Holidays in Brazil

          I recently had the pleasure of attending the IEP Game Day social.  At this event, the IEP students and some of the conversation partners played many different American board games, including Jenga, Connect Four, and Monopoly.  There were also some food and drinks from various cultures, including Saudi Arabian tea, Brazilian coffee, and pumpkin cookies.  Everyone who attended this event socialized with people from all different cultures, and we had a great time getting to know more about one another.

            Tatiana said she did not play many board games growing up, and she wanted me to teach her how to play some of the different games.  One of her favorites was Jenga, and she proved to be quite good at it.  After playing games for a little while, Tatiana and I sat down and caught up, since we had not seen each other in a little while.

            Recently, Tatiana moved to Fort Worth.  She used to make a four-hour commute to school everyday, and said she is happy that she is now within walking distance of the campus.  Fort Worth is much different from the town Tatiana used to live in, and after visiting the stockyards she decided that it is more “Texan” than she expected it to be.  We agreed that we should go exploring the city of Fort Worth together more, and I told her how I wanted to introduce her to many of the amazing Tex-Mex restaurants, as she hasn’t experienced any yet.

              Tatiana and I also discussed the differences in holidays between Brazilian and American cultures.  In Brazil, Tatiana said they don’t celebrate Halloween, which I was surprised to find out since it is such a well-known holiday in American culture.  Brazilians value the holiday season, but apparently it is during the peak of their summer, so the festivities differ greatly from typical American celebrations.  Brazilians are unable to ice-skate, go sledding, or drink hot chocolate during the holiday season.  Being from Chicago, I have a hard time imagining celebrating a Christmas with no snow.  Tatiana said that they still decorate Christmas trees though, and fireworks are one of the main ways Brazilians celebrate the holidays.

            The most popular and important holiday for Brazilians is called Carnival.  This holiday takes place during the week before Ash Wednesday, and both schools and work are put on hold for this celebration.  People celebrate with multiple parades and firework shows, and everyone dresses up in colorful costumes.  Tatiana said that music is also important to the Brazilian culture, and this holiday features many different concerts and live music.  Tatiana raved about Carnival, and told me that I have to experience it at some point in my life.  I hope to be able to see the festivities first-hand at some point in the near future.

            My conversation partner was also excited about the fact that the IEP recently gained a few new students from all different countries.  She said that she felt so fortunate to be able to go to a school and not only receive an excellent education, but learn more about different cultures and make lifelong friends from all over the world.  Apparently, many of Tatiana’s friends went to college outside of Brazil.  I was surprised by this fact, as I don’t have a single friend who went abroad for college.  While there are programs in place where students can study abroad for a semester or a few weeks during the summer, I believe that these students aren’t as fully immersed into the foreign country’s culture as the IEP students are.  It takes so much courage to leave one’s home country and attend school where you don’t know a soul and are unable to fluently communicate with many of the students.  I do not think I would be brave enough to do such a thing, and I greatly respect all the IEP students for doing so.  Not only do they receive an excellent education and learn a new language, they are also exposed to so many new cultures and learn more about the world as a whole.  I am constantly impressed with the TCU IEP program and feel fortunate to have been introduced to the amazing students in the program.