Hello! My name is Claire Kamel, and I am a third year environmental engineering major. I am so incredibly excited to be going to Brazil for the energy program! Although I am no stranger to traveling across the world (my family are immigrants from Egypt), it is my first time going to South America.
Our program is two weeks long, spending most of it in the state Rio Grande do Sul and the last four days in the state of Paraná. Before this program, the only places in Brazil I’d heard of were Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Although I am a little bummed about the fact that we are not visiting those cities, I am really excited about this itinerary. I think these areas will give us more of a native’s perspective of Brazil, which is something I really try to experience in every new country I travel to.
In Rio Grande do Sul, the thing I’m most looking forward to is the Capoeira class. Capoeira is a Brazilian sport that is a dance and martial art hybrid. I used to do tae kwon do as a competitive sport for ten years growing up, so I’m excited to bring that side of me back for a little bit.
In Paraná, the thing I’m most looking forward to is seeing the Itaipu Dam. Not only does it produce a humongous amount of power, it also seems to take an impressive amount of space. There were also talks to see if they can get us to the Paraguayan side of the dam as well, which would be cool to cross another country off the list.
Since I co-op at a solar developer, I am pretty familiar with energy development, but I wonder how much crossover between the different types of renewable energy there is.
Swanson School of Engineering 