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.