Welcome!
On this website, you will be able to find information about the Prosperando study tour and its organizing committee.Day 3: Behind the scenes
On the second day of our trip to Brazil, everyone had to wake up early to prepare for two excursions. One technical excursion to Vanderlande Industries and one cultural excursion which led us over the Copacabana and Ipanema beach. The last one was an optional tour but due to the pleasant tour in Rio center, which we enjoyed the day before, everyone decided to join.Vanderlande is world leader in luggage handling systems so it was not surprising that they welcomed us at Galeão airport. Since 2000 they are involved in projects in Brazilian airports, and since 2006 they are involved in preparing airports for big events, like the Football World Cups or Olympic Games. Combining these two facts it is obvious that they prepared three airports for the World Cup that was held in Brazil last month. Currently 80 employees are working in Brazil which also includes several international experts, which is quite extraordinary in Brazil. At Galeão airport they are currently building and integrating a completely customized system with a capacity of 4500 bags per hour. We got a tour through the highly restricted area in the basement of the terminal, in which we could see the luggage handling system in action. This was really an eye-opener for everyone, since everyone must have wondered what exactly happens when you give your luggage away at check-in. Some parts were currently in construction which gave us the opportunity to see both the working system and the system under construction. I think everyone enjoyed this glance behind the screens of an airport.
In the afternoon we went on the Copacabana and Ipanema tour. We walked alongside one of the most famous beaches in the world were the citizens of Rio enjoy the sun and play sports together. Lots of famous Brazilians lived here and some even got their own statue. The next beach was Ipanema, nowadays the most popular beach amongst younger people. Through the city stress packed with bars and restaurants we went to leblon, the most expensive living place in the whole of Brazil. At the lagoon and under the enlighted Corcovado we enjoyed a Brazilian pick nick with typical Brazilian snacks like the brigadeiro, a very sweet chocolate ball. The lagoon looked amazing by night. Even the favelas on the mountains looks beautiful due to the lights. After the tour most of us enjoyed the best caipirinhas in town as the start of a wonderful night in the Ipanema night life.
-Tom Bruls
written on: 18-07-2014
Day 2: A first Glimpse
We arrived in Rio in the morning and after getting our bags we went to the hostel. Driving through Rio we could already notice the diversity of the city. Beautiful beaches, mountains and unfinished buildings. After a short breakfast, the trip in the city center began. Lead by our enthusiastic tour guide we learned about "Hio de Janeiro" and Brazil. During the tour we visited the Carioca Square and the oldest street in Rio, where we had the traditional Brazilian meal Feijoada for lunch.
After the tour we had some free time to explore the rest of the city center. With a part of the group we decided to visit the cathedral. The building looks like a Maya temple and has a capacity of 20.000 people. During our visit to the cathedral, we went downstairs, where we met the priest of the cathedral. He introduced us to some people over there, amongst who was one Dutch man. Also the people of the meeting persisted to sing for us, so about 100 people were singing for us. All in all this was a magic, yet absurd moment. After our visit to the church we went back to the hostel to refresh ourselves. Then we went back to the beach to have dinner. At the beach we found a steak house to eat. When we got the bill, it was only R$30 per person, while we each ate like kings at the Copacabana beach. After dinner, the 5-hour jetlag kicked in, so we decided to finish the day with some traditional caipirinha's to finish our day. After that we didn't have a problem getting to sleep.
-Steven Beumer
written on: 18-07-2014
Day 1: And we're off!!
Our journey to Brazil started at Eindhoven central Station. Directly there was a great atmosphere, due to some bad jokes while we were waiting for all participants. At quarter past three, we took the train to Schiphol airport. At Schiphol, we immediately went to the check-in, to get rid of all our huge bags. After the check-in, we had some free time to shop or drink at the tax-free zone. At quarter past seven, we met each other at the gate and we did our infamous buddy-check to check if we had not lost somebody at a bar. After about two hours, we arrived at Frankfurt airport, where we had to change to our connecting flight to Rio de Janeiro. While we were walking to the other gate, a Styrofoam ball contraption caught our engineering attention. After that, we were ready to board the Boeing 747, for our transcontinental flight. The plane had an in-flight entertainment system, where we could watch movies or aircraft information. Only Ralph his system was broken, so the stewardesses had to entertain him. Also, our normal headphone plugs did not fit, so we had to engineer a solution for this problem ourselves: demolish the headphones we got in the plane, and tape the plug to the one of our headphones. That was one problem solved, but then we realized that the Wi-Fi of the plane was not free, so we had to solve that problem as well. One of us bought a 2 hour Wi-Fi pass, and one brought a laptop, so we were able to forward that connection to all of us. In the plane, we could get some refreshing drinks, but after a while, they ran out of whisky and beer, that was a problem we could not solve with our electrical knowledge.-Duco van den Akker
P.S. Sorry mom that I took too long to write my part of the blog and that you were worried about me. Love, Duco.
P.P.S. Satori, thank you for whishing us a good study tour!
written on: 18-07-2014
Only four days to go
As the start of the tour is rapidly approaching the committee members are extremely busy making sure everything is ready.For people who are interested in the full programme of the tour, The Tour page has been updated with our latest schedule. Of course there might still be some changes along the way, but we don't expect any big ones.
During the study trip, we will try to post a new update everyday to share our experiences, so please keep visiting this site for updates!
written on: 10-07-2014
Less than a month
In less than a month we will already be in Brazil! So to get our participants up to speed about the Brazilian culture and the do's and don'ts, we had organised a capoeira workshop and an evening with some Brazilian students.Capoeira is a Brazilian martial arts that focusses on quick and sometimes complex moves to distract the opponent. One should not actually touch the opponent, but make movements to challenge him or her in a battle-like dance.
Our participants where given a 90 minute course to get familiar with the basic moves and ideas of capoeira.
A couple of weeks after the capoeira workshop, we organised an evening with some Brazilian students who gave us a presentation about Brazil, its language and culture. Afterwards, we had a little drink with them to give our participants the opportunity to get to know about Brazil in a more informal way.
As the presentation was given on June the 12th, some participants joined the Brazilian students in a local bar to watch Brazil's first match of the worldcup, which, as they won, became quite a nice party!