**Benefits of going to the R.U.:
1. 'All-You-Can-Fit-On-Your-Plate' for R$1.50 (about 30p) per meal.
2. Decent food! No soggy vegetables!
3. Eating out for much, *much* less...
**How to enroll on to the R.U.:
1. Take your passport (not photocopies) and your original 'Matricula' Letter to the R.U. Admin Office in front of the R.U. (Round the corner from the R.U. Ticket Office).
2. They will take your documents and fill out all the necessary information.
3. You take a seat in front of a camera to the left of the desks and they take your picture.
4. You are presented with your R.U. ID card (which I think is also your UFSC ID) and an UFSC mug to use for meals. *There is no fee!!*
5. Go back outside and buy your meal tickets from the ticket office (has a price list stuck on the outside). You must buy tickets first to be able to eat inside the R.U.! You won't get in without them! You can buy them in bulk (i.e. 10 tickets for R$15 (£3ish).
6. Queue up and eat or come back whenever you want :) TIP: get there before 11:40am to beat the lunch rush. We finished about 12:15pm and the two queues were backed up across campus. Or, go there after 1pm when most people are back in class.
7. Along side asking for the RU tickets at the entrance, you must also present the ID they give you when you first apply or they won't let you in!
8. Once inside, it's very straightforward: you grab a plate, have two types of rice to choose from, followed by chips (not typical French fries but shaved), feijao (lentils in a sauce (a yummy delicacy here) and then a salad-y side thing - tomatoes and chickpeas with herbs (very delicious and typical here). There is then a dinner lady at the end who serves up the fish or meat of the day, and then you can add salad and pick up desert. Apart from the meat and fish, the rest of the food choices are the same every day and never change :)
9. The fun part is then finding a seat. The R.U. is enormous but the table builds and the layout is weird! Some tables will only have fixed seats one side, others will only have three and then there are the occasional ones with four. But there are two levels so it's fine.
10. There are juice machines (with the choice of water or two different types of juice) - this is where you need your UFSC cup. Some people take their own.
11. You have to return your plates to the kitchen downstairs. TIP: if you can't finish everything - and believe me, it isn't easy - you have to dump excess food in allocated bins. Don't do what I did and chuck the food into the wrong bin... There is one for recycled cups and paper, another for recycled food... Oops...!
Seriously give it a try! It's school dinners like you've never experienced before! If anything to get a taste for feijao for the first time or so you don't have to think about eating til late that evening.
1. 'All-You-Can-Fit-On-Your-Plate' for R$1.50 (about 30p) per meal.
2. Decent food! No soggy vegetables!
3. Eating out for much, *much* less...
**How to enroll on to the R.U.:
1. Take your passport (not photocopies) and your original 'Matricula' Letter to the R.U. Admin Office in front of the R.U. (Round the corner from the R.U. Ticket Office).
2. They will take your documents and fill out all the necessary information.
3. You take a seat in front of a camera to the left of the desks and they take your picture.
4. You are presented with your R.U. ID card (which I think is also your UFSC ID) and an UFSC mug to use for meals. *There is no fee!!*
5. Go back outside and buy your meal tickets from the ticket office (has a price list stuck on the outside). You must buy tickets first to be able to eat inside the R.U.! You won't get in without them! You can buy them in bulk (i.e. 10 tickets for R$15 (£3ish).
6. Queue up and eat or come back whenever you want :) TIP: get there before 11:40am to beat the lunch rush. We finished about 12:15pm and the two queues were backed up across campus. Or, go there after 1pm when most people are back in class.
7. Along side asking for the RU tickets at the entrance, you must also present the ID they give you when you first apply or they won't let you in!
8. Once inside, it's very straightforward: you grab a plate, have two types of rice to choose from, followed by chips (not typical French fries but shaved), feijao (lentils in a sauce (a yummy delicacy here) and then a salad-y side thing - tomatoes and chickpeas with herbs (very delicious and typical here). There is then a dinner lady at the end who serves up the fish or meat of the day, and then you can add salad and pick up desert. Apart from the meat and fish, the rest of the food choices are the same every day and never change :)
9. The fun part is then finding a seat. The R.U. is enormous but the table builds and the layout is weird! Some tables will only have fixed seats one side, others will only have three and then there are the occasional ones with four. But there are two levels so it's fine.
10. There are juice machines (with the choice of water or two different types of juice) - this is where you need your UFSC cup. Some people take their own.
11. You have to return your plates to the kitchen downstairs. TIP: if you can't finish everything - and believe me, it isn't easy - you have to dump excess food in allocated bins. Don't do what I did and chuck the food into the wrong bin... There is one for recycled cups and paper, another for recycled food... Oops...!
Seriously give it a try! It's school dinners like you've never experienced before! If anything to get a taste for feijao for the first time or so you don't have to think about eating til late that evening.