On the whole, young Brazilians are very active on social media, particularly Facebook and WhatsApp. You may find yourself spending more time on social media than you typically do at home, whether it's to stay in touch with your new Brazilian friends, get the scoop on this weekend's events, or even communicate with your professional colleagues. Feel free to set your own personal boundaries on when to add or accept friend requests, but keep in mind that WiFi-enabled communication is usually preferred (Brazilian cell phone plans are more expensive, and few have unlimited or extensive data plans.)

Because dropping an accent frequently changes the meaning of a word, it is not very common to drop accents while typing in Portuguese, even when typing informally. Brazilian keyboards are better equipped to help users type the ç, õ, é, and à accents we English speakers never use. We recommend enabling a Portuguese keyboard on your phone and learning the accent shortcuts on your computer’s keyboard! Spend some time practicing and you’ll slowly become a pro.