September 1
How to tell all the things I am felling in a journal? Was the
first question that I made to myself before start writing down this journal.
It is kind of difficult cause the feelings are always changing
and each new day is a full new experience in new places and most of the times
meeting new people!
The first thing I wrote down in my diary after arriving here
was "I made it!!" Weeks before coming I asked myself several
times why I wanted to come? Why did I want to leave my parents and friends? And
the answer for all that was that I knew I would learn new things here, such as
new language, culture and life style. Once I decided nothing could make me
change my mind.
The worse part was when I had to say good bye to my parents
while I knew I would not see them for at least 8 months. I tried to be strong
and do not cry, but when I found myself alone standing in the line, with my
passport, waiting for departure I could not help myself.
It is already a month since I arrived, and Al, Sue and Kate
(my host family) are great to me. I feel at home, and actually I did not have a
hard time to feel comfortable in the house and in the family, maybe because they
gave me all the love I was expecting to receive. And as Sue always says "It
looks like I've been here since forever" and I am glad that is the way I
feel.
I am not homesick yet but I know soon or later I will be,
cause that is part of the experience.
The first day at school was kind of bad, I did not know where
I should go (even Kate and Sue, two days before school start, had shown all the
classes I was suppose to go) and I got late for all the classes. At school
people are really nice to me and I already have some friends that I hang out
with.
The orientation weekend was very nice, It was a great
opportunity to all of us, the exchange students, to meet and share the
experiences we had so far. We still keep in touch, e-mailing each other every
week, sharing the good and bad things, all the funny and embarrassing moments.
And the last thing I want to say is thanks not only for my
host family but for all the Rotarians that are always so friendly with all the
exchange students. At the first meeting I went I felt really good, all of them
would come introduce themselves and welcome me to America.
And also I want to thank Al Kalter (not as a host dad but as a
chairman), Carolin Helbig, Tom McDermott, Larry Murr, Rob Overly and Ken Weiss
for the wonderful orientation weekend and also for making this program work and
giving us the great opportunity to be here in the USA.
October 4
 Two months here!!! I really don't feel like the exchange
student anymore, now I'm the daughter, the sister, part of the family! Of course
sometimes I really miss my Brazilian family specially because a lot of things
are happening there (my parents are moving to another city, my cousin is
pregnant ;-) ), but at the same time a lot of things are happening here!
I already have friends and a social life at school, when you
first arrive you don't know anybody and then the people that you see every
single day at school start talking to you, and usually they are really nice!
Sometimes people ask me if I like Portugal, I say I really don't know much about
it, and then they say "But if you speak Portuguese, where do you
live?" my answer is always "Well I live in Brazil, and you speak
English but don't live in England".
My weekends have been really great! On Sunday (September 22)
Aye from Argentina arrived, Fer, Kathy, Ling and I were there to receive her
(all of them slept in my house in the night before because we had a party, by
the way thank you mom and dad!!!), and last Sunday (September 29) Felipe, Fer,
Al (dad) and I went to Gainesville to make a little orientation to Aye and Fer
who couldn't be in the orientation weekend with all the exchange students! We
had a lot of fun with Aye's host family, we went on a ride on a kayak in a
lake at Aye's house, and then had a barbecue, it was really fun!!!!
I'm having a great time and the most precious lesson I'm
learning is smile every day, it can sound not important, but since I arrived I
can feel the difference in my humor, in Brazil I would change (completely) my
mood from one day to another for no reason and here I'm just learning (this is
the key word for our exchange year) how to be always in a good mood! By the way
I want to thank my mom (from Brazil) for standing me and being really patient
even when I was in the worse mood possible!!
And we already have some trips planned! I'm going to
Washington DC with Fer and her host family next weekend (October 11 to 15) and I'm
really excited for that!! Then all of the exchange students are invited to go to
Daytona Beach at Tim's house, what probably will be really fun too!
Well that is all for today!! We are going out for dinner!!
Gotta go!
Bye!!!
December 18
It is almost 5 months that I’m
here, and I really really enjoy it…
Still seems like I just arrived, not that I don’t feel comfortable at home,
just because time is passing so fast!
I’ve been traveling a lot! Since
I arrived I’ve been out of town almost every other weekend… On thanksgiving
my (host) family took me to New Jersey, that was really fun because I got to
know dad’s part of the family and had a wonderful time there… Everyone
received me really good and gave me a lot of attention and love! We also spent a
day in New York City… That was really fun too. I got to see all the way around
because we went on a ride on a bus that passed everywhere. It was really cold
too, but it didn’t snow. L
I really wanted to see snow, it would be the first time ever! But that is fine
too. The coolest thing was that it
was the first time that I celebrated Thanksgiving (of course) and also the first
time that I celebrated Hanukkah (I hope I spelled it right), and I’m enjoying
everything here.
Some months ago I was missing my
family a lot, and I still do miss them, but now things are coming together and I
already have some friends at school and people that I know. From this month on I
can feel that I’m gonna have much more fun. The language is not a problem at
all, I’m a really talkative person, so even when I don’t have much to say I
make something up and actually a week ago
I was talking to my American Government teacher (Mr. Blythe) and he said that he
could see how my English improved from the beginning of his class till now (9
weeks probably) and I felt so good hearing that!
Another thing that happened last
week and, I judge really important, was the speech that I gave in my American
Government class about Brazil, I had enough courage to stand in front of all the
class and talk about a place that nobody in the room knew better than I do, MY
COUNTRY. And that made me feel really good, in the first place because my
classmates were paying attention, and asking questions, showing interest (or
pretending really well!) and in the second place because a lot of people still
have the image that Brazil is only soccer, Carnival and Amazon. And know I know
that the kids in my class don’t have this completely wrong impression anymore.
Talking about school my finals are
coming, actually the first one will be in two days… Oh! But I have something
even more interesting to talk about school… Last Friday I was in dance class
and after the class is over I always play a little bit, doing some leaps and
dancing. But this Wednesday was different… After a beautiful grand jete I stepped in the wrong way and completely twisted my left foot! Pain… By Thursday I could
barely walk, but miracles happen and by Friday I was fine… until I fell down
the stairs in my school and twist the same foot again, I felt like crying, but
instead I thought about all the bad words I knew in Portuguese and walked to my
class. Today is Monday and I’m fine… As you can see I’m the clumsy kind of person!
J
And before I finish I can’t
forget to talk about our Disney Trip, that was simply wonderful! I told my
parents that I met people from places that I didn’t even know that existed
(kidding) … Oh and if by now you are thinking which parents, my Brazilian or
my American ones the answer is both! Anyways our trip was so much fun, we got to
go in all the Walt Disney parks and that was fun… The coolest thing about
exchange students is that it takes them 2 seconds to know each other. For
example in this group we were from different districts and by the first night
that everyone met they were already talking and sharing all the good and bad
experiences and for some it was the first time that they actually talked their
native language in almost 6 months! I didn’t practice my Portuguese with the
other 5 Brazilians that were there! (saying this I can hear mom (Sue) saying
“Yeah, right!!” like she always does when I tell a little lie!)…
Well guys I guess my journal is
already way too big! So I hope you all
have fun and great holidays, don’t
matter where you are.
Merry Christmas and a Wonderful
New year!
January 26
I wrote my last journal 2 days
before my birthday, so I didn’t have the chance to tell how much fun I had on
my birthday party that my host parents gave to me. On December 20, a Friday
close to 6:30 PM, my guests started to arrive, I was really excited about the
whole thing and I end up having a great time with the 20 people that came. Mom
always tells me how not fun the parties here are, that the teenagers just sit
around and do nothing… Well that wasn’t like that on my party, because at
first I wrote on the invitation “Be ready to a Brazilian party” I knew that
it wouldn’t be the same, but end up being really nice, all my guests were
having a great time and for my surprise
all were dancing, even my mom… We all had a great time, and for sure
some American (and Chinese and Italian) kids had an unusual night…
Then New Years eve, party again, I
guess here at my house we just never stop (What is fun fun fun), there was not
as many people as on my birthday party, most of my friends were out of town…
but still the water balloon fight and the fire works guarantee a good time, plus
it was a sleep over, so there were kids all over the house as you can imagine.
The rest of my winter break was
fine, a little bit cold but nothing compared to this last week. The classes
started again, and I know that we have to learn and be good kids, but staying
home is so much better! And actually so much easier, there is no homework!!! But
what I realize was that, the time that we were out of school my English was not
coming as fluent as before and I guess that watching classes for 5 hours and
talking to people all day in English at school is the best way of keep my
English fluent, to keep it going you know? Is not that I couldn’t speak
anymore or that I have a hard time to say something is just that I guess school
helps so much on this.
About my exchange year all I can
say is that it is going by sooooo fast, only 4 months left, and I still remember the day that I just arrived from the airport, ate
Chinese food with my new family and went to the movies with a girl that now I
call my sister! Time is just going by so incredibly fast and I am glad that I am
here!!!
Oh big event coming for all of us
exchange students! Sea Camp, we are gonna go to the Keys, Yuuupiii, and I hope the weather is warmer than it is right now, but dad promise me
that it will be and if it isn’t (I’m sure we are gonna have a good time
anyway) I’ll blame him J
Oh well, Sissy wanna use the
computer so I guess I’ll just stop here…
Byyyye!!!!
February 25
This
time I’m going to start my journal a little bit different, telling a
experience that I had!
My host family hosted a girl from Ecuador two years ago, her
name is Paola, and we always talk about her, it seems like she had a great time
with them. One of the stories my host parents told me about her and her family
was that when her parents came to visit her they bought 20 pairs of shoes… It
sounds funny, why would they buy 20 pairs of shoes? By now you might be thinking
how all this relates to me… Well, I thought that they were kidding about how
much Ecuadorians love shoes, But this past Thursday I had the opportunity to see
that they were not kidding (at all).
Dad took me and Fer one day earlier to the Orlando conference,
and since he had to organize everything we had a free day to go out and shop.
And I guess I’m kind of unlucky for two reasons, first it happened to have a
Payless shoe store in the outlet mall that we were and second Fer is Ecuadorian.
And it took her forever to choose what she wanted, should she buy boots for
herself, or a purse for her mom, “But I don’t know if she likes small purses”
and when I thought that she was finally done “I don’t know if I should get
this shoes or that ones”. But after 45 minutes of “I don’t know if get
this or that” we finally walk to the cashier, with the blue, very nice shoes
and just before we pay the cashier give us the good news: “We are on sale: buy
one get the second one half price”. You can imagine that by now I was wishing
I was dead or even worse! I was wishing I was at school. More 30 minutes and Fer
and I could leave the store… With two new pairs of shoes that by now might be
in their way to Ecuador with Julio, the new Ecuadorian Chairman that was in the
USA- Canada conference that took place in Orlando this past weekend.
OK now let’s really start the journal!!!!
Oh my God, I should stop being lazy and write more frequently
because now I have so much to tell that whoever is reading is going to get
bored! Anyway…In the end of January we all had a trip to the Keys, we went to
SEA CAMP! It was just great… I guess that one of the best trips, I don’t
know how to explain all the good things I was feeling! We were about 30 exchange
students and 20 American kids from Michigan. And we all got along so well. It
was just for a weekend, not even a long one, but I have to be true to you guys,
I had so much fun, in first place the food was great, the place is just so
beautiful and all the staff is really but really nice. And we had the chance to
discuss about environmental problems… My group was the costal development and
what I thought that would be a boring thing to do (organize the presentations)
was really fun and I think my group did a great job… So I guess I have to
thank Tio Dustin (that had no clue what Tio (uncle) was) our instructor, and all
the other people that were part of the staff…
Now we are going to talk about the Orlando Conference… This
past weekend we were all invited for a Youth exchange Conference in Orlando.
Again all the 30 exchange students came and had a great time, our hotel was just
perfect. And the weather helped a lot but in the day of the conference. But it
didn’t matter anyway because we had a great time. Dad worked really hard to
get it perfect, but he did a great job. And actually we had to sing in the
conference. So when all the exchange students got on the stage and start singing
(really badly) we could see how all that people that worked hard to send us
overseas were happy and touched… As dad told me the singing didn’t matter,
because when all of us (exchange students and rebounds and Rotarians) hold hand
and sang “We are the world” it really didn’t matter our singing skills!
Another great thing was that Orlando is almost made of all
Brazilians, they have Brazilian everything (restaurant, supermarket, clubs, blah…)
and I made dad take me to dinner in a Brazilian restaurant and the funny thing
is that we end up in the same Brazilian restaurant that I celebrated my birthday
almost 5 years ago when my parents, my sister and I were on a vacation trip on
Disney! My mom would be proud of see me eating all the rice and beans that
she always begs me to eat in Brazil!
OK the very last thing I want to talk about is language…
Today I was at school talking to my friend and she told me that she would give
me the invitation for her party ASAP, and I understood it right ahead and then
in my way home I was thinking how fast we get the language. Before I come I
never knew that ASAP meant “as soon as possible”, or that IC was “I
see” or even TTYL meant “Talk to you later”… Actually one of the
funny things is that now when I speak Portuguese I am translating from English…
Nobody says “Falo com voce mais tarde” in Brazil, But when I was saying bye
I was actually saying talk to you later but in Portuguese, people were looking
at me weird but oh well… And in the Brazilian restaurant (where of course no
English is allowed) I was asking for a glass of water and couldn’t say it in
Portuguese!!! I guess that that is happening not only to me but all the other
exchange students too.
So I guess this is already long enough!!!
Talk to you guys later!!
Alê
April 13
Eight
months that I am here! In two more months I'll be going home… But I am home. I
would say that I am leaving one home and going to another! I was talking to dad
(American dad) about how I grew up while I was here. It is not about how much of
the language I picked up, or how many friends I have. It is about something more
important, something that only I can notice … I've changed so much, not the
looks, but the mind. Nobody realizes how much they are going to change until
they live what I am living! 10 months away from home and yet with a new home.
Even if I sat down with somebody and for hours explained how I changed and in
what aspects they would still have no clue.
Before I came silly things like walking by myself at school or
anyplace else would be such a big deal "What will people around me
think?" "Everybody is going to stare at me." I would say that I
am completely over all this. I am so much more secure about my personality that
what people would think doesn't bother me. It matters what I think about myself
and how I treat people, I am not saying the I've become selfish but for sure I
am more mature than I could imagine I would be.
I remember that before I came, I was talking to one of my best
friends Carol, and we were talking about one of our friends that had just came
back from his exchange year and she said "Nobody changes that much, maybe
he changed for a couple of months, but you will see that he is still the same
person he was before he left."
But I couldn't believe, I didn't want to believe, and nowadays
I know it is not like this, because some of the changes on myself are not going
to last only for 3 or 4 months after I go back home. And the main reason of that
is I've changed my way of thinking about things.
It is a great experience and I am happy to be able to share my
thoughts and feeling with people that are different from me and that respect my
opinion. It is a experience for a life time. And remember the friend that Carol
and I were talking about? He was the one that told me "Your life is going
to be divided in two parts: before your exchange year and after your exchange
year". And Fabio you were completely right! |
