well, the city is amazing and huge so it's hard to say which sector of the city. from what i can see in the map, it is close to the center of the city but still a little northwest of it. i live aproximately 20-25 mins from the center, if i take the metro and depending on traffic, it might be more or less by car. it is worth mentioning a little about how i go about transporting myself from place to place...normally i walk, sometimes take public transport and rarely go in a car. walking is very safe in the areas that i have to be and the areas worth visiting. the public transport is amazing here but it still falls short when attempting to transport this many people. i was reading an article about the guy who is in charge of transportation for the state of São Paulo and his job is so overwhelming. over 5 million people use the metro everyday and it covers an immense area of the city - again, it falls short. - i like taking the metro but it is a little expensive for my taste so i am getting used to the idea of walking to most places and not using it unless necessary. people should know that the metro is also part of going out at night, because one of the reasons people stay up until 6am is that they need to go home, taxis are expensive and the metro doesn't start operating until early morning. so, they might as well party!!!
the buses start at 4;30 or 5am and they are also very good. they do not run on a schedule but there is one after the other so if you miss one it's not such a big problem, at least that's what i've learned from my experience. every bus here has two people in it, one being the driver, driving the bus, and the helper/charger, with his seat near the entrance door in front of the place where you pay. this is something i have found to be very efficient because they divide the work, just like they do in guatemala but in an organized way. instead of having one person moving around the bus charging people or hanging from the side of the bus they are organized and it seems more civilized. maybe this should be one of the things guatemala should do in the future to keep all those helpers/chargers or as we call them, 'brochas' employed and prevent disorder in buses.
the picture to the left is a picture of my house. it is in a neghborhood called sumaré. the neighborhood i live in is very nice, peaceful, residential and full of buildings. i, luckily, live in a house, so it's something that feels more like home. i do envy the view from the buildings though, some are really tall and you can see a lot of the city from their windows. i am not too sad though because my view is actually really cool so i don't complain much. the reason why i have this view is mostly because i live on a huge hill, which is sometimes an inconvenience. just before i forget, the mtv studios in brazil are very close to my house. they are at the top of the hill because that's where they put their anthena. you can imagine how tall the hill is...
my house is located very close to the university where i will be studying, PUC - Pontificia Universidade Catolica. the only problem is that i have to go down this huge stairway, then across avenida sumaré, which is the closest mainroad near my house and then up the hill to get to the university. during the first days, it was very easy to get to PUC with a few drops of sweat because of the heat and the hills. hopefully that will improve as the weather cools down. this picture on the right side is a picture of the stairs i have to go down and climb up... they are a lot more intimidating from below...
PUC is really nice. it is considered to be the 2nd best private university in Brazil and is well recognized in latin america. it was founded in 1946, it has six campi in sao paulo and it offers undergraduate and graduate titles. there are about 180,000 alumni, 17,000 in undergraduate and 4,000 in graduate school. they have a new building and an old building.the picture to the left shows the courtyard of the old building and the other picture i'm showing is of the corridor in between the old -right- and the new building -left. this area is called 'prainha' - little beach- because in one of the protests that the students organized some a while ago, they brought sand, filled the place with it and acted as if they were sunbathing in school. i didn't fully understand the story but i'll try to find out exactly how it is...
Summary
sao paulo = huge, lots of hills, lots of buildings
public transportation = large, fast but not efficient enough for the city
my neighborhood = residential, cool and hilly
my university - PUC (pronounced 'pooquee'), good academic level, political and also in a hill
finally, if you'd like to write to me, my address is as follows
RUA ANDRÉ DREIFUS 142
SUMARÉ - CEP 01252-010
SÃO PAULO, BRASIL
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