Privacy Policy • © 2002-2011 WGBH Educational Foundation Independent journalism at the University of Twente a German Bachelor’s student of Communication Science Currently I am living my personal dream of being able to live in Brazil I’ve decided to study and work in a research project (related to urban planning) in the beautiful Brazilian city of Curitiba I will keep you updated about my experiences in this place 10.000 kilometers from home this city with about two million inhabitants in the south of Brazil which is very different (and sounds way more beautiful in my opinion) to the one spoken in Portugal Curitiba is the capital of the state called Paraná I was already very interested in the Brazilian south even before the opportunity came up to study here for a semester That has many reasons: I don’t know how it came but since elementary school I was really interested in topics like immigration and different cultures from all over the world I began trying to connect different immigration flows to the historical context and tried to understand why people immigrated and left their country Especially the south of Brazil is known for the huge diversity of its people’s decedents That is why I already came across this specific region several Europeans left their home-countries mainly because they were about to lose their jobs (mostly in agriculture) because of industrialization Many farmers and people from the working class left their homes towards Brazil These first European settlers were mostly Italian Also Japanese and Korean people were taking the long way towards Brazil at that time With the beginning of the 1920s and the end of WW1 the breakdown of the Osman Empire a lot of Arabs had no perspective in the newly formed countries they also immigrated in big numbers to the state of Paraná and its capital Curitiba This weird mix of people and decedents has created a truly unique mix of Curitibanos (inhabitants of Curitiba) in which everyone can be considered as a Brazilian That also goes for the blonde Swedish exchange student 'While writing this I’m wearing a warm sweater and two blankets' But not only the people of Curitiba seem so exciting for me also the local environment and surrounding nature look highly interesting where everybody is half-naked all day and dances on the beach’ Not only that the city is not located at the sea it’s also situated 900 meters above sea level In the combination with its latitude being 25 degrees south (almost the same latitude as South Africa) The apartment where I live doesn’t have heating so while writing this I’m wearing a warm sweater and two blankets even now during the wintertime it can get quite warm during the day the winters are way drier than the summers and I already experienced some beautiful and sunny days over here This unique and prosperous city is going to be my home for the next four months In the next blog I will tell you more about with who I am here what I am doing all day long besides writing this blog for you and of course my experiences here I guess most of you can enjoy the warm European summer At a special 'Meet the faculty board' meeting of the ITC faculty on internationalisation President of the Executive Board Vinod Subramaniam was a guest unyielding and nuanced answers to questions from students and staff ‘The upcoming legislation is like shooting at a moving target.’ Bij een speciale ‘Meet the faculty board’-bijeenkomst van de faculteit ITC over internationalisering was collegevoorzitter Vinod Subramaniam te gast onverzettelijk als genuanceerd antwoord op vragen van studenten en medewerkers ‘De aankomende wetgeving is als schieten op een bewegend doelwit.’ The internationalization debate and language policy the recent election results and the UT’s financial issues These developments feel like a ‘perfect storm’ for Young Academy Twente members Caroline Fischer and Canan Acar ‘People are angry at the system and are looking for scapegoats.’ de recente verkiezingsuitslag én de financiële problemen van de UT Die ontwikkelingen voelen voor Jonge Akademie Twente-leden Caroline Fischer en Canan Acar als een 'perfecte storm' 'Mensen zijn boos op het systeem en zoeken zondebokken.' The push in Dutch politics to restrict the internationalisation movement in The Netherlands causes foreign students and staff members to feel less welcome at Dutch universities This is evident from the indicative results of a survey conducted by six university news media De tendens in de Nederlandse politiek om de internationaliseringsbeweging in Nederland aan banden te leggen maakt dat buitenlandse studenten en medewerkers zich minder welkom voelen aan Nederlandse universiteiten Dit blijkt uit de indicatieve resultaten van een enquête uitgevoerd door zes universitaire nieuwsmedia Veel internationale studenten hebben weleens last van mentale problemen De helft wil meer contact met Nederlandse studenten en één op de vier voelt zich hier niet thuis Many international students experience mental health issues from time to time Half of them would like more contact with Dutch students and one in four does not feel at home here With the magazine ROOTS we want to connect students and companies We do this by bringing stories of starters on the labor market They talk about living and working in the region companies come into the spotlight of students and students get an idea of the life that awaits them and what opportunities there are in the region this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read But where the growth here has been a mix of massive sprawl and poorly regulated infill housing with an absurd failure to manage transport needs They planted millions of trees and built 16 public parks and 14 forests inside the urban city limits keeping the water away from buildings and overfull drains The city now has 50 square metres of green space per person Curitiba developed the world’s first bus rapid transit system Private vehicles have a single lane on each side while the buses run both ways down the middle and do not have to stop for cross traffic the stations have had a “futuristic” glass tube design to make them eye-catching and engage the public imagination Curitibanos use bus transit for 70 per cent of their daily trips carbon emissions are far lower and construction costs were a small fraction of the costs of tunnelled or elevated light rail The centre of the city has many pedestrian-only streets and there’s a big network of cycleways too The greenery and the transit and pedestrianisation are all part of the same thing When a city devotes most of its public space to cars it struggles to find room for trees and parks which gives it more space but also increases the demand for cars there’s more room on the public land we currently give to roads: for trees all the practical benefits and pleasures of a green city when most other cities in South America stuffed themselves full of cars Suburban sprawl would have undermined the whole idea Curitiba was planned in the 1970s by the architect Jaime Lerner who then became mayor with the authority to make his ideas work Lerner was first appointed to office when a fascist junta ruled Brazil he was re-elected with an overwhelming majority once democracy was restored in the 1980s founder the climate action movement 350.org The resigned weariness of Westerners about government which leaves only fanatics and hustlers running for office Design for Living appears weekly in Canvas magazine The average cost of a wedding has increased over recent years.