First impressions of Curitiba

Curitiba is in the state of Parana, which is in the South of Brazil. Before coming to Brazil, I had no idea that so many differences existed between the northern and southern regions of this country. Having only visited Sao Paulo, Rio, and Salvador on my first couple of trips here, I'd only heard things about the South. People usually say that it's more "European," both in lifestyle and the general look of the population. People also said that southerners aren't as friendly as other regions in Brazil, or as what we Americans may think of as the stereotypical Brazilian. My google search of Curitiba before coming here (I didn't know anything about this city), didn't provide much...there were many websites praising Curitiba's model transportation system and general city planning. So, three things I knew about Curitiba: European, organized, not so friendly...

I got to Curitiba on a Thursday morning and was greeted by the lovely Andressa, my supervisor at the university. I walked out of the airport into a crisp, sunny, beautiful day. Though Curitiba is usually very rainy and it will soon get cold, the weather so far has been amazing! 70s during the day and 50s at night, mostly sunny. Back to the story though...the first day is kind of a blur at this point! From the airport I went straight to the university, where I met several of the professors that I'm now working with. We went out to lunch, went to the mall, talked, ate, and for a while just killed time (my soon to be roommate was not getting home until 7pm that night). At around 4pm Andressa invited me to her house to wait until I could go to my new apartment. And here is where I saw the first clue that southerners, though maybe different from other Brazilians, are still friendly in a way that I consider culturally Brazilian. After feeding me some of Brazil's typical food like pao de queijo (which literally means "cheese bread," but this name doesn't do it justice) and other salgadinhos (salty snacks), she politely insisted that I take a nap since I must be tired from traveling...now, go with me on this. If I were in a stranger's home in the U.S. having to kill time, I feel like the most probable thing we'd do is eat, drink, maybe watch t.v., and have awkward small talk. Instead, she insisted that I do what the bags under my eyes were telling her that I most wanted to do...sleep. Brazilians have a knack for treating strangers like old friends and this, though maybe expressed in different ways throughout the country, is what I see as distinctly friendly about the people I've met in this country. As all I've really done here this first month is meet new people, I've had several experiences like this. People you've just met joke around with you like you've known each other for years, they offer to do things for you that only your best friends back home would do, and seem genuinely interested rather than polite in conversation.

After my wonderful nap in a stranger's home, it was time to see my new apartment and meet my new roommate. Now, you may be thinking, "she got an apartment without seeing it and without meeting the person she'd be living with?" And the answer is, yes. Amongst pre-departure jitters, all I thought of was trying to get things ready for my arrival in Brazil to make the transition as smooth as possible. Only right before meeting my roommate did the "what if she's crazy?" thought cross my mind. Thankfully, luck was on my side when I made living arrangements. My roommate is AWESOME and I really enjoy spending time with her. Not only that, but she's like a built-in friend! I've met so many people and done so many things thanks to her. She made my transition period here easier than I could have imagined.

Now, about the other things I knew about Curitiba before arriving...yes, it's pretty European, I guess you could say very European as compared to some other Brazilian cities. The largest immigrant populations here (I think) are Portuguese, Italian, German, Polish, Ukrainian, and Japanese, among many others.

Also, it does have a pretty great and very manageable transportation system. There is a lane specifically for buses in the middle of the two regular traffic lanes. Also, you wait for the bus in a "tube" and pay when you enter the tube. All in all, very efficient. And great for the foreigner with no car.

Now, something I didn't know about this beautiful city...it's known as Brazil's ecological capital. It's been placed on lists of the world's greenest cities. It has close to 30 parks. People here seem to genuinely take care of their city. They separate trash as a rule, there's not much garbage on the street, they take advantage of the beautiful parks around them. This picture tells a great story about the typical Curitibano:

At this crowded event, everyone was careful to step anywhere but these patches of growing grass...