As for education, kids in Brazil only go to school for half a day. You can choose whether to go in the morning or the afternoon. However, they go to school year-round, with multiple weeks of vacation throughout. Most schools offer the same courses: math, science, history, Portuguese, and a foreign language (usually English or Spanish).
The colleges in Brazil are different. Instead of choosing a college and being able to major in anything that the college offers, students must know what they want to major in before they apply.
Each college is specialized and uses its own curriculum. My cousins have gone to school for journalism, biochemistry, geography, veterinary medicine and law. Even though they live very close to each other, each went to a different college because of their individual studies.
Brazil has many fruits because of the tropical climate. There is a fruit called a jaca (which in English means jackfruit) that is the size of a large watermelon.
The biggest difference between the jaca and a watermelon, other than the taste, is that this huge fruit actually grows on tall trees.
Also, there are several different types of bananas. The banana that I like most is one that tastes like an apple, banana maca (literally: apple banana).
The music of Brazil is also very different from our own. Their radios play Top 40 hits, but they also mix in a healthy dose of samba. Brazil is renowned for samba: it has an African rhythm behind brass, guitar, and vocals. There are also Brazilian bands such as Restart that sound much like our own, only their lyrics are in Portuguese. Other types of Brazilian music include forre, pagode and bossa nova.
Every year during Carnival, the biggest parade in the country, several samba schools compete for first place by dancing through a section of Rio de Janeiro for several days. Not only is the music spectacular, but also the costume each dancer wears is incredible.
Two important international events will be held in Brazil over the next six years. The next FIFA World Cup is scheduled to be hosted by Brazil in 2014, and in 2016, the Summer Olympics. These are two excellent opportunities to visit this country and experience all the amazing things you've just read - and more.
