Goiânia, my hometown by Walter (U3)

My favourite place is my hometown, Goiânia. It's the capital and the largest city in the Brazilian state of Goiás, with a population of 1,250 million people in the city and 2,063 in its metropolitan area.



I like Goiânia, among other reasons, for it was planned to be a garden-city, privileging vegetation. It's considered the woodiest city (approximately 30%) of Brazil and the second of the world (the first is Edmonton, Canada). It is placed in the "Cerrado" landscape, vegetal space characterized by extensive savanna formations crossed by gallery forests and stream valleys. The Cerrado includes various types of vegetation: purple, yellow and pink "ipês" and flowered "flamboyants" are the most beautiful trees in my hometown. There are many urban parks within urban space, besides buildings and shopping malls, like Vaca Brava, Zoológico, Areião e Buritis, where people can enjoy the green landscape, walking and running around and going there with family and friends. The climate is semi humid tropical with an average temperature of 22°C. There's a wet season, from October to April, and a dry one, from May to September. This brings an enviable quality of life and a beautiful urban space to the its inhabitants and tourists.



Another impressing thing in my hometown is its architectonic and spacial design. Many of the first buildings were constructed in the "art deco" style, like Theatre Goiânia, and they give to the city a special "charm" to the city. It impresses also by the geometrical forms of streets and squares: for example, streets in the form of a spoke, with the Praça Cívica as the center, with the seats of the state and municipal government – the Palace of Esmeraldas and the Palace of Campinas. Praça Cívica makes the head of a triangle, with three avenues (Araguaia, Tocantins and Paranaiba, the most important of the state) as the sides of it – together the four elements resemble the mantle of Our Lady of the Apparition. The collection of buildings, monuments and the original center in the city is considered one of the most important in Brazil and they have been recognized by the National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage.



Goiânia's history begins in the Colonial Period, when the first ideas of transferring the capital of Goiás came to light (before, the state capital was the town of City of Goiás, previously named Vila Boa). The impetus behind the efforts to move the state capital was the need to locate it in accordance with the economic interests of the state, for the old capital wasn't in any way a thriving agricultural site. Goiás, both the city and state, were born in the context of gold extraction in the Colonial Period. With the decadence of the golden period, agriculture has taken place as the main activity in the state. And the old capital didn't go along with the new economy.



Legislators kept the idea of a change alive for a long time, but only in the 1930's the idea of a change became a reality during the government of Pedro Ludovico, the new governor appointed by the Vargas Dictatorship. In 1933, a commission for the new capital decided on the present location and the foundation stone was laid, being the city founded on October 24, 1933 by then Governor Pedro Ludovico. In 1937 a decree was signed transferring the state capital from the City of Goiás to Goiânia. The official inauguration only occurred in 1942 with the presence of the president of the Republic, governors and ministers.



The name Goiânia came about in 1933 after a contest that was put on by a local newspaper of the new city. Readers from all over the state contributed, with some of the most voted names being Petrônia, Americana, Petrolândia, Goianópolis, Goiânia, Bartolomeu Bueno, Campanha, Eldorado, Anhanguera, Liberdade, Goianésia, and Pátria Nova, among others. In 1935 Pedro Ludovico used the name Goiânia for the first time signing a decree creating the municipality of Goiânia.



The economy of my hometown is today based on a variety of industries, nevertheless the local economy's roots are found in the agriculture around the city. The other main economical activities include the vehicle sales, service and textile industries, governmental sector (for being the capital of the state), organization of national events and congresses (due to its localization on the centre of the country) and private medical centers/clinics of all kinds.



Goiânia, however, is not the Garden of Eden (but Adam lived in my hometown before his expulsion from Paradise!). Though the center and downtown were planned and have an excellent urban structure, the growth without order of peripheral regions brought problems like an increasing traffic of vehicles in the center and lack of services and violence in some suburbs. I have to mention also a yet incipient space for diversified cultural activities and for development of careers out of main sectors in the local economy. But Goiânia is still a pleasant place to live in, with the economy of the great urban centers and the quality of life of the small towns.

São Paulo by Caio (U3)

I have been living in São Paulo since I was born, and despite all the problems, I love this city. I was born and grew up in the west part of São Paulo. I used to go to a square near my house with my mother every afternoon, and on Sundays my dad would take me to the Ibirapuera Park.

There was a lot of things to do at Ibirapuera park, like going to the planetarium every start of season, because it was when the show changed, riding a bicycle or playing with my brother.

As I was getting older, I gradually discovered new places in the city, fun places, sometimes creepy places too.

In my teenager days, I moved to a city near São Paulo, but I continued to come to São Paulo almost two or three times a week, because the city was very close to São Paulo. You can’t even distinguish between them. I would come by train on weekdays, or by car on the weekends with my friends. In spite of moving to another town, I continued to hang out in São Paulo, because my first college was near the center of the São Paulo. As I did Computer Sciences, all my friends and me were (and still are) technology enthusiasts and liked rock music, so we would go to “Galeria do Rock” or “Santa Efigênia” after classes, because those places were very close to the college. After I finished the college, I continued to go to São Paulo every day, because I worked there.

And I didn’t even talk about the cuisine or the nightlife! São Paulo is like NY, a city that never sleeps. What a pleasure it was to discover nice restaurants or cool places to go at night. Well, it’s still a pleasure, even though I have been living here for twenty-seven years, I still don’t know every place of the city. My friends and I look at magazines and websites to get a first impression of the places and then we go to see them by ourselves!
I don’t know if I could live in a city without all those things that make São Paulo so cool!

A letter to a friend by Luis (P1)

Dear Renata,
How amazing to hear from you. How long since we last met? Over 8 years? Yes, I think so. What a wonderful surprise! By the way, how did you get my email address? Probably it was Thiago, because I ran into him at USP last month.

It’s great to hear your news. I’m happy that you and Marcelo are still together. Since that time I knew you would be together. Don't forget me in your wedding, ok? So, let me tell you something about my life, the things that happened after 2001 (some of them, sure).

Guess what! I’m studying at USP too! However, I went to the Engineering area, not the Law area as you at SanFran. I’ve been taking Petroleum Engineering at Poli since 2007. I'm going to help to pollute the planet but I'll be rich (lol). I’m kidding, of couse.

I spent 2 years in a course preparing myself for the Fuvest test while you came to USP directly from high school. I wasn’t the most intelligent of class but you are, I told you every time but you didn’t believe in me…
Some things have not changed. My parents still live in the same place in São José dos Campos (so me too when I go there some weekends and holidays). I’m still single (this is a little hard to change because no woman has deserved me lol) and I’m still slim (Can you believe it? God damn it! However I’ve been going to gym every day since…last week).

We need to meet, to go to a party or to a bar or to go out at night. We should find people from that time (as Thiago, Nathália, Luciana, Brian, Ferraz and the others – and Marcelo, of course) to do something special. I think that you do not remember that October 14th is my birthday. So let’s do something!
See you,
Luís

My best friend - Luis (P1)

I don’t know if I have only one best friend (or if I have a best friend). It’s hard to talk about this because I had friends at each moment of my life. Currently, I regard Josué as my best friend.

I met him in 2005 in São José dos Campos, where I had lived before coming to São Paulo to study at USP. He still lives there. We have friends in common and they introduced me to him. At that time, I was studying for the university entrance examination but he was already in the university. He studies Biomedical Engineering.

We went travelling together sometimes. The last time was on the New Year, when we went to Ilhabela. The trip ended up in a robbery but this is another story.
When I go to São José dos Campos I visit him and we often go to some bar or go out at night. He has already come to some parties at USP.

We live in different cities but we don’t stop talking. We chat on MSN or text each other often.

He is so funny and outgoing. He would be a clown if he was not smart. But if he has some work to do, people can trust in him because he will do it seriously. I don’t know how but he can be shy and charming at the same time. Girls love this. I think he is smart. Because of this I like him.

We don’t have plans to work together because we study in so different areas. Sometimes he says that he wants to work in São José dos Campos while I think that I will work in another city. However, no distance will separate us (so I hope).

My Best Friend - Mariana B. (P1)

My best friend’s name is Ana Paula. We met on secondary school, in 2005. On our first week there, we started to talk and became good friends. Some days later, we met two other girls, Juliana and Jéssica, so we formed an inseparable group, called MaJuNaJé.

Ana is very funny and reliable. Well, she is a bit jealous, but she has a great heart. We don’t have brothers or sisters, so we are like sisters. Her parents are lovely and I like them.

She studies Nutrition. We studied together for the entrance exam on university. My friend passed, but I didn’t. So I studied one more year. During this period, we didn’t call each other very often. In spite of the distance between us, she continued to stand by me. And now we are both students at University of São Paulo.

Once a week, Ana and I have lunch together at Bandejão.
I hope that we will still be friends for many years because her friendship is very important to me.

Oh! And our two other friends study at our university too.

My best friend by Roxana (P1)

Hi, my name is Roxana I am a pharmacist. I am studying at the University of Sao Paulo. In this university I knew many people I have many friends but my best friend is Tatiana. She is very friendly. She studies at the University of Sao Paulo, too. She studies cosmetology and is very intelligent. She works as a researcher in a private hospital.

In the university she is very charming and communicative but in her job she is very quiet because she works with many doctors. She doesn’t like speaking when there are many men around. She is shy and very serious.

Tatiana loves football. She loves the Sao Paulo team, so she is San Paulina. She says that the Sao Paulo team fans are very smart, polite, and quiet. Tatiana also says that there are many teams in which the people are very rude and bad- mannered.

She doesn’t like jealous, rude, and moody people. She prefers to have quiet, sensitive, and very friendly friends.
Tatiana is a special person she has many projects because she is a dreamer. I think that she is going to achieve her dreams because she really deserves.

Piracicaba by Patricia (U3)

I´m a person from the state of São Paulo and I was born in a small city called Piracicaba. The name is derived from “tupi guarani” and means “the place where the fish stop”, because there is a river whose name is Piracicaba too. My city is not far away from the capital of state, it is only 190 kilometers and it´s near another city called Campinas. This city is smaller than São Paulo but it´s bigger than Piracicaba, so it´s an important city in São Paulo countryside. I like the place where it is; it is not far from those important cities and has the fragrance of the countryside.

My mother’s family and also my father’s are from Piracicaba, that´s why I was born there. Near Piracicaba, there is a place where the Italian immigrants built called Santa Cecilia. There are a lot of farms, and when the Italians came to Brazil they went to live there, built their homes and used the lands for the planting of greens and vegetables. My great-grandparents and grandparents lived for a time at this place. So my family grows and grows at Piracicaba.

In my city, there are some places that I like to go, for examples: there is a sugar cane talent (this place is from XIX century, when the Brazilian economy was strictly agrarian) and today the government uses this places for some parties and shows. The view is wonderful near the river; nature at it’s the best. In July a party whose name is the nation party happens; there are foods from all the parts on the globe: Chinese, Japanese, German, Italian and also Brazilian food, from the Southeast, Northeast. I prefer all kinds of food, but the northeaster food has some special flavoring.

Another place that I like is the University of São Paulo. In Piracicaba this University has some courses that emphasize agronomy like: agronomic and forest engineering. There are a lot of natural resources, green areas, and animals. The people (that are not the students and teachers) use this place to picnics, play with kites or just walk, doing some exercises. When I lived there I would always go to walk and used to call all my friends to spent afternoons there, eating, talking. The history of this campus is very interesting: a person whose name is Luis de Queiroz had a great farm and he donated the land only if in the place they built a faculty of agronomy. There are also two other Universities in Piracicaba: one is Unimep (University of Piracicaba) and the other is an Odontology University. Those three Universities make of Piracicaba a city that has so many students from different states of Brazil. It´s a small city in the state of São Paulo, it is not a cosmopolitan city, but there are lots of students. This is an interesting thing because the bars and the nightclubs are always a good place to go.

Even so I do not intend to live again in Piracicaba. I like living in São Paulo and the opportunities found here. However, the tranquility and the knowledge to survive without stress that has been a characteristic there also makes no comparison.