cut. I really enjoyed going to this talk because I learned a little bit more about life in Brazil. I appreciate these Rose Cafes because I get to learn some things about the world that I wouldn’t have know otherwise.

This past Wednesday, Andre Rozemberg Prixoto Simores, a professor at Mato Grosso do Sul State University, spoke to us students about his native country of Brazil. Simores touched on his nation’s culture, agricultural practices, geographical regions, and socioeconomic situation. In this amalgam of topics, I found Brazil’s obsession with soccer, or, football as it is called there, to be the most interesting. Simores explained to us that football is a HUGE deal in Brazil. I actually knew this beforehand, as I have read that soccer game days are considered national holidays there, whilst sometimes the deceased get a soccer team flag draped over their coffins.

I can’t speak to why Brazil cares so much more about football than America does. But I can understand why football is so important to Brazil as a country. Simores mentioned that that the gap between rich and poor in Brazil is of great magnitude. In addition to socioeconomic disparities, Brazil contains geographically dissimilar regions. It comprises rainforests, wetlands, savannahs, and plains, and intersperses booming cities with sparse rural areas. Therefore, overall, Brazil contains a variety of diverse peoples having different geographic and socioeconomic experiences. Football is the shared experience that strings together this population of disparate folks. It is how national unity is achieved.

Therefore, football is more than just a sport in Brazil. It is the common language, breaking through geographical and social class boundaries. What fills this role in America? Sports? Politics? This is an important question to ponder if we want to improve cohesiveness and unity across the US.

Last Wednesday, I attended the Rose Cafe where Andre Simores spoke about his home country, Brazil. I learned a lot of things about Brazil that I had not known before, including Brazil is the 5th largest country, and there are a variety of ecosystems, from the rainforest near the Amazon River to rural and agricultural areas of Minas Gerais. Simores and his wife also discussed the differences in schooling between Brazil and the US. In Brazil, those who can afford it send their children to private high schools in order to ensure they will get a full ride to a public college, while in the United States, usually those who attend private high schools attend private colleges.

The most important difference that I observed was the cultural differences that occurred even just within the talk itself. Simores was obviously still in the process of learning English and giving a talk in front of a room full of native English speakers was probably no easy task. I took French in high school for 4 years and barely felt comfortable presenting in front of my class during this time, so I would not have been surprised if Simores was a bit nervous by the presentation. It was easy to see some of the cultural differences, even in the way Simores spoke and presented his information, and even working through the presentation doing Google searches. It really emphasized the differences between American and Brazilian culture, as using a laptop and doing Google searches is second nature for almost all Americans, and really got me thinking and considering the living circumstances of other places. In addition, the language differences were evident as certain English phrases were different from Portuguese phrases, even if they have the same meaning. It is very easy at Cornell to get wrapped up in schoolwork, social life and extracurricular activities and forget about other cultures, but I think this talk reminded me to consider others more, and was a learning experience for both sides.

Today Andre spoke about Brazil. He reminded us that Brazil is huge! It is the fifth largest country in the world. It has almost every kind of climate, from dry grass lands to tropical wetlands. He showed us pictures of the most beautiful places in Brazil. To be honest, this google image search went on a little too long for my taste. Luckily, he dove into deeper topics as the talk went on. Andre assured us that the new president is bringing about positive changes. Previously, the politics of Brazil were extremely corrupt. It still exists, but the people are starting to fight against the corruption. Corruption is one of the biggest problems in Brazil, and it weakens all of its institutions.  Andre went on to discuss the history of democracy in Brazil, and the  cycles of change that occurred to create the current government.

This talk was informative, but I was disappointed about the style of the talk. While I learned things about Brazil that I didn’t know before, I realize I could have easily acquired this information from a wikipedia page. I wish Andre spoke more about his personal experience, or about his area of expertise which is dairy supply. I appreciate the effort Andre put into teaching us about Brazil. However, I hope the next Rose café will teach me more than I can learn from a quick google search.