Welcome!
On this website, you will be able to find information about the Prosperando study tour and its organizing committee.Day 8: Companies and Students
Today we visited some more companies at the technology park. These are the last companies in Rio de Janeiro we will visit before we fly to Foz do Iguaçu.
The trip started at the Baker Hughes company. First we had a short presentation and thereafter a guided tour through the laboratory. The presentation began with a brief explanation about the safety instructions and an introduction of the company. Baker Hughes in Rio de Janeiro is a research institute which analyzes all different kind of rocks and fluids that are mined by Petrobras, Statoil and others. They also develop new strategies to improve the drilling procedure. This is done in institutes spread across Brazil. After the presentation, the group was split up into three groups and were guided through the laboratory. The laboratory was full of measurement equipment which measured all ins and outs of the rocks or fluids the customers deliver at the company. Some of the equipment was developed by the company itself.
After lunch, which we had at an all-you-can-eat restaurant, we went to Siemens. Unfortunately, there was some miscommunication between the company and the organization. There was nobody available who was able to guide us through Siemens. Therefore, the tour at Siemens was cancelled.
The last company we visited was General Electric. One of the facts they told us was that the company was founded by Thomas Edison. General Electric in Rio de Janeiro is the fifth research institute in the branch. They have projects in various sectors. The one in Rio is specialized in offshore & subsea systems, smart systems, system integration and bioenergy systems. The presentations showed us some interesting projects like optimization the transportation paths of airplanes to decrease the pollution.
At the end of the day we had the opportunity to talk with a few students of the local university. They told us about their study and student-life. They had also arranged a lot of good food, which was very nice.
-Erwin Hoogers
written on: 24-07-2014
Day 7: OO1.1: MagLev!
Today, we have visited the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and its campus. On this campus, not only the university is located, but also a lot of companies.First, we visited the Ocean Laboratory. This laboratory facilitates the greatest and deepest ocean basin in the world. This basin allows one to simulate ocean conditions on small scale and therefore it is used to test new techniques for off-shore activities. Unfortunately, we couldn't see the basin in action because it was calibrating for a test of Petrobras. We also took a look through the 10 centimeters thick window of the basin and because of the 14 million liters of water, the walls seemed to be curved although they are straight.
After the Ocean Lab, our guide from the university found out that we were ready earlier than expected. He gave us a tour around the campus. When it became time for lunch, we went to an 'All-you-can-eat' restaurant. After lunch we visited the department of Electrical Engineering at the university.
In the lab of power-electronics, we were surprised by the fact that we got a tour by a Dutch man. He had moved to Brazil when he was divorced. Because he couldn't speak any Portuguese, he couldn't find a job and started to live on the street where he learned Portuguese. After a while he found a job at the university.
When this quick tour through the lab of power electronics was finished, we got to see a MagLev Train which they have developed. In contrast to most MagLevs, this one was based on superconductivity. When a material becomes superconductive, it gets the special property to stay in place because of a magnetic field. They are also building a track on the campus of 200m, to transport people from one lab to another. Unfortunately we couldn't see it in use because it is planned to be ready in October. In the future the MagLev will transport people around the whole campus.
At last, we were guided through the lab of fluid dynamics. This lab is mainly used for Petrobras. At this lab researchers of multiple disciplines work together to optimize the models and equations used for predicting the behavior of fluids under different conditions.
After the last excursion we went back to the hostel again by bus, while everyone still was enjoying the day.
-Pasquale van Heumen
written on: 23-07-2014
Day 6: Çitty tour!
Today we had a cultural tour through Rio the Janeiro, going to the most touristic places. Linda said: “Great, a tour guide who speaks English”. But in fact she didn't: I couldn't hear a thing.Our first stop was at the Maracanã Stadium. It looked very nice. However, we could only see it from the outside since the stadium was still closed due to the World Cup.
After we bought tickets for the Christ the Redeemer, we continued our tour with a small market. At the market they sold nice small stuff, like drums and small wooden statues of monkeys and elephants. Yes, here in Rio you can find African influence too.
The next stop was the Christ the Redeemer. After some time in the queue we went uphill through the jungle with a small train. It was a quite long ride, but the view of Rio from such height was magnificent. This was already beautiful, but at the top the view was astonishing. It made me realize how huge this city is. The statue itself was of course also special, but it didn't make a big impact on me. However, when you looked from behind with the clouds flowing over, it looked like the statue was going to fall backwards on me.
At last, we finally went up with the cable to the cable cars, to the First Mountain and the mighty Sugarloaf Mountain. On the First Mountain we walked a bit and mostly took beautiful photos. On the other side of the mountain we found out that our tour guide expected us to just follow her towards the next cable car. Oops…
On the Sugarloaf we could see all around us. The sun gave a spectacular view as it was descending. This was the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen, although I unfortunately couldn't see the end of it.
-Jelmer de Haan
written on: 21-07-2014
Day 5: BRA - NED: 6-4
Before this story starts, I would like to advice all the parents that worried a lot about this part of the trip to read the last sentence of the story before you continue.Today the favela tour was on the program. But what should we expect of the favelas? Is it like the favelas in Call of Duty, the game? Or is it more like the favela from movies like “District 9” and “The City of God”?
On one hand you expect a lot of violence in the favelas. On the other hand we have just learned during the tours of day 2 and day 3 that 22% of the total population lives in a favela, that in Rio 2 million people live in a favela and that there are 6000 favelas in total in Brazil. Even David Beckham owns a house in the favela and besides him many people choose to live there. This means that the favelas should not be as violent as expected. But what is the truth? That was what we were going to find out today.
At half past 10 the busses arrived which took us to the first favela. There we met a Dutch guy, director of IBISS, an institute that makes the favelas a better place and that also organized the tour. He first gives us the history about the problems that are in the favelas, such as corruption of the police, the powerful drug cartels and how difficult it is to get schools and hospitals in the favelas. For those of you that expected that the favelas are violent, this expectation is thus more or less correct. However, the first favela where we went was controlled by the police. After the introduction we went to a bar where we drank some beer and then we had to spit the group. Some of us got the tour uphill to have a great view of the favelas while the other part went on the motor tour.
I first took the bus ride and went uphill to see the huge favela. The favela itself is a place with many different (ugly) houses, a lot of dirt, a lot of graffiti and most important, a lot of electricity cables that may cause huge short circuits. Being an electrician over here is definitely one of the most dangerous jobs there is, because the way that the electricity cables are organized is simply very chaotic. Almost on top of the hill we had a great view over Rio and after that we went back to the bar waiting for the motor tour.
The motor tour was one of the most exciting things we have done so far. In a group of 10 motors we crossed through the favelas to a place with again a beautiful view over Rio. After that we went to a church on top of the hill which we could only reach by climbing a lot of stairs and of where we again had a great view of Rio. Each of us sat behind on a motor holding the motor as tight as you could or holding the motor guy as if you were hugging your girl or boyfriend for the last time ever; the Brazilian drive style is chaotic and the only rule there is, is the rule of the horn. When using the horn one was telling that he crossed a crossing, and the other traffic should watch out and let him through. It was thus in some way what dangerous but on the other hand where the drivers experienced guys so we all arrived safely back at the bar.
At the bar we had a lunch and by coincidence 2 Dutch girls joined us. They were organizing a sport event and stayed in the favela for about a week.
After the lunch we went to another favela where we would replay the World Cup loser final against Brazil and would have a nice barbecue at the end. This went not very fast, because our Dutch guide is really the boss/father figure of the neighborhood and everybody that knew him had to say hello to him. Therefore, we first sat at another bar where we had a drink. When we walked to the soccer field the boss gave 2 bottles of Fanta to a group of kids and those kids where as happy as if they had won the lottery. It was really nice to see how everybody knows each other how the people interact with each other and just experience the favelas.
Then after a walk we finally started with the soccer match against local Brazilian boys of the age of 14-18. Unfortunately it didn't look at all like the match of the Dutch National team against the Brazilian team of which we were not allowed to talk about the last few days. Now it was payback time and the Brazilian guys, which were suited in football clothes (some football players of Ajax went by in the past and left a lot of clothes, so a lot of people in the favelas were wearing Ajax clothes) and football shoes were better than us. The exact result I don't know because after half an hour some of our players mixed to get a more balanced match. One of these players was Stan, who suddenly knew how to play soccer and scored the penalty against us. It was a nice match and experience and we all had a lot of fun.
During the match is already became dark outside which means that it was time for dinner. Therefore, we went to a local bar and some of the soccer players of the Brazilian team joined us. While we were waiting for dinner we drank some beer and some of us became friends with the Brazilians. Especially Teun who changed his orange shirt for a Brazilian shirt and socks. The atmosphere was nice, we danced and had fun with the Brazilians. Next to that, a Brazilian even took Elles for a ride on the motor. The food was also nice. It started with a kind of soup after which the meat was brought around on a large plate so that everybody could get a piece. And even if we were in the favela, the dinner was delicious! Around 21:00 it was time to go back and we left our new friends in the favelas.
It was a long but beautiful day and a very nice experience to also see the poor sides of Rio. And personally I think they are not as worse as you might think. It is hard to describe everything in one blog post and I think everybody will personally tell your their experiences but I hope that I pointed out all the major things.
Last but not least I have to mention that before we took the bus back to the hostel, we performed our last buddy check of the day. It succeeded, which means that everybody arrived safe and sound back at the hostel again!
-Marcella Gunther
written on: 20-07-2014
Day 4: One, Two, Three, Floor!
Petrobras and CRESESB: two companies which we are going to visit during our third day in Rio de Janeiro. Petrobras can be explained as the Shell of Brazil, which is the biggest and most influential company here. CRESESB is an institution that promotes alternative energy resources. Some of us had some extra free time, because Petrobras unfortunately didn't allow more than 20 visitors due to security reasons. Because of this, a part of the group was able to explore the city nightlife without being "Petrobrak". Our tour guide of the day before had mentioned the "one, two, three, floor" principle, which means that after the fourth caipirinha most people fall down to the floor. Of course this principle had to be tested and some understood why it was known that way.The 20 of us who went to Petrobras arrived at a huge complex of Petrobras with some impressive modern buildings. First we got to see 2 applications that they use to engineer their ships. The first was a L-shape 3D view on the model of a ship where you can really get a feeling of how much room there is on the ship. We were standing in front of a big screen with the 3D glasses and there was also a screen beneath us. Petrobras showed us how the model works and we were being moved around the ship, which was a really weird feeling. We also got to see the way they model the oil patches. The second application was a huge UHD screen, which is even more than HD. There they could see every little detail of the model to get the best results.
Next on the program was a tour around their complex. First we were taken to a facility, in which emissions and efficiency of engines could be measured. Petrobras had an impressive fleet available to test. So impressive, that we are in doubt of applicability of the results to the cars which we see in the streets of Rio de Janeiro.
We were also invited to see a new building of Petrobras, which was very open and used some of the resources that Rio de Janeiro has to offer, like the sun and the air from the beach. Because of the shape of the roof the air was blown through the building to keep a nice atmosphere through the complex. They also used the rainwater to flush the toilets and for other purposes. But above all, it was a beautiful complex.
When the excursion to Petrobras was concluded we got to eat at a restaurant where you pay for the weight of your meal. That was a really interesting concept and left us with very high bills, because we enjoyed the luxurious food so much.
While we were at Petrobras some of the other group experienced the first robbery of the trip. The lesson learned was that even unguarded towels get stolen. Lets hope that it stays with towels.
In the afternoon the group reunited and we went to CRESESB. Here we got a presentation about the energy network and alternative energy resources in a self-sufficient house in terms of energy. We learned that in Brazil there is a much higher possibility for solar energy compared to Europe. Who would have thought! But they still don't get that much out of the solar energy because of the low efficiency of the solar panels and transmission system. The energy consumption was also interesting. The third highest category were the losses. We immediately thought about the ingenious ways of the cable wiring we saw on the streets. The wiring in combination with the large distances which should be covered in the huge country of Brazil could explain some of it. After the presentation we also got to see more of the self-sufficient house. This concluded the day in terms of excursions and we finally got to change clothes and cool off a bit in the nightlife of Lapa, which is the place to be in Rio.
-Mannes Dreef