JUCA (Communications and Arts University Games), is a big event! Students always get very anxious to go for it for the first time. Some love it and some hate it. But one thing seems to be certain: Juca is an event you should go at least once in your life.
Geovanna Alencar Afonso, Public Relations sophomore, tells a little bit about her experience. She went for JUCA in 2015, in Araraquara, in her first year of college, and she’s going again this year, in Sorocaba. Geovanna said she had a great experience, despite some situations like facing a huge line to take a cold bath or “sleeping” in stiff air mattresses and wake up the next day with backache. For her, the experience is worth because of the people you meet there, once you can chat with students of other communication universities and also refresh your mind and get out of Casper’s enviroment. “It’s so worthy to go at least once to know how it is. Not only the parties but the games are very exciting. When I’m cheering I do it with all my heart for Casper”, she says.
Julia Braun is a Journalism senior and Casper’s athlete. She plays basketball as a center (pivô). She went for every Juca since 2013, when she was a freshman in college. For her, there’s nothing like the feeling of being in the field. “It’s amazing to have to whole college cheering for you”, she says. Despite the adrenaline, Julia confesses that she doesn’t know if she’d go to Juca if she weren’t an athlete. She explains that there’s is a difference of going to Juca as a student and as an athlete. “We stay in separated rooms, that are a little bit more silenced. The bad part are the bathrooms, they get too crowded”, says. Students usually stay in places that don’t have enough structure to receive the big number of people. Also, athletes usually don’t drink or go to parties, because they never know when they’re going to play, and need to preserve their bodies and minds. “It’s a whole year’s preparation”, she explains. To Camila*, Juca wasn’t a good experience. She went for Juca in 2013 and in the occasion she came home earlier, one night before the end of the event. “I was tired, cold and disappointed”, she says. The student consider herself a cheerful person, but she didn’t fit in. “I thought that everything was very messy, very disorganized. Everybody was so drunk… and there was a lot of vomit and drugs too. It was a shock for me”, remembers. She says that what bothered her most was the feeling that her parents were paying the price for her to be there drinking instead of going to the games. “That’s my opinion, but I think that no one thinks the same”, says.
*The student didn’t want to identify herself.