Gabriela Medeiros Nogueira – Pelotas, Rio Grande Sul, Brazil

Hello! My name is Gabriela Medeiros Nogueira and I am from
Pelotas, South of Brazil!

I work at Rio Grande Federal University – FURG. I am a
professor at the College of Education, where I teach a variety of courses in
the fields of Pedagogy and M.A. degree. In addition, I do research in the
fields of literacy and reading practices in childhood. In 2016, I had the opportunity to live one year in
Urbana-Champaign and to do postdoctoral study at UIUC. This experience, which
was shared with my husband and our three children, allowed us to learn a lot.
The city is very quiet, safe, wooded with beautiful parks, great cafés and
restaurants. In addition, because the city is a “twin cities” with
characteristics of a university town, there are always many different cultural
options, libraries with excellent books, movies and CDs, museums, music
performances, and many attractions throughout the year, including the
celebration of commemorative dates and holidays.

I can say that we were very happy during the year we lived
in Urbana-Champaign, we had the opportunity to meet people from different
countries, get familiar to the different habits and customs, exchange
experiences, and grow culturally. We also had our children enrolled in
different schools—depending on the age of your children, they are required to
enroll in different schools (Elementary School, or Middle School or High
School). So, we learned a little bit about how the school system is organized
in Illinois.

 It should be noted that the bus system in town is great. The
buses have air conditioning, have comfortable seats, and are usually punctual.
If you have the opportunity to visit or live in Urbana-Champaign, make sure you
visit the Spurlock Museum, the UIUC Campus, Crystal Lake Park, Anita Purves
Nature Center and have lunch at the Courier Café—the sandwiches are wonderful.

Uhm, I miss Champaign-Urbana already … I am looking
forward for a next opportunity to go back.

Gabriela
Medeiros Nogueira, Pelotas, Rio Grande Sul, Brazil.