Perspectives Brazil provides an intense exploration and experiential learning experience focused on the contrasting realities of an emerging country. Information received in class will come alive through direct contact and dialogue with Brazilians – from financiers to farmers – on the cutting edge of Brazil's dynamic changes. Listed below are some of these experiences Perspectives offers, each tackling aspects of Brazil's economy, environment and energy issues as well as the rich, vibrant culture of São Paulo.

• Staying fit through sessions of capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, music, and dance.

• Exchanging ideas, concerns and aspirations with local teenagers.

• Experiencing the overwhelming beauty of the Cantareira Park with its rich vegetation with giant ferns.
  
  
• Examining first-hand the economic and social inequities of São Paulo’s gated neighborhoods and favelas (low-income shantytowns) in town and discussing the concepts of violence and segregation.
  
  
• Learning Portuguese vocabulary during tutorial group classes and putting it to the test during site visits.
  
  
• Interviewing executives, shopkeepers, waiters, teachers, and the unemployed about how Brazilian economic growth has affected their lives.
  
  
• Exploring Brazil’s rich historical background and its present political situation in the Latin American context.
  
  
• Analyzing Brazil’s role as an emerging power and the forces that drive the formal and informal economy.
  
  
• Visiting Latin America’s largest stock exchange.
  
  
• Interviewing a soccer fan and learning about his passion for the team and “the beautiful game.”
  
  
• Tasting typical dishes from different regions of the country, from the barbecue of the southwestern pampas grasslands to the African-infused flavors of northwestern Bahia
  
  
• Trying São Paulo’s own "mortadela" sandwiches in the Mercadão (former central market)
  
  
• Walking along a traditional fruit and vegetable market, learning Brazil’s agricultural diversity and tasting the traditional "pastel de fera" and sugar cane juice.
  
  
• Exploring the phenomenon of urban sprawl, housing policies and their impact on the environment.
  
  
• Visiting an innovative thermoelectric plant that produces energy from a landfill.
• Learning about the “green tsunami”; the sugar cane biodiesel, and its economic impact.
  
  
• Exchanging ideas with local NGO´s about sustainable practices.
• Analyzing the challenges of the city water management system.
  
  
• Participating in a workshop to learn the artistic techniques used in graffiti, a hallmark of the young urban expression in São Paulo streets.
  
  
• Participating in a workshop to learn the steps and secrets of samba, samba rock, and the traditional gafiera and forró.
  
  
• Moving to the sounds of traditional instruments used during carnival and learning how to play the rhythms that make Brazil a world music star.
  
  
• Flying your own hand-made kites and hot air lanterns in a local crafts workshop
  
  
• Experience the force and rhythm of São Paulo’s homegrown hip-hop