UI’s newest club holds first major event, Brazilian Night
Throwing a celebration complete with food, music and dancing in less than a month is no easy task, said Gabriel Nascimento, president of the University of Idaho Brazilian club.
Not only did the new UI club want attendees to have an enjoyable experience at the first Brazilian night, Nascimento said it was also the club’s way of introducing itself to the student body as a new organization.
Last Thursday, the event sold out and more than 300 people from the Palouse region attended, according to Nascimento. The night was filled with modern Brazilian music, group singing and traditional dances.
Nascimento said he and his friends from Brazil decided to throw Brazilian Night as a thank you to UI for welcoming so many Brazilian students to the university, and to show locals of the Palouse a little bit of Brazilian culture.
Nascimento said there are 200 members of the Brazilian club and many more Brazilian students at UI. Caio Vinicius, Brazilian club treasurer, said the International Institute of Education and the Brazilian Government sends several college students to study abroad in the U.S. to learn English. Vinicius and Nascimento said more students are sent to UI because the school is relatively affordable and the English program has a good reputation.
Nascimento said when he was told he was being sent to Idaho, he was unsure of what he was getting himself into.
“I didn’t know anything about Idaho,” Nascimento said. “I googled Idaho, and I didn’t know how to say Idaho.”
Vinicius said he ran into similar problems at the prospect of being assigned to attend school in a town called Moscow.
“In Portuguese you can say ‘e-daho, I-dao,'” Vinicius said. “When we told people we are going to Moscow they say ‘Oh you’re going to Russia.’ And we’d have to say ‘No, we’re going to the United States.”
Nascimento and Vinicius said they are both traveling home to Brazil in December, and will miss Moscow because they said the community has been so welcoming and friendly during their stay so far.
Cezar Mesquita, director of admissions at UI, said the Brazilian government has a program called the Brazil Scientific Mobility Program, which is part of a larger initiative to help students study abroad and learn English. Students who are chosen are sent all over the U.S. and their government pays for their tuition, fees and living expenses. The students are also given a monthly living wage.
“The Brazilian government decided to invest heavily into its youth,” Mesquita said. “The government specifically decided to invest millions of dollars into their students, especially those in the science, technology and math fields and send these young men and women overseas to give them the opportunity to learn English and give them the opportunity to live and learn abroad.”
Nascimento said when he realized there was an influx of Brazilian students coming to UI and Washington State University, he decided to create a club to bring the students together. The club started last August and has already created a buzz on campus.
“When we got here, last year, we start to see that there is a Chinese group, a Spanish group and we start to think about creating a Brazilian group here,” Nascimento said. “But last year, there was only 30 Brazilians. But now that there’s over 200 Brazilians, we are excited and decided to start it.”
Vinicius said the club has both social and academic purposes, and intends to help Brazilians in the area feel more at home.
“We decided we have to start this club and throw parties here in Moscow,” Vinicius said. “Cause even people from different cultures like India have a solid club here.”
Mesquita said he was impressed with how well the students planned Brazilian Night and said hosting successful events and enjoying life is inherent in Brazilian culture.
“A couple years ago, CNN did an informal survey in which they rated ‘Which are the coolest people on the planet,’ and the U.S was rated number five and who was number one? Brazilians,” Mesquita said. “They love to throw a good party and the heritage of coming together and celebrating around big festivals.”
At Brazilian Night, the club served feijoda with white rice and a Brazilian vinaigrette. According to the menu, feijoda is a pork and beans stew, traditional in Brazilian culture. It originated in the mining districts of colonial Brazil, and used to be made with the skin, ears, feet and the bellies of pigs.
Thursday night’s stew was made with rib, pulled pork and pork loin, and they served brigadeiro for desert. Brigadeiro are traditional candies made of condensed milk, butter and either coco powder or coconut, served at parties and celebrations in Brazil.
The club presented five different cultural dances throughout the night, including Axe’, capoeira, catira, forro’ and quadrilha. Between various presentations, other Brazilian students took the stage and performed musical acts. One pair, who called themselves JC and Diogenes, played guitar and sang for the crowd. They played modern Brazilian songs like Zeze’ di Camargo e Luciano and Lepo Lepo. During their show, Brazilian students crowded together to sing and dance along, filling the Student Union Ballroom with music and cheers.
At the end of their presentation, they played a song called Dom Xama, which translates to “Angel Song” in English. All the attendees gathered together in the middle of the room and started dancing and singing along in a big crowd.
Danielle Wiley can be reached at [email protected]