Sao Paulo - Post Report Question and Answers
Is it easy to make friends with locals here? Are there any prejudices or any ethnic groups who might feel uncomfortable here?
I have not made any overt effort to make friends with locals. Quite a few of the African-American Consulate officers will tell you about various instances of day-to-day racial discrimination in Sao Paulo, so racism is definitely alive and well in Brazil. Asian Americans of East Asian decent will probably be confused for being Japanese-Brazilian. Microaggressions and other odd and somewhat racist behavior towards Asian American officers are certainly not unheard of, but seemingly not as crass and soul crushing as some of the experiences African American officers have suffered through here. For Hispanic Americans, your experiences will probably vary depending on your roots, but given the situation in Venezuela, prejudices against Venezuelans can definitely be quite strong in some parts of Brazil. - Jun 2024
Lasting friendships, no. Passing friendships/acquaintances sure. Even the local students at the schools are not very open to spending time with expat students-but that seems to be a common theme in this adventure. - May 2021
No. Easy to talk to people and chat on the street but hard to build sustained relationships. - Apr 2021
Very easy if you put in the effort. Brazilians love foreigners! - Aug 2019
