Categorie archief: Travel log

Fun facts

Did you know that …:

  • some students got electrocuted by the electronic shower heads in the hotel’s bathrooms?
  • the hotel lobby was the best place to get attacked by mosquitoes?
  • the hotel lobby was the only place without air conditioning during the whole trip?
  • the hotel swimming pool was the perfect place to cool down after a long, hot day?
  • ‘água mineral’ was the most pronounced term during the trip?
  • that this was not because of its original meaning…
  • Brazilian people use Tinder as well?
  • Natal’s taxi drivers like to drive very fast?
  • few people can speak English in Natal?
  • none of us can speak Portuguese either…
  • we had a special quarantine taxi for ill students once?
  • caipirinha is Brazil’s national cocktail, made with cachaça (sugar cane hard liquor), sugar and lime?
  • Old Five is the best place in Natal to drink caipirinha’s?
  • Lissabon’s airport is a boring place if you have to wait there for 5-6 hours?
  • you can use digital passport scanners at Lissabon airport?
  • that one of them displayed a Blue Sceen of Death?
  • we ate 30 hot dogs during the soccer match between ABC and América?
  • the cashew nuts bought at the biggest cashew tree in the world are not from that tree?
  • Simone is addicted to Woordjacht on iPad?
  • The LEGO Movie is awesome?
  • we saw a lot of Volkswagen T2 vans driving around Natal?
  • all animals have rabies, according to us?
  • Natal has a lot of restaurants where you pay based on the weight of your food?
  • the forró is a popular Brazilian dance?
  • …we tried this as well, with hilarious consequences?
  • we had two Maartens, two Mirjams, two Joeps and two Simones?
  • wearing a suit in the Brazilian sun is not very comfortable?
  • the road in Natal doesn’t have an option to go left, you have to do a U-turn and turn right?
  • the hardcore fans of soccer don’t do the wave but have a special dance to do during the match?
  • pineapple was the most favourite thing to eat during breakfast?
  • Natal has a lot of places with free WiFi?

DSC_0544 DSC_0549

DSC_0728

Tuesday, May 6

The final day of our visit to Natal. We once more went to the university to listen to a talk by DynaVideo. DynaVideo started as a university spin-off with a team of four researchers developing a new dynamic video distribution service, called DynaVideo. Since 2003, they focus on a wide range of products in digital television; from development of systems for broadcasters, to the development of technology and applications for digital television. One of the developed applications was the ability to do you tax declaration on the television instead of online on the computer. The company cooperates closely with academic researchers and universities.

The next talk was from RoboEduc. RoboEduc is a company also founded by UFRN researchers. The company is focused on technology and robotics education, and uses LEGO Mindstorms robots as a tool to aid children, aged four to seventeen, in their learning. They also offer educational material to nearby schools, as well as training courses for teachers.

After these talks we had a final lunch with the group at an all-you-can-eat restaurant. After saying goodbye to Bruno, we returned to the hotel to pack our bags and prepare for the 21-hour journey home.

We hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures in Natal, Brazil!

Kind regards,
Ko, Maarten D. and Mirjam de H.

DSC_0723 DSC01010 DSC01017 2014-05-06 dinsdag

Monday, May 5

In the morning we went to Polícia Federal, the federal police of Brazil. After a spectacular introduction movie about its work throughout the country, we dived deeper into the subject of IT forensics. The forensics experts explained us the kind of hardware and software they use to, for example, analyse confiscated hard drives of criminals. The most surprising aspect of this presentation was their openness about their shortcomings: the Polícia Federal does not have enough money and manpower to fight all digital crimes, yet the forensics experts are very motivated to enforce the law. We concluded our visit with a tour through the forensics labs.

In the afternoon we returned to the university for another talk, this time about cloud computing. Professor Nélio Cacho started with an introductory presentation about cloud computing in general. One of his master’s students then talked about his research: he compared the interoperability of several available Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud solutions. As one would expect, vendor lock-in is present in this market as well, and portability does not always work as promised by the d evelopers.

After this talk, we briefly walked through the university library, where lots of students were studying. We also met with a group of computer science and software engineering students that study in Natal to tell them what studying in the Netherlands is like, to get them interested in doing part of their study abroad.

IMG_6706 DSC_0722

DSC00998 2014-05-05 maandag

Sunday, May 4

We started the day with some time for ourselves. After having lunch at a mall, the majority of the group went to Parque das Dunas, which is the second largest urban park in Brazil. It serves as a wildlife reserve, but part of it is open to public. While walking around for a bit, we saw some monkeys eating (and throwing) fruits, centipedes, fishes, and big ants. It is a very popular park amoung young families and people who enjoy running.DSC00942 DSC00953 DSC00974 2014-05-04 zondag

Saturday, May 3

We started the day by catching up on (some) sleep.  We then headed for Ponta Negra beach to relax. Unfortunately, we ended up in the rain.  After having lunch, we returned to the hotel to get ready for the football match between América and ABC, both from Natal. The match was played in the Arena das Dunas, the same stadium that will be used for the World Cup. Since Bruno supports ABC, so did we, and in the end ‘we’ won with 0-2. It was amazing to see the stadium and especially the Brazilian football fans.

In the evening we went to a concert of the University symphonic orchestra. They played three classical pieces, of which one with a clarinet solo and one with a steel-string acoustic guitar.

DSC00925 DSC00934 2014-05-03 zaterdag

Friday, May 2

In the morning we visited the Forte dos Reis Magos, fortress of three wise men. It is a small white stronghold located at the beach, just north of Natal. It was built by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. For a period of roughly forty years, the Dutch had conquered the fort, since there was a lot of valuable sugar cane produced nearby. A guide explained us about the history and showed us the building. Worthwile mentioning are the torture rooms, in which prisoners went through three different stages of torture. If they survived the first two stages, they were thrown on the rocks or drowned.

Afterwards, we went to Superintêndencia de Informática (SINFO). This is the UFRN IT department that develops and maintains the university network and all software systems. Instead of buying software packages, they decided to develop everything by themselves from the ground up. Currently, their systems contain over five million lines of code and are used by dozens of public universities and a few other public instutions, like the federal police. We also looked around in their datacenter.DSC00885 DSC00881 DSC00899 2014-05-02 vrijdag

Thursday, May 1

We started our day by working on the research projects and discussing them with our supervisor.  After this, we had lunch at the hotel and went to the biggest cashew tree. While on the road, we briefly stopped next to a rocket launch base, where some artifacts were displayed. When we arrived at the cashew tree, we noticed that it is so big that we could walk through it. Although it is only one tree, it almost looks like a complete forest.  It is even equipped with WiFi.  Afterwards we drove further south alongside the coastline to enjoy the scenery. Tonight we are going to a dance show. DSC00774 DSC00792 DSC00797 2014-05-01 donderdag

Wednesday, April 30

After breakfast, we went to the Instituto Metrópole Digital (IMD), where a lecturer told us about developments in the IT educational program. In Brazil you can go to private or public universities. Public universities are in general better than private ones, but in middle school it is the other way around. As a result, most students that go to public universities are from a private middle school, since their grades are better. The IMD aims to break this vicious cycle by changing the IT educational system. Besides education the IMD also focusses on research and innovation, and start-ups. As for the start-ups, the IMD facilitates them by offering guidance and working space.
Next Tuesday we will visit one of them, RoboEduc.
In the afternoon we visited Dataprev, a software development company funded by the Brazilian government. Their main customer is the Instituto de Seguridad Social del Neuquen (ISSN). They explained about their agile software development processes. We also got a tour, and some of us even went up to the roof of the twelve-story building.

DSC_0622 DSC00762 DSC_0633 2014-04-30 woensdag

Tuesday, April 29

In the morning we visited the distribution center of Nordestão supermarket. This company has eight stores in Natal. They gave a talk about how they use IT in their business. The talk was again in Portuguese, but Bruno translated everything to English for us. They showed us how many computers and other electronic equipment are being used in their company. They also showed the software that helps running the supermarket. Think for instance of operating systems, ERP software, the graphical interface for the point-of-sale machines, and the Business Intelligence solution that runs in the backoffice. Furthermore, it was explained how the availability of their systems is secured and how the IT department plans to innovate in the near future. For example, the use of data mining to analyse all collected data is only a recent development. We concluded the visit with a tour through the supply warehouse.
In the afternoon we went back to the university to listen to Matheus Gadelha’s talk about augmented reality. This can, for instance, be found in football matches to draw a virtual line on the screen to visualise an offside situation. His research was about how to use dynamic lighting in augmented reality applications to achieve more realism. A video of a similar project be found here.
After the presentation, we quickly returned to the hotel to watch the match between Bayern Munchen and Real Madrid. In the evening we went to Ponta Negra to have dinner, while enjoying an amazing capoeira show. Afterwards we sat down on the beach to drink some caipirinhas (a typical Brazilian cocktail).

DSC_0589 DSC00614
DSC00644 DSC_0618 2014-04-29 dinsdag

Monday, April 28

Today we went to Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte. Bruno introduced us to the university and its computer science department, DIMAp. The university has a beautiful campus, where 40,000 students take their courses. DIMAp houses two undergraduate programs: Computer Science and Software Engineering. There is a graduate program as well, which houses 80 master and 45 PhD students.

We then introduced ourselves to the local students by giving a presentation about the Netherlands, Nijmegen and Radboud University. We also had the opportunity to interview the students about our research themes. They also told us they usually live with their parents and use cars to travel to the university.

In the afternoon we went to the Tribunal Regional Eleitoral (TRE). They explained about the use of e-governance, e-government and electronic voting in Brazil. The talks became more and more technical towards the end, and we finished by having a look at the voting machines that are actually used.

Our first real working day turned out to be an interesting experience, and we are looking forward to the rest of our stay.

DSC00571 DSC00576 DSC_0579 DSC00600 2014-04-28 maandag