Olá. Bom dia a todos. You might think that out of sight is out of mind. But you do not get rid of me so easily. With our great communication team, I agreed that every 2 weeks I would tell you a bit about my adventures here in Ouro Preto, one of the most beautiful cities in Brazil with a great history of mining.
After preparing for almost a year, I finally arrived in Ouro Preto on Monday 18 August. First time on my own in Brazil. All previous travels were always in a group. Fortunately, I was picked up by a driver from university, so I did not have to travel by different busses from the airport to Ouro Preto on the first day. Because Ouro Preto is a university city as well as a touristic city, it is hard to find housing. Fortunately, I managed to find a nice apartment via AirBNB. It turned out te be in a better part of the city (I was told) not far from the historic city center, close to shops, not too far from the university and with a great view. With a kitchen, living room, bedroom and study it’s also quite spacious. Any downsides? Well, I only have cold running water, there is no heating, isolation is non-existing, and pigeons like to live on my rooftop. But after a week I’m already used to it. I heat water on the stove for washing dishes and shaving. I put on an Avans sweater in the evening or even put on a blanket when watching Netflix.
So why am I in Ouro Preto. Well long story but I will try to keep it short. With the Living Lab Biobased Brazil, we already have a cooperation with UFOP for almost 10 years. This mainly consists of student exchange (internships) and some joined research projects. Professor exchange was always on the wish list but never happened. When the opportunity came by for a visiting professor position at UFOP, I sort of jumped to the opportunity also wanting to set an example. I wrote a proposal to do research on PHA and to the teach a course on biobased technology & business development. To my surprise the proposal got the maximum score. So, no way back. It turned out that Avans is not really equipped for long time exchanges yet and also the bureaucracy in Brazil did not make it any easier. But I decided that this was not going to stop me. And well, here I am. At the other side of the world speaking a mixture of Portuguese and English while using a lot of hands and Google translate.
Yesterday I visited the lab for the first time. An interesting experience. But I will tell you more about that in one of the next updates. I’m positive that we can establish a nice cooperation. This Friday I will start with my course. Excited and nervous because a broadening course doing an assignment for a company is not something they are used to here. Fortunately, I have 12 students that dared to take on the challenge. Next time I will also tell you more about my first impressions.
I'll leave it at that for now. I was told a column should be short and to the point. If you can’t wait another 2 weeks for my next update, I invite you to follow my Polar steps on which I will post once a day about the nice, strange, peculiar, surprising things I notice here in Ouro Preto: https://www.polarsteps.com/JappedeBest/20745838-professor-visitar?s=09f3c004-aa21-4211-a4e0-c57a5921248a.
Até breve
Jappe
“All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?” – “Brought peace?” – “Oh, peace? SHUT UP!”
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