TRAVEL REPORT – Master's Exchange
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TRAVEL REPORT – Master’s Exchange Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil Fundação Getúlio Vargas Escola Brasileira de Administração Pública e de Empresas (FGV EBAPE) Fall 2016 361325 Contents 1. Preparing for the exchange ..........................................................................................................................3 2. Exchange studies ...........................................................................................................................................5 2.1. Advanced Strategic Management ...........................................................................................................6 2.2. Transparency, Accountability and Good Governance in Brazil ..........................................................7 2.3. Micro Finance .............................................................................................................................................7 2.4. Banking and Financial Intermediation ....................................................................................................7 2.5. Strategy, Government and Society .........................................................................................................8 3. Living and free time in Rio and Brazil .........................................................................................................8 3.1. Free time .....................................................................................................................................................9 3.2. Accommodation ...................................................................................................................................... 10 3.3. Cost of living and money ....................................................................................................................... 10 3.4. Rio de Janeiro as a city .......................................................................................................................... 11 3.4.1. Safety .................................................................................................................................................... 12 3.5. Traveling ................................................................................................................................................... 13 4. Final comments ........................................................................................................................................... 14 1. Preparing for the exchange Pre-arrival After being nominated by Aalto, I was contacted from FGV EBAPE in the end of April 2016. The email gave good instructions what was needed to be accepted to FGV as an exchange student. I had to send a copy of my passport immediately to begin the process. The email also included a list of the documents needed to send there and when they needed to be sent. With the Requerimento document the International Office at FGV pre-enrolled me to the courses I wished to take. The courses could be modified later. After receiving the acceptance letter from FGV (I received it 11.5.), it is possible to start the visa application process. The guidelines for the process can be found in http://helsinque.itamaraty.gov.br/fi/-_opiskelijaviisumi.xml. The application must be done online, but in the end, the required documents must be taken to the Brazilian Embassy in Kaivopuisto, Helsinki. If any problems with the process arise, it’s possible call the embassy. The process should be started preferably immediately after receiving the confirmation letter, because failing to send a copy of the student visa 15 days before the lectures start will result in rejection as an exchange student! The process starts the moment the documents are delivered to the embassy and the fee is paid as instructed. The processing time is approximately ten days. The embassy will inform when the visa is ready, so a phone call is recommended. I didn’t have any problems with the process. Note that flights must be bought before applying for the visa. Other preparing included getting the required vaccines (Hepatitis A and B, yellow fever, lavantauti). These should also be taken well in advance if one wishes to get them from YTHS or the public sector. After all this, I was set to go to Rio. I reserved a hotel room for one day and I extended my stay there by one more day. Note that the required arrival date is set by FGV. The process to begin my studies went fluently and the International Office at FGV and the Brazilian Embassy proved to be very helpful. Remember to take all your forms with you to Brazil! Language The exchange catalogue says “Basic Portuguese skills recommended”. This is probably because English is not as widely spoken in Brazil than in Europe. You can go to exchange in Rio without Portuguese skills but many every day and official tasks are much easier in Portuguese. Also, most information available on the Internet is in Portuguese. My recommendation is to take a basic course in Portuguese either before or in the beginning of the exchange. FGV offers a survival Portuguese course which I didn’t take. The Brazilian Embassy in Helsinki also gives courses on Portuguese, which I’ve heard are quite useful. It’s also possible to pay for a private teacher in Rio (it’s not as expensive as in Finland). I had taken four courses of Spanish at Aalto and I studied Portuguese words with Duolingo app before departure, and I felt that this was good enough to survive. However, I recommend studying as much Portuguese as possible beforehand to make your life much easier in Rio. Post-arrival It is necessary to keep the entry card provided in the airplane, which is stamped at passport control. Getting from Galeão airport to Zona Sul or other parts of the city should be done by a taxi when entering the city first time. Don’t take a taxi from the people selling them at the arrivals hall; my recommendation is to walk straight ahead from the doors to domestic arrivals and take a yellow taxi from there. Preparing to state your address etc. in Portuguese is recommended. The normal fare is around R$70-80 I began my stay with apartment hunting and I settled in the first apartment I visited (see section 3.2). It’s not smart to go wandering around alone but some good and safe things to do alone are to see the beaches or to visit Pão de Acucar for example. My school started with a mandatory orientation day two days after my arrival on a Friday and the lectures started on next Monday. Police registration Foreigners have to register as in Brazil at latest 30 days from arrival. The process is uncomfortably complicated, but the International Office at FGV gives good instructions on the Welcome Pack. Unfortunately, this is not available at FGV EBAPE website anymore. Shortly, two receipts from the Policia Federal website www.pf.gov.br/servicos-pf/estrangeiro/ must first be printed out to pay for the process. After that, the receipts must be paid at a branch of Banco do Brasil, totaling some sum over R$300. After that, an appointment has to be made at the Policia Federal at the Galeão international airport (that’s the only place to register) and then it’s needed just to show up there at that date. Copies of all the pages of your passport, your passport, your visa application form and two passport photos are required at least. Going to the airport (terminal 1) as soon as possible is recommended, as the process will take usually 3-4 hours (waiting mostly). The process is confusing, but it will work out in the end. Check the current requirements as they can be changed. CPF Getting a CPF, a sort of a personal tax number, should be considered because it is needed to do transactions online, to get a phone contract and to many other uses. I recommend getting this, as it is relatively simple to get and useful. First, go to a branch of Correios (post) or Banco do Brasil and ask to pay for a CPF. The fee was R$7. After that, the receipt and original passport must be brought to a branch of Ministerio da Fazenda. Note that they are not issuing CPFs during all working hours and some waiting time is expected. Also, do not assume that in both of these processes the civil servants will speak English, as they will most likely not. It is smart to prepare to present one’s business in Portuguese or to use the help of one’s buddy. 2. Exchange studies The above picture includes all the preliminary contents for the International Program in Business (IPB) in the year 2017. In fall 2016, the European fall semester started at July 25th because of the Olympic Games, during which there were no classes. Usually, the fall semester starts a few weeks later and goes on until mid-December and the spring semester goes from February to July (the summer holidays are in January). Note that there are a lot of national holidays in Brazil, which reduces the regularity of lecturing. The studies start with a mandatory orientation day right before the classes start. The students are assigned local buddies upon the students’ arrival to Rio (or even after) so if early assistance is needed, the “buddy coordinator” should be contacted in advance. One buddy has usually one or two exchange students so the buddy should have time for you to get to know Rio. The international office in FGV EBAPE is active and can take care of your concerns (I highly recommend contacting Leonardo if there’s any problems). Course enrollment was done by the international office for the first trimester and for the second one students had to enroll themselves. The enrollment opened one week