Thursday, May 24

Today we had lecture in the morning, then headed to University of Sao Paulo in the afternoon. Professor Pfluger has been taking students to lunch on free days, and today was my lucky day. We went to Sushi Mac, and got delicious unlimited sushi. They just kept bringing plate after plate of dumplings, sashimi, ngiri, and hand rolls. They had a very interesting roll that was breaded and fried- definitely unhealthy but if I’m being honest I scarfed down at least 5 pieces. For dessert, they brought out a delicious fried plaintain, sticky rice, and caramel roll, and little bites of cubed up guava paste with cream cheese, strawberry, and chocolate on top. Delicious!

nom nom

On our way to USP, we drove along the river and got to see capybara. What is a capybara, you ask? I have no idea. These animals look like if a guinea pig, pig, and golden retriever had a baby. They were just chilling along the river, happily munching on grass. Apparently intense urbanization hasn’t had any negative effects on them, and these hairy beasts looked happy and healthy.

It's a pig! It's a dog! It's a.. capybara?

At USP, we met the director of their sustainable energy department. She talked about the research that they have been doing there on solar energy, biofuels, and other topics. Altogether, she said they had almost 30 programs running. The group studies applied engineering, not theoretical research, so most of the time they are working on monitoring performance. We walked outside and got to see the solar panel installations that they had put in place. They installed a solar parking lot shield, ones on the roof of a building, a freestanding set in a field, and some on the roof of their library. Altogether, the 4 installations provided .5 MW of power, which was enough to cover 1% of the University’s electricity needs in the previous year. Pretty neat!

Sam's not impressed by the 150 kW capacity

After USP, we started driving across the city to see a soccer game. Given that we are in Brazil, a soccer match was a must-see. We stopped for dinner at a little food truck area, then proceeded to the stadium. WIth two beers at dinner, I snoozed for the hour drive to the stadium, which was 15 miles from the hostel. We rolled up to the stadium and it was brand. Spanking. New. Beautiful! The massive arena was originally constructed for the 2014 World Cup, but is now home of Corinthian’s, Sao Paulo’s best soccer club. The team was playinig Millionhaeros, a Colombian team, and we were all ready to see a Corinthians W. After a first half where Corinthians maintained solid control of the ball, they still hadn’t scored. Twenty minutes of the second half, after numerous fruitless shots by Corinthians, the Millonairos slipped one past the Corinthian’s goalie. For the next 25 minutes, Corinthians fought to score, taking at least half a dozen shots on goal. But nothing went in, and we all packed away toward the bus, disappointed that we weren’t celebrating a win with thousands of Brazilian fans. Maybe next time I’ll root for the underdog...