First Day at the Office

Working Girl at Deloitte Brasil

It was time to start what we actually came here to do -work. We had to be at the office at 9 am so we all had breakfast downstairs at the hotel and then Laura's buddy drove us to the office, which is very close. Actually, we didn't begin at the office but rather a nice club across the street where we had a presentation about Deloitte Brasil (Deloitte is actually pronounced "deloy-ch"). At this point they started pointing out all the differences and the safety concerns they had with us being in the city and I realized I was not in Illinois anymore (or the USA for that matter because I was working on the Fourth of July). They even singled me and the other girls out saying the blondes will not blend in.

After the presentation we met our buddies and mentors and got coffee and rolls. This was the hardest part of the day for me because of the ever increasing language barrier. We all mostly understood what each other was saying but it was just hard to keep a conversation going. By far this was the most out of place I have felt, except when everyone in the office makes a joke in Portuguese and I am the only one not laughing or I try to laugh but everyone knows I am faking- I feel more out of place then. The culture shock was really getting to me but I tried to treat this as an adventure and a challenge and plan on studying and soaking in as much Portuguese as I can.

The partner eventually came in and talked to the audit interns (there are three of us) and then we went to lunch. Lunch was really nice because I was at the same table with an ex-pat from LA so I could talk to him about the differences in Deloitte US and Deloitte Brasil. Talking with him was very comforting and we got to laugh about some of the cultural differences.

After receiving a tour of the Deloitte building in Sao Paulo, which was quite a bit smaller than the Chicago office, my team headed to our client. Everyone was so welcoming (seriously, since the moment I stepped off the plane they have done everything in their power to welcome me) and I got to meet the partner on the team as well. I didn't actually do any work today because all the workpapers were in Portuguese and therefore rendered me useless, but I did get the flavor of working in Sao Paulo and Brasil.

After work I took a shuttle back to my hotel (you are not supposed to walk on the street with a laptop) and at 6:30 all the interns met in the lobby to go out for dinner. Here is the roll call:

• Laura, Detriot, tax
• Erik, Chicago, consulting
• Johanna, Chicago, consulting
• Jessica, New York, audit
• Frankie, South Africa, consulting
• Chema, Grenada, audit
• Miguel, also from Spain, who had to work very late and was not able to join us

My Brazilian Family

From left: Johanna, Laura, Me, Erik, Jessica, Chema, Frankie

The front desk suggested an Italian place and had the complimentary shuttle take us there. Once there we got four pizzas to split and got to know each other. It's always interesting talking with people from other cultural backgrounds and we had a great time comparing life in our homes to Brazilian life. We also established that from now on we are meeting in the lobby at 7 for dinner every night and becoming a Brazilian family.

The night ended with a few of us playing cards on the rooftop patio of our hotel and then coming back to my room to watch an episode of The Office (it is very hard to find American TV in the hotel but I brought some DVDs from home to keep us entertained).