Semaine 1

Bonjour tout le monde !!! This was the first weekend in France !! Finally I'm in France ! The first week was pretty cool because I just had to fill some papers and to deliver then to some people so I've had a lot of free time to visit Paris and Palaiseau and cold take pictures like the following

in the Louvre museum.
When we arrived at École Polytechnique there were a little bit of snow in the ground of the last week yet and it was pretty cool because I've never seen the snow, so it was really exciting. There are many differences from X and from other Brazilian universities like UNICAMP. I think that one of the biggest differences between the two universities is that since from the very start the french people tell us the honor to study in this university and our responsibilities with the tradition and the name of the school what I think that it is really necessary for new students start to understand what means to be in this university and what they should do to keep the tradition of the school. Other difference is that X is proud of being X like you can see in the following picture that was taken in the main hall

I think that universities in Brazil should have this love and proud for themselves and teach the new students to be proud of the university and keep its traditions.

This week I also saw the 850 years of Notre Dame what was really beautiful and cool because the organ was playing and they played all the bells and sang on Latin so it was really beautiful.

Changing a little bit of subject now I would like to say that I meet new people from other countries like China, India, Vietnam, Chile and Peru and they are really cool and my studies here will be different with different people and it is really exciting.

Well, to finish this post I would like to say that all my effort for being here was worth it and that this university has a really good curriculum and students and I'm glad for studding here.

Now I have to go to the welcome barbecue, a bientôt !

 

Water Rocket Launch

Hi everybody ! Today I will talk about a new thing, today I will talk about water rockets. Water Rockets consists in a base built with PVC pipes, a soda bottle and an air pump. You can see the schema of a water rocket below

The following link there is a more detailed description on how to build your own launch base. Water rockets are really fun and you can learn a lot from them. There is a cool water rocket video bellow and it should have taken a lot of time from the guys who built it.

And bellow you can see our less powerful but even cool water rocket that looks like more with a coke bottle than with a rocket

Well that's it for today, see you in the next post !

Last Week in Brasil !!

Hi Everybody,  just one week lasting and my visa arrived !! I will get it in the consulate on Monday and I hope it lasts more than one year, because all my friends took visas for just one year, so they will have to renew it next year and I don't want to do the same.

This week I finally finished my Physics Simulator using OpenCL and OpenGL interoperability. It is called CLGLSim and by now it just simulates particles interacting under gravitational force, but I want to implement also electromagnetism equations and be able to simulate many other physical systems using particles. There is a video of CLGLSim in action colliding two galaxies below.

This video was taken in a dual core x86_64 computer and I would like to run it on a GTX 680 or on a HD 7970 to be able to use the tera flop capacity of these GPGPUs and to see what CLGLSim can do. If you are reading this post and have a graphics card or another OpenCL device try to run the CLGLSim and tell me the results. The source code of CLGLSim is available for free at https://github.com/tlgimenes/CLGLSim and it currently runs in Linux and Windows, but if somebody asks I can write a version for OSX too.
This is a cool simulator and it is pretty good to see the particles moving in a gravity field.

Well, this is it for today, and I need to fill some forms yet and get ready because next week Je vais etre en France !!!

Au revoir !

Visa Taken

Hi everybody ! Today I went to the French embassy to take my visa and everything worked well. I will have to return there mid January the get my passport back. The French embassy is at Paulista avenue and today it was happening the São Silvestre marathon that started when I arrived to the embassy. It was pretty cool to see those people running dressed up like superheroes and many other things.

São Silvestre street race in São Paulo.

The São Silvestre street race is one of the most famous street races in the world and started in December 31, 1925 and it has never been interrupted during its history, not even for the duration of the World War II.
I would like to wish a happy new year for everybody and that 2013 will be an exciting year with many things to study, to visit and many new friends !

Last month in Brazil !!

Hi everybody !! This is my last month in Brazil and I still have a lot of forms to fill and I have to take my visa yet !!
My admission letter is about to arrive and I need it to take my visa, at least I completed the cycle at Campus France.
The last month is something strange, at the same time that  I want to arrive soon at France to meet my new friends and my new school I still have to say goodbye to many people that I would like to see and that I will miss next year, like my parents and the guys that live with me at Campinas.

First Post

This is the first post and the preparatives in Brazil have already begun. I'm still filling out the endless papers and by now I'm far from finishing then.
My flight is booked for 28 January 2013 and I'm pretty exited about the whole thing and I can't wait until I know my new friends.
What is sad about going to study in another country is to leave all of my friends and family here, but life goes on and I hope that the level of "awesomeness" of France will be very high !