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Frdric Kuonen
Frdric Kuonen
Housing
Housing prices are comparable to Swiss standards. This is true especially if you plan to live
around FGV, which I strongly recommend. The region around the university is very safe,
especially Bela Vista and Jardims. Since public transport is not well developed, daily
commuting is not convenient. In any case, do bring warm clothes for the Brazilian winter, the
apartments do not have heaters and windows usually do not close completely.
Security
Personally I never got into trouble so far. My basic advice to avoid difficult situations is
always to be aware of 1. the place you are and 2. the time. In the morning everything is calm
and you can basically go everywhere. But be attentive at night, as it is the time that most
problems arise. For example: a group of exchange students went for lunch by taxi to a place
near the centre of Sao Paulo. Everything was fine and no weird people were around. The
students kept talking a lot and stayed longer than planned. Now, when they wanted to leave
at night (around 9pm), there were no taxis around anymore because the area was
considered as very dangerous at night. So the students had to walk through this very
unsafe area to catch a taxi near the metro station. Everything went well, but try to avoid such
situations by being aware of the place you are going to and the respective time. Also, do not
display any resistance if you get robbed, a human life does not have the same value as it has
in Europe. Moreover avoid to wear expensive looking jewellery and to take calls in public
spaces at night. Living by these guidelines, you should not encounter any serious situations.
The University
FGV is considered the best business university in South America. True or not, it is indeed a
very good institution for Latin America that cares for its students. People studying at FGV are
directly recruited into the big companies in finance and consulting. The university campus is
relatively small and consists of just one building and a sports hall. However FGV has other
campuses around the city including the faculty for economics (FGV-EESP) and law.
As mentioned in the introduction, people at FGV are living the 0.1% life within a 200mn
people country. This means that some students are sons and daughters of the richest people
in Brazil and some come to school even by helicopter (!). Again, by understanding this
context it does not surprise that FGV is not how I would have pictured Brazil. People are
rather closed, especially to foreigners. Students have their small groups of highly trusted
friends. Outside this circle of trust, people are nice but not committed. This means that you
can easily get invited by a Brazilian to visit his home or have a drink, but usually you will
never hear from him again. They are just being nice and it does not mean anything.
However, there are always people interested in foreigners, but not the majority.
2
Frdric Kuonen
Courses
As a CEMS student doing my Business Project at FGV, I could only take three courses.
Title:
Cross-cultural Management
Professor:
Miguel Caldas
Course description:
Grading:
Fair
Personal appraisal:
Workload:
Crediting HSG:
6 ECTS Handlungskompetenz
Title:
Professor:
Claudia Yoshinaga
Course description:
Grading:
Fair
Personal appraisal:
Workload:
Crediting HSG:
Frdric Kuonen
Title:
Professor:
Course description:
Grading:
Fair
Personal appraisal:
Workload:
Crediting HSG:
Frdric Kuonen
Final words
For me Brazil has been an amazing experience. However as mentioned, it was difficult and
some times frustrating to integrate myself here in Sao Paulo. I expected people here to be
different because I was coming to Sao Paulo with a Brazilian stereotype in mind, which is
similar to expect people from Zurich to be similar to people from Wallis. That is why I
recommend to travel as much as possible and see the different types of Brazilians. My final
travel through the poorer north-east of Brazil really opened my eyes to the country with the
typical Brazilians and amazing beaches (see pictures below).
Sunset
in
Fortaleza,
Jericoacara:
favourite
near
place
in
during
night
amazing