SIT Brazil

Housing:

• Social Justice and Sustainable Development: Students participating in the program spend the first seven weeks in a homestay in Fortaleza.  During the educational excursion to a rural Movement for Landless Rural Workers community, students stay with workers and their families.  At other points during the program, students live in private homes, small hotels and/or hostels.
• Public Health, Race and Human Rights:  During the first seven weeks, students live in a homestay in Salvador.  During the following four weeks, students visit and live in two, different rural communities in the region.  During the same period, students also visit a Movement for Landless Rural Workers community, where they stay with workers and their families.
• Amazon Resource Management and Human Ecology:  Students have a four-week homestay in Belém, and also experience two shorter, rural homestays.  Other accommodations during the program include small hotels and a short stay on a riverboat.

Meals: All meals are provided by the program.

Orientation: All SIT study abroad programs include a complete orientation during the first week of the program.  The orientation will cover academics, cross-cultural issues, and health and safety information.  It will also introduce you to the specifics of your site and the host country and culture.  The orientation typically includes discussions, readings and other activities.

Activities and Excursions: As discussed on the Academic page, the program integrates many opportunities for experiential learning through educational excursions and opportunities to work with NGOs and other organizations.  In addition, through the completion of the ISP, students may engage directly with local residents and organizations, and may need to travel in order to do research towards the goals of the ISP.

Life in Brazil: The SIT programs are best for independent and adventurous students who are interested in complete immersion and a program that fully integrates coursework with hands-on experiences and self-directed research.  Students will find themselves challenged to use Portuguese right from the beginning of the program and will be asked to think critically about their experiences in class, with locals, in the homestay and on the educational excursions.

Travel: Travel is integrated into the program structure.  Students may do additional travel in conjunction with the ISP, but typically free-time for travel is not available during this program.  Since there is no group flight, students may choose to arrive early or stay late in order to travel independently in Brazil.