Natalia "Nati" Gasques

2007-08 Inbound from Brazil

Hometown: São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, Brazil

Sponsor: São José do Rio Preto Norte Rotary Club, District 4480, Brazil

Host: Ormond Beach West Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida, USA

School: Seabreeze High School

Nati's Bio

Hi everyone, my name is Natalia Gasques (Nati), I come from Brazil and I am 17 years old. My school is Seabreeze High School and I am a Junior, my school is very big and I like it very much because my school in Brazil is too small. I like sports, my favorite is basketball.

I like Florida. It is very beautiful. I love my host family, they are wonderful to me, helping me all the time. I have two host sisters, one is 13 years old and one is 11 years old.

In Brazil I have one younger brother, he is 15 years old. We live with my parents Adriana and Luis Antonio in Sao Jose do Rio Preto in the state of Sao Paulo.

Here, I live in Ormond Beach, my host club is Ormond Beach West and my home club is Rotary Sao Jose do Rio Preto.

I am very happy to be an exchange student and I want to thank Rotary. Thank you very much!

October 4 Journal

It's been 2 months already...time has gone by so fast. I can't believe it!

I am so happy, because now I am a cheerleader. In, Brazil we don't have cheerleaders and I've always wanted to be one!

School.. I enjoy my school, I love my school here, it is so different. I have many friends and I have fun all the time. I wake up at 6:20am and my classes begin at 7:30 and finish at 2:45. It is very different in my country because my classes begin at 7:20 and finish at 12:20. Students in Brazil have their lunch in their house. I love going to the Seabreeze football games...we have a great team. I also belong to the Interact Club. My classes are Art, PE, Math and English.

People.. The people here are so different. In the beginning it was very difficult for me, especially in school, because the people in Brazil are very affectionate. It is different here, but now I am used to it because I am an "American Girl".

Food.. I remember my first and second week here. I didn't like anything and now I love everything here. I eat all the time hahaha, every food here is so good. My favorite American foods are macaroni & cheese and Cheetos!

I am enjoying everything here, and I will have a great year. I am very happy! The things that I enjoy doing with my host family and friends are putt putt golf, going to the movies, shopping, spending the night at my friend Katie's house and watching "The Bachelor" with my host mom. We have decorated our house for fall and I am looking forward to my first American Halloween and Octoberfest!

Thank You :-)
Nati

November 29 Journal

Hi everybody,

Since the last journal a lot of things happened in my life here. My first game as a cheerleader went awesome! I am feeling so happy, because all my life I saw in the movies the cheerleaders and I think that is so cool and now that I am a cheerleader is really awesome. My first game went pretty good but I am now a basketball cheerleader and that is pretty cool too.

I went to the University of Florida Gators for a game of a volleyball. It went perfect... this university is awesome! It is so big! The game was pretty fun and I had I wonderful day. I went with Yok, and a man in her Rotary club invited us. It was one of the best moments I have had here and I loved everything there especially the cheerleaders hahahahaha.

Homecoming, went really cool, it is really different from the parties in my country. I had a lot fun there together with my friends is really cool. After homecoming I slept at my friend's house. I went with a lot of girls that are my friends.

Halloween... my first real Halloween. In my country we have Halloween but is only a small party. It is not popular and people don't do anything on this day. Here it is so different that's really cool it is so much fun I had so much candy, the houses are so cool and my house was the best ever that I saw. I dressed up as a "Flapper" with a red dress.

I went to Orlando to the Mall of Millennia with my host parents. We had a lot of fun and the mall was great! We went to the iPod store and had pizza and bought new winter jackets.

Well, last week I went to Cleveland, Ohio for Thanksgiving. It went great. I think I saw all my host family there or almost all. The day of Thanksgiving was very cold and we had great food. We got up early and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. It was so cold that I even saw snow for the first time in my life! It was so cool! I loved the snow! The day after Thanksgiving we got up at 4am to go shopping on "Black Friday". I went shopping with my host sister. It snowed that day too. Also, in Ohio I had my 18th birthday. My host family came over for a birthday cake and party. I got lots of presents and we went to Dave & Buster's. It was so much fun and now I am an adult!

So that's it. I had a good month and a learned a lot of English too. I can't believe when I arrived here I didn't speak any English and now I think I am pretty good, and I am really happy for this. I want to say thank you to everybody for this.

So, in 1 month I did a lot of different things and next week we are going to Disney World. I am pretty excited, it is my first time too and going to Disney is my dream. I am sure it is going to be a lot of fun.

Okay that is all for now. Bye, Nati

January 31 Journal

Hello everyone

I am so excited since the last journal so many things have happened to me. First of course I went to Disney World, OMG was awesome there. It was my first time, I had so much fun. I can't tell you what I am feeling there is no way to explain the best thing I've ever experienced and I am sure I enjoyed it because I was with my friends.

Christmas, my first Christmas without my family, and it was really different. I had so many presents and it was really cold too, hahahaha in Brazil it is so warm in December and very different. We all went to Gramma's house for Christmas eve and Christmas day we stayed home and we ate a big Christmas dinner.

In January I went to Atlanta Georgia with my host mom and sister. It was an awesome girls only weekend we had so much fun hahaha. We talked a lot and sang in the car it was so much fun we stay there 4 days in my other host sister's house, we saw snow but in this time much more snow than I saw in Cleveland, I am so glad I saw snow twice and I hope to see it again before going back to Brazil hahahahahah

In late January I also went to Seacamp in the Florida Keys with the other inbound exchange students, OMG it was awesome there, really I've never had so much fun in my life. I learned a lot there and I had a lot of fun with my friends, we saw so many different things, and we swam and snorkeled in the ocean and I saw many animals really close up. We saw dolphins, starfish, several variety of fish it was really exciting :) We had a party and dance too, hahahah, OMG I danced a lot and I have a lot of fun with everybody and talked and joked with everybody after the party we were all so tired hahahahaha we are awesome together!

Now I am back home and back to school and I miss everyone so bad :( Exchange students are like a family, we are friends, we are brothers and sisters and when I am with them I feel so good and so happy. They are the best friends ever, they are people you can trust, they are everything to me, and sometimes this makes me sad because we have only few months together before we all go home.

So when I think about leaving, that is when I try to enjoy everything here that much more. This year to me is unforgettable and is the best thing to happen to me and I only want to enjoy it more and more. And I want to end by saying that Rotary Exchange has changed my life forever, for better, a lot better and this makes me happy !!!! :D

So it is all ! :)
Nati :D