The freshmen are taken from class, painted, and then taken to the center of the city where they beg for money. This money is used to pay for a huge party at the end of the week where the freshmen are again painted, soaked in alcohol and paraded through the campus. Each trot only last a week but each department has it’s own trot so it takes about a month for all the departments to complete the process. During this time regular classes are rarely held. Two of my professors took vacations during the trot and dismissed their classes entirely. I find this tradition typical of Brazilian festive humor. It’s a long tradition, and upperclassmen as well as freshmen look forward to it. I would say that, through it may delay the classes from starting for a few weeks, the professors do their best to make up for lost time, and the trot does not seriously detract from the learning process. In fact many believe it adds to the educational atmosphere of the university, because it makes the freshmen fell more included and motivated to take part in the schools activities. I did not attend all of the ceremonies or parties but here are some pictures that I took on my way to class one morning.
9 comments:
wow. brazil. that's practically another planet man. i'm just a little bit disappointed that you didn't get all painted up.
i'm excited for summer. i just bought a motorcycle! you'll be thrilled. we've decided to go to grad school in santa barbara so when you come visit we can ride up and down the coast some. see you in a couple months.
Hey thanks for writing I also like what you say at the agora, ya Brazil is like another planet I feel like I'm on star trek at times. Ya santa barbara I know a few people from there that are in my same international program. What kind of bike did you get mine is pretty sissy just 250, but it's fun.
oh and you're right I should have got painted but it invovled alot of drinking and so I decided to observe from a distance.
HA! I also got a 250. Mine's a Honda instead of a Suzuki which I think yours is. It's pretty small. I think that it's like the plankton of the motorcycle world. I'm just waiting for a big harley to come and swallow it whole
Ya some day we'll both by fat harleys and ride them through yellow-stone with fat trailers behind us.
i was thinking. the funny thing about the war on terror (agora post) is that it won't ever be over. dan's comments were right on. we could say that any murder or crime was terror to some degree. when cain killed abel it started there. kerry got a lot of flack for saying contain it, but i kind of think that's right. we have to fight against it constantly until all people realize it's wrong. there will always be murder and crime but you contain it to the smallest amount possible and teach people that it's wrong from the start.
Boy;
Oh the joys of initiation ceremonies, how Spartan. Most such traditions have vanished from our softened society here in the U.S. “Sophomore Week” passed without incident this year. Of course I was never for inflecting anything on anyone they didn’t want – but there was a certain “right of passage” excitement in being hazed a little bit. I wonder if it actually made us stronger. I remember when pounding the “wings” into the chest of new army flyers became a scandal. How I fought to end the duck tap excesses but there was fun in it when it was the fate of all – cool and un-cool alike– if only tradition and practice were about to teach kids were to draw the line between ruff and tumble and hurtful behavior.
Hey brother we are here and we wanted to let you know that we are at Rowans's for the party and if you try calling Bryon again we can talk to you. Love, your family. we got your message to so it worked.
it's true. i was so excited to be getting any attention from ben and dan ray and jon dimond, heroes in my eyes. even if it meant having half my face markered black. i remember being excited just to tell me friends, it wasn't mean at all. we laughed together as it happened
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