Every Brazilian has dark hair, every Brazilian girl knows how to dance Samba, every Brazilian guy knows how to play soccer…

„Brazil is the country of varieties“

Every country has a stereotype by which it is known through the world. And about Brazil is very funny how these two completely different ideas can be considered true. Even we Brazilians see the country in different ways, and then there is not an absolutely true about that. But like a good Brazilian girl, I would like to show you what I think. I was born in a town with 30000 inhabitants, called Campos Novos, where the main income comes from agriculture. The accent is very strong and all letters are always well pronounced in exactly the same way it is written. The food is very simple. Most dishes are of Italian origin and were carrying a Brazilian flavor over the years. The winter is really hard, and the summer is awesome. Everyone knows each other, is friend of all his neighbors and always have a cake ready at home, because visits always comes unannounced and are welcome.

Before I came to Germany, I was living in a city called Blumenau. Yes, it sounds like a german name. And it is. In 1850, the German philosopher Dr. Hermann Bruno Otto Blumenau and 17 other families established residence in the region. With them, the customs and traditions also came. So, in Blumenau the typical food is the same that you eat here. As a city with about 310000 inhabitants, it is not so easy to know all your neighbors and when you want to visit them, you should call before

„Most of the population is caucasian, blue eyes and blond hair.“

The classic stereotype of german. The accent is not so strong and there are so many german words which form part of the vocabulary as though they were in Portuguese. The winter is wonderful and in summer the temperature exceeds 40°C every day. The main source of income of the city is the industry and tourism. In Blumenau takes place the second largest Oktoberfest in the world. There are “17 days of revelry” (says a famous music of the festival), with typical german food and music and lots of beer. Last year, the festival received over 450,000 visitors, who drank more than 530000L of beer. Brazil has around 8,5 million qm then these completely different cities could be on opposite sides of the country. But they are not. They are only 300 km away. In the same state. At the University here in Offenburg, we are around 12 Brazilians at this moment. And every time we are together we enrich the vocabulary of our mother language. There are Brazilians from all over the country, each one with its custom, a different way you speak and new words. All these differences make ours meeting funny and with so much laughs. But we are just 12. Brazil has almost 200 million inhabitants with 200 million different ways to speak.

„And so maybe we look like every Brazilian …“

Yes, I really believe that Brazil is the country of differences. The way to speak, the food that we eat, the weather, the color of our skin. We are unique in our differences.