Our Brazilian exchange student, Lorena Cartocci Bazanelli or ‘Lolly” for short, shared with us some background on her home and country.
We learned Brazil is the largest country in South America and has a population of about 210 million. Similar to Canada, it is a federation composed of 26 states, one federal district, and the 5570 municipalities. Also, it is the only Portuguese speaking country in South America as it was settled by the Portuguese who wanted the land on which to grow sugar cane. Lolly also informed us that the Amazon River is the second longest river in the world but the largest by volume.
Lolly comes from Itupeva which is a municipality in the state of São Paulo. The population is 54,128 (2015 est.) in an area of 201 kilometres squared.
Some of the differences she has noticed between Canada and Brazil are (a)our summer temperatures are about same as her winter temperatures and (b) school in Brazil runs from about 7:30 am to 1:30 pm with all the courses running for the full year. Also, the teachers move instead of the students changing rooms. She also was surprised to learn that kids in high school have lockers as they do not have lockers in Brazil.