Housing and Lavras Novas

I live in a student accommodation in the Avenida Fleming called Moradia I. The environment is quite good but in my opinion the room is a bit small for two persons. However, we have a nice balcony and the area is full of bars and restaurants. The Avenida Fleming is known by the locals because it's considered as a good neighborhood. Moreover, a free shuttle is available twice in the morning and several times in the afternoon from the entrance of the Moradia to the UFMG.

The view from my balcony

The second weekend after my arrival, the Moradia group (internationals from the dutch universities) decided to rent a car and explore. We went to Lavras Novas a beautiful little village which is approximately two hours driving from Belo Horizonte. This experience was great and driving through the country is something I won't forget. I hope I'll get new occasions.

On our way to the waterfalls

Stunning panorama

Backpackers

The crew

Arriving in Brazil

I only start the redaction of this blog several weeks after my arrival (20th of August) because everything went really fast. On the 24th my internship was beginning already therefore I discovered the UFMG before Belo Horizonte itself. Moreover, there is a lot of administration stuff to do in many different places. I'll explain these steps quickly for whom it will concerns in a near future. I hope these explications will be useful.

-Firstly, all bills you have to pay here are simple papers with a bar code. You just have to bring these papers to the bank (Banco do Brasil) when you want to pay.

- Secondly, the first day of school I strongly advise you to go directly to the DRI (Diretoria de Relações Internacionais) building which is in the center of the campus. They'll give you a lot of informations, fill in some papers but also take the appointment to the federal police for you. Indeed, you need to register at the immigration office maximum 30 days after your arrival so the sooner the better. Also, think about to go to the Banco do Brasil on the campus (Services Place) to pay for what they call the CPF (Cadastro de Pessoas Físicas). It's only about 5 R$. Don't forget to bring all your papers with you when you are doing these administration procedures (take it all, better to have too much than not enough). In other hand, think about paying the 300 R$ for the federal police before the appointment.

- Then, once you get the CPF paper and the invoice (KEEP all invoices !), you have to go to the town hall (Avenida Afonso Pena) to get your Brazilian citizen number let's say (plan 2 hours).

- Finally, when you have all these papers bring it back to the DRI.

We can say that's the boring part but it's necessary. 

The services place (red rooftop) and the DRI building (up right)

About myself

First of all, I would like to introduce my self. My name is Hugo Mermet, I'm 21 years old and I come from a little city called Annecy in France. I studied chemistry in Grenoble for two years then I moved to Vlissingen a city in the south of The Netherlands. I directly ended up in third year of chemistry in the HZ University of Applied Sciences.

Vlissingen's Channel

During the fourth year, chemistry students have to make an internship. Hopefully, thanks to the "Living Lab Biobased", the partnership between Avans Hogeschool/HZ University and the Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais, I found my internship in... Brazil !!! 

I'll be working for the Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte ( the abbreviation is BH but it's pronounced "Bé-Haga") for 5 months.