AIESEC Santa Maria

Expectations your Exchange

This document has important alignments, advices and information about the city and your

project and the MATCHING process. Please, read it carefully.

The city, Santa Maria

Santa Maria is localized in the center of Rio Grande do Sul. It’s called, due to that, as

“the heart of the state”. The city has over 275.000 inhabitants and it has 156 years old. Santa

Maria is known for being an university city. With 7 universities and the most important one,

the Federal University of Santa Maria, counting with over 25.000 students. Therefore, the city

has many young students who live and study here.

The cost of living is low, as SM is an university city, and also there are cheap places to

eat. We have a popular restaurant also, that costs $ 1,50 per meal. In our state, we have a

different type of hamburguer, called “Xis”, that is cheap and we usually eat at night, or after

parties. It costs from $ 2,50 to $ 7,00.

(left: Federal University of Santa Maria; right: “xis”)

A traditional beverage in our state is the “Chimarrão” (at the right). A hot beverage

similar to a tea, but drunk in a different way, with a metal straw and a different recipient

(different “cup”). Also a tradition in our state is the “Churrasco” (at the left). A special

barbecue we make here often.

The seasons are very defined here, with cold days during the Winter (Jun/Jul/Aug) and

really hot days during the Summer (Dez/Jan/Feb). Below you can check a graphic of the

averages of temperature here:

Our projects and general topics

Usually, our projects last for 6 weeks. The first week is planned to be a Cultural

Preparation. In that week, the trainee (you) has the chance to know a little bit more about the

city, the team he/she will be working with and the working place. We will send to him/her an

operational plan about his/her project. Take a look at it as soon as you have it and start to

prepare the material you will need here. Example: if you will give English classes, prepare what

you will teach (presentations, music, etc.) or if you will work with marketing in a NGO bring

your computer, because many of them doesn’t have one exclusive for you. The trainee will

work at least three times a week in a schedule decided with the NGO in the first week and it

must be fulfilled. In the third week the trainee has to do a report to AIESEC pointing mainly the

details about job results, planning for the other three weeks, etc. It is very important to

improve the trainee experience before its end.

Unfortunately, the internship through AIESEC Santa Maria is not for free. AIESEC is a

non-profit organization, due to that we charge the internship to make our projects sustainable.

The fee we ask makes our projects sustainable and it is used to cover our administrative costs.

We charge on 50 USD (dollars), but if the trainee wants to pay directly in reais and not in

dollars, we use a conversion of 2 REAIS for 1 DOLLAR, so you can may pay R$ 100,00 (One

hundred reais).

As any city nowadays, you have to take care of yourself every time and follow these

basic safety tips because you are a foreign and mean people will recognize you as one. So, avoid

using your cellphone when you are on the street; do not walk alone on the street at night; take

care of your money; for example. Santa Maria is not a violent city, you will love it once you are

here.

You might need to take 1, at maximum 2 buses to go to work (and the same to get back

home). Although the city is not big, not all the NGOs is close downtown. So be prepared to use

the public transportation here in the city. We don’t have subways, just bus lines. The bus ticket

costs R$ 2,60.

TN Takers and Work

As you might know, ICX GCDP is the area of AIESEC that is concerned about the

communities’ development. Due to that we have our projects to help people who really needs.

That is why Santa Maria’s NGOs and Public Schools (and some Universities) are normally located

in poor neighborhoods or in “favelas” (that are far away from the center). Be committed to the

work. It is a big responsibility and we all need to be very sensitive and do our best for people

that live in this reality because they need our care and our dedication.

You also need to be ready to adapt yourself to different situations because you will be

responsible for planning and presenting your workshops.

TN Takers and the Trainee

All our TN Takers have specific and different needs. Most of the time, the NGO or School

won’t give a list of what jobs the trainee should do. Don’t wait for it, go by yourself after it!

Be proactive, sensitive to identify those needs and be adaptable to different realities. Be

creative to solve the problems and show that the opportunity to have a foreigner working with

them is worth it. We have an operational plan, use that to think, since the day you are matched,

on activities and on jobs to apply here. Ask our help anytime!

Language

At Santa Maria, the majority of the population doesn’t speak a foreign language. In the

first days, be prepared because the communication might be hard. However, most of the time

people will be gentle and try to help you. Brazilians are definitely really generous people.

Accommodation

The project ensures Hosting during it. It means that if you want to arrive earlier or go

back later you should look for your own accommodation. You must be prepared because

adversities can happen and you might change houses during the internship.

- The place you will live won’t have luxuries, so don’t expect Wi-Fi at home, for

example. We have Wi-Fi in our LC and all the trainees can use – and also are invited to hang

out there.

- You might stay in a host family or with students or in a hostel. In Santa Maria is really

hard to find host for our trainees so unfortunately, you can’t choose where to stay. You have

to accept these kinds of accommodation we provide. We ensure that you will have the necessary

conditions to live in, don’t worry about that.

- AIESEC Santa Maria may change your HOST if there is any kind of discrimination. But,

you may lose your right to have a HOST if you violate any policy stated by the HOST, as breaking

an internal code of conduct or any other ethical, religious, cultural, racial norm. In this case,

AIESEC Santa Maria is not responsible for your accommodation anymore, and is not obligated to

find another HOST for you.

- The HOST is not responsible to give you any food. You both may define these terms at

the very beginning of your stay.

Benefits

Apart from the accommodation, AIESEC Santa Maria provides Portuguese (photo at the

right) and Capoeira classes without any cost. Pay attention: it is not guaranteed food and

transportation.

Expectations

Traveling through AIESEC in not traveling through an Agency. We expect the trainees

to be very proactive, try to solve problems and adverse situations by themselves, to understand

and tolerate cultural differences and be very communicative. It is also very important to take

part of all the extra activities of the project and also of the activities proposed by AIESEC. The

quality of your internship and your experience also depends on you! If any problem happens

you need to talk with us and together we will find solutions and continue to walk forward

together to make the project an amazing experience for all of us and for the NGOs/Schools and

Universities.

We are a team

As soon as you get to Santa Maria, you are part of AIESEC Santa Maria. The trainee is

supposed to participate in Global Village events, for example, or in other AIESEC events

assisting the dissemination of the organization and representing his/her culture and country.

Teamwork is very important and the project will only be a success if all of us (trainees and ICX

team) work hard! We want to be a team that works together but also a group of good friends.

So let’s work hard together, help each other to make a beautiful project and also, why not,

have fun together!

Before accepting to come please make sure you feel motivated to work in this project

and that you really want to come to Santa Maria. If you have any doubts, do not hesitate in

contacting us!

Matching Process

Our matching process has 3 steps to officialize your coming:

EP AN*: We will send you this document attached to the Email of Approval. After you send it

signed to us, you are officially matched with AIESEC Santa Maria.

Sincerely,

ICX GCDP Team of AIESEC Santa Maria 2014

Matheus Brondani Pasa – VP ICX GCDP

matheus.pasa@aiesec.net

+55 55 9650 1059

https://www.facebook.com/matheusbpasa

Fill out the Application Form

Wait for our Email of approval

Sing and send to us the EP AN*