Diary of Activities: Spring 2013 21/1/13 - 16/05/13 JANUARY Monday 21 st – UNIVERSITY ORIENTATION: The university orientation was an event to introduce our host university, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), and the International Relations Office, to the newly-arrived USAC students and vice versa. Professor Luiz Carlos Pinheiro Machado Filho, Secretary for International Affairs, and Juliana Kumbartzki Ferreira, responsible for the Science without Borders Program and the principal liaison for USAC in the university, welcomed our students and gave a presentation on UFSC. After the presentation, Juliana walked the students through the Campus to show the main places of interest, including the library, President's office, transport links and places to hang out. Juliana Kumbartzki showing the UFSC Campus UFSC and USAC Staff giving a welcome to the Students Tuesday 22 nd – CITY ORIENTATION: The morning was spent exploring the downtown area of Florianópolis, including the historical center with its market, main square, cathedral and old customs’ house, and some useful and practical places for the students, like banks and stores. USAC staff also arranged for each student to obtain a bus pass. Photo Credit: Kellie Koester Wednesday 23 rd - TOUR OF SANTA CATARINA ISLAND: For this event USAC Staff, students, buddies and guests met at Centro de Cultura e Eventos to discover the island on a day-long bus tour. The aim of the tour was to give a presentation of the magic place that the group were about to live in, the Island of Santa Catarina. We went to many interesting spots on the island, such as: • Morro das Pedras (right) • Campeche Beach • Lagoa da Conceição Downtown Morro das Pedras/Photo Credit: Telli Narcizo • Avenue das Rendeiras, with a picnic on the grass consisting of some typical Brazilian snacks or salgadinhos , from where we could enjoy a lovely view of the lagoon • Joaquina Beach, where we swam and hiked along the rocks adjacent to the beach • The famous Jurerê Internacional Beach (right), where we rounded off the day’s event with another picnic and more fun at the beach. By this time an initially cloudy day had turned into a beautiful sunny one! During the bus ride, some Brazilians talked Jurerê Internacional/Photo Credit: Telli Narcizo about their favorite places on the island, and when passing by a point of interest, they made commentaries about the history and curiosities about that place. FEBRUARY Saturday 2 nd - FIELD TRIP TO LAGUNA For this field trip USAC Staff, guests and students gathered at UFSC to take a bus to Laguna. Laguna is a historic city with beautiful natural scenery. The 3rd oldest city of the state, founded in 1676, it has a historic district with 600 historic buildings. The city is known as the birthplace of Anita Garibaldi, a Brazilian independence fighter and wife of Giuseppe Garibaldi, and for being one of the cities crossed by the “Treaty of Tordesillas” line. In the first part of the day we visited: • The historical center. • Anita Garibaldi’s museum. • Water fountains build by the slaves in the 1800s. In the afternoon we drove up to a religious monument offering stunning views of the city and surrounding area, and finished the trip with a walk along the beach. Water fountain , Laguna Historical Center Saturday 16 th - FIELD TRIP TO PORTO BELO/ BOMBINHAS For this field trip USAC Staff, guests and students gathered at Centro de Cultura e Eventos at 9:00AM and took the bus from Florianópolis to Porto Belo, an hour’s journey north of the island. There they boarded a thematic “Safari” bus with a guide to take them to the main sites of interest in Porto Belo and Bombinhas, known as the most ecological area in the state and famous for its snorkelling. The bus stopped for some views from the top of the surrounding hills, so the students could take pictures and look at the natural reservation surrounding the city. The tour took the group to 4 different beaches, Bombas beach, Bombinhas beach, Cardoso beach and Sepultura beach. The water on this peninsula is extremely clear, because it is naturally cleaned every 10 minutes, making it one of the best places to dive in Brazil. The tour also took the group to some local shrimp farms and to a typical seafood restaurant where everyone had a hearty lunch to end the first part of the trip. In the afternoon the group walked to another beach, and from there boarded a big schooner, where the tour guide showed us around the peninsula. On board ship the group started dancing to some Brazilian hits and fresh fruit was served inside the boat. The schooner ride ended with some snorkeling off Sepultura beach, with great fun among the group. Afterwards we stayed at the beach before returning to Florianópolis before sunset. Snorkeling Safari Bus Saturday 23 rd - EXCURSION TO NAUFRAGADOS “Shipwrecked Beach” has an aura of mystery because of the historical events in this isolated part of the island. The principal incident, which ended up giving name to the area, was the sinking of two sea vessels used by the Portuguese, off the beach in 1753. Following an edict by the Portuguese Court, about 250 Azorean settlers had traveled to Rio Grande do Sul when the accident occurred at the place now called Ponta dos Photo Credit: Melissa Molina Naufragados. Only 77 settlers escaped, some of whom remained on the island and others went to Laguna and Rio Grande do Sul. For this excursion, Renato and John met the students at UFSC campus at 8:00AM. They all headed together to the south of the island, passing through the neighborhoods of Rio Tavares and Ribeirão da Ilha until they got to the beginning of the trail at the extreme south of the island. From there they hiked for 50 minutes until reaching the Beach. On the beach they played cricket, swam and had a typical Brazilian lunch in a very picturesque venue overlooking the sea. Beach sports/Photo Credit: Melissa Molina MARCH Friday 1 st – FUN DAY TO MARK THE END OF THE INTENSIVE PERIOD The team at USAC held this event for the staff, professors and students to commemorate the end of the period of intensive Portuguese courses and the beginning of the upper level ones. The event took place in the events room of the building where Aline’s parents reside, in Ingleses, a beach neighorhood in the north of the island. A large amount of typical Brazilian barbeque food was prepared for the occasion. The “churrasqueiro”, or chef, was Aline’s father while Aline’s mother prepared the side dishes. For drinks lots of “guaraná” soda and juices were served to deal with the very hot weather. Throughout the day the USAC team organized several activities, including a trip to the nearby beach, and many different sports were played, including soccer, ping-pong, tennis, racquetball, rugby and cricket. The event began at lunchtime and lasted until evening. Reflections on the 1 st part of the semester Students enjoying the barbeque Saturday 2 nd - HIKE TO LAGOINHA DO LESTE For this event, Renato met the students at UFSC campus at 10:00AM. From there they took a bus for for the Armação Beach, where there is a small bridge and path across Matadeiro Beach, where the trail to Lagoinha do Leste starts. This is a 3-hour hike for all standards offering beautiful views of the surrounding beaches. The only access to the beach is via the trail, making Lagoinha do Leste a particularly tranquil place that seems far from civilization. Once there it is possible to swim in the lagoon. The lagoon is very shallow and we organized a game of volleyball inside it. The students spent about 2 hours there, and then before the sun went down they headed to the back trail that took them back to the city but this time via Pântano do Sul beach. View from the top/Photo Credit: Kellie Koester Lagoinha do Leste/Photo Credit: Ryan Knight Wednesday 13 th – MEETING WITH THE UFSC VICE-PRESIDENT At this meeting the Resident Director officially introduced USAC as an international program and its first group of students, along with staff and professors, to the UFSC vice-president, Lúcia Pacheco. The meeting took place as part of a week-long seminar on the internationalization of the university, and was hosted by Prof. Luiz Carlos Pinheiro Machado Filho, the head of International Relations at the University. The RD, staff and students met some other UFSC university authorities such as Lauro Mattei, vice-president of Students Affairs (PRAE); Joana Pedro, Vice-President of Undergraduate Studies (PROPG); Rogério Luiz de Souza, vice- president of Graduate Programs (PROGRAD); Jamil Assereuy, vice-president of Research (PROPESQ); and Paulo Berton, Secretary of Culture (SECULT). After the meeting everyone was able to enjoy a Brazilian coffee break and have a personal chat with our hosts. USAC Group & UFSC Staff Saturday 23 rd – HIKE TO POÇÃO For this “urban trail”, Renato met the students at the beginning of the path, with is just one mile away from the University Campus. It is a short hike to reach the Poção, an beautiful waterfall with crystalline water and a nice natural pool to swim in and relax. Poção waterfall/Photo Credit: Jacob Wagner APRIL Saturday 6 th – STAND UP PADDLE-BOARD AT LAGOA For this event, USAC Floripa Staff gathered with the students at one of the most beautiful spots in Florianópolis, Lagoa da Conceição. It was a really sunny day, with just the perfect weather to do water sports. Kika, the surf teacher, met with everyone there to teach us how to do Stand Up.