If we have learned anything from our first week in Barra da Lagoa it is that: “tranquilo ”, which translates to “relax and take it easy”. Brazilian people tend to have a look at things a bit more relaxed than us Dutch people.
We had a first meeting with our supervisor, we met some local students who showed us around and explored the different locations where we will be stationed in the coming weeks. To recover from all these new impressions we decided to have a nice weekend trip.
On Monday we started with a visit to the water laboratory in our town, the place where we are going to work the coming eight weeks. After a tour around the facility and the meet and greet with all the nice Master students and PhD candidates we had our first real meeting. After making a solid schedule we went for lunch with one of the PhD candidates. He has really shown us a glance of the Brazilian mentality which is being helpful at all times and when the work for the day is finished, it is time for some driving around town, surfing and sports. He helped us with purchasing some bikes as well, so now the stereotype about us Dutch people (loving to cycle) is complete once again.
Our first meeting with CB&I, our supervising company, was held on Friday. After a short presentation given by us about our plans, they supplied us with the necessary data for the sedimentary analysis. They also supplied us with some knowledge about recent events in the port of Imbituba, which are really going to help us the coming weeks.
The weekend was reserved for some well-deserved rest and recreation; with a beach less than 100 meters away from our house it was time for some tanning and surfing. We also visited the city centre with Master student Charline. She drove us around the island and invited us to a nice “churrasco” (BBQ). If one thing can be said about Brazilian people it is that they are very hospitable.
The coming week we will be analysing the data given to us by CB&I. We are preparing for a rather tough week of data analysis and bookkeeping. Hopefully our knowledge about statistics has not gone to waste completely.
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