Tainá Magalhaes

2008-09 Inbound from Brazil

Hometown: Santa Cruz Cabrália, Bahia, Brazil

Sponsor: Santa Cruz Cabrália Rotary Club, District 4550, Brazil

Host: Port St. Lucie Sunset Rotary Club, District 6930, Florida, USA

School: Port St. Lucie High School, Port St. Lucie, FL

Bio

Tainá's Bio

Hi everybody!!! My name is Taina Magalhaes (Tai), 17, and I'm from Brazil. I'm from Bahia, that's a wonderful state in the Northeast of my country. I lived with my dad, my mom, and my sister, in a small town called St Cruz Cabralia, with 60,000 inhabitants. It's 10 minutes away from Porto Seguro - one of the most famous cities in my country.

In Bahia, we have the best (and biggest) Carnival of the world, the most beautiful beaches and a lot of good parties!! In Brazil, I really like to go out with friends or stay with my family anywhere. I love them!

I studied English for five years, and to be in United States is a great opportunity for me to improve my English and learn more about American culture. It's difficult to believe that now I'm an exchange student. It was always one of my dreams!

I arrived in Florida almost on August 3, and I'm very happy to be here :D Now, I'm living in Port St Lucie, that is a couple of hours from Miami. I'm a senior in Port St Lucie High School, a big school with more than 2,000 students. It's so different for me, because my school in Brazil has only 300 kids.

I already stayed with two different host families in this short time I'm here. My first host family was traveling, so my second family invited me to stay in their house for one week. It was a very good experience!

In United States, it's not easy to make friends. Everything is so different, and new for me. But I'm ready to face everything! I'm sure that this will be the best year of my life!!!

Thank you Rotary for giving me this amazing opportunity! I promise that I'll do my best.

October 18 Journal

Hello everybody,

I'm here in USA for almost two months and now I'm more accustomed with the differences between the Brazilian and the American culture.

My arrival here was something that I'll always remember. My host mom and dad were waiting for me in Miami Airport, and after an 8-hour flight, I met two of the nicest and special people.

I visited a lot of places with them. We went to the beach and I loved it. I saw a manatee the first time and a baby shark.

We have three little cute puppies, and now I've got a twin host brother and sister (Cassie and John). I'm so close to Cassie, and we are like real sisters. We can have fun doing everything, including washing the dishes. John is so different from me. I think that is because I never had a brother. But this is not a real problem, because he is such a nice boy, and we laugh a lot together.

The food for me is not a problem. My mom cooks wonderful and everyday I'm more open to try new things.

One of my best weekends was in Universal Studios. We were there celebrating Cassie's and John's 11th birthday with a lot of fun rides and good emotions. In the end of the day we had dinner in Hard Rock Cafe, and everybody there was singing Happy Birthday to my brother and sister.

In my first days of class, I thought that it was almost impossible to have friends in my school. But after some days, I saw that there are a lot of nice people there, including some teachers.

I'm so happy because I'm able to teach people here about my country, and at the same time, I'm having this amazing opportunity to learn a lot about United States.

Last month all exchange students in my district went to Kennedy Space Center, and it was so good see them again.

I went to my host Rotary club, and I felt so comfortable there. I'm glad to be here in my city, Port St Lucie.

For me this exchange is becoming better everyday. I've improved my English, and I'm starting to forget Portuguese. Actually, for me now it is easier thinking in English.

I feel completely at home and appreciate what my family is doing for me.

I'm looking forward to celebrate Thanksgiving, because is something that we don't have in Brazil. Abracos e ate mais, Taina

December 29 Journal

Hi everyone!

The last two months were so special for me. I'm doing so much better at school and it's so good to have more and more friends everyday. Last month I had a lot of events that we don't have in Brazil. I participate in the Senior Pinning, and a special breakfast for Honor Roll Students.

I was volunteer in a big event in Stuart - the Air Show. I went there with Florian and his host parents, and was really fun there. We saw all the different airplanes, and a lot of presentations in the air.

For the first time, I had Thanksgiving! I could eat a lot of turkey and enjoy the Black Friday.

In December the time went by so fast. In the beginning of the month we have our wonderful trip to Walt Disney World, where we had sooo much fun! All four days were amazing! I'm so grateful for this opportunity!

My Christmas here was so happy! Two days before the big party, my family and I built a Gingerbread House, with Santa Claus and everything! But unfortunately the house fell before Christmas Day... In the 25th, during the morning we opened all presents under our tree. I never had so many gifts like that! We also played Wii a lot...in the other day everybody was so tired. During the party we had a lot of relatives of my host family, a delicious lasagna that my mom made and other things

I'm definitely having so much fun in USA! Now, I'm looking forward my trip to New Jersey and New York. I'm going on December 31st. I hope I can see snow and enjoy everything there! We are also going to a Rodizio Restaurant (from Brazil). I can't wait to drink Guarana and eat Brazilian food.

I really appreciate everything my host family and Rotary are doing for me. Thank you so much...

I'll write more next month telling about my trip. A Happy New Year for Everybody!!!! Beijos, Taina

March 29 Journal

It has been almost eight months since I arrived in the U.S., and now I can tell how much I've been learning here! In January I had one of my most exciting weekends in the Seacamp trip. Everything was perfect...the people, the activities, the place...the only bad part was when we had to say goodbye to each other. I also went to New York and New Jersey. The weather there was really cold and I was so happy to see snow for the first time! I visited the Rockefeller Center, The Empire State Building, and I saw the Statue of Liberty. We did have dinner in a Brazilian Restaurant, that is a place that my family always go when they are up north.

This month I has my first St. Patrick's Day, with corn beef and all the house decorated in green! Also, I participated in the Senior Week in my school. That week we all had soooo much fun. All the seniors went roller skating, bowling, and doing a lot of other things. By the end of the week I was really tired.

In the next week I'm going to attend RYLA! I can't wait for that, and I want to thank so much my host Rotary Club of PSL that sponsored me.

The time is REALLY going by fast. Sometimes I can't believe that is already April. I'm going to start this week my last nine weeks in my school...in April I'm going to complete 18 years of age, and I can't wait to go to my prom! I'm sure that these following months are going to be a lot exciting!

The weather in Florida is still a little cold for a Brazilian girl, but I'm sure I'll miss that when the temperature becomes almost a hundred degrees.

Beijos e Abracos,

Tainá

June 12 Journal

Being an exchange student is something that no words in the world can describe. This experience changed my life completely. I'm so used to my new culture that I don't know how it's going to be when I come back to Brazil.

I finished school already, and having my senior year in an American high school, was amazing! I went to my prom, and my host sister's. I had sooo much fun...all the decoration, the dresses, the food, the music...everything was perfect!

About two months ago I went to RYLA. RYLA was one of the best weekends ever! All the people there was really nice, and we had a lot of fun activities. We had a dance party, a formal dinner, pool parties, and we also learned a lot about different leadership aspects. We had a Speech Contest also, where Florian, Ivy and I had the opportunity to talk about our exchange program. I can't forget to talk about the quality of the food there!!! Was incredible! We ate every two or three hours.. We had more than 7 meals a day. I think I gained at least two pounds while I was there.

After that, I went to my Rotary Club, and to my district conference, to talk about everything in RYLA. I want also to thank them again for sponsoring me.

On April 16th, I completed 18 years! Being here in America on that special date, was for sure one of the best things that I could ask for. My host family and I celebrated my birthday for about 3 days. We had a special dinner on the 16th, with cake and a lot of gifts! On the 17th, we went to Sea World (which was one of the places that I always wanted to go), that was one of my presents; and on the 18th, I went to my host sister's senior prom.

In about two weeks, I am going on a trip to the West Coast of the U.S., and I just can't wait for it! I think I'm going to have so much fun, and I'm really excited to see California, Nevada, and Arizona.

Beijos e abracos,

Taina
 

July 12 Journal

Helloooo everybodyyy!

I just got back from my West Coast Trip, and it was awesome. I was in a group with 88 Rotary exchange students from 24 different countries, and I had the time of my life. We arrived in Phoenix, AZ, and I just loved the place. The vegetation there is incredible. The weather was pretty HOT! After that, we headed to the Grand Canyon, where we spent two nights. We walked about three miles, and everybody got really tired, but I would do everything again!!!

The next stop was VEGAAASS!! We had a wonderful time there!!! We saw the water show at the Bellagio Hotel, a lot of casinos, and we had a limo tour around the city at night!

On the following day, I had the opportunity to go see a Cirque du Soleil show, called "O". This show was very unique because everything happened inside a crazy pool. The water would be there one minute and the next a stage would rise up! For that reason, that show doesn't travel around the world like the other shows do, which means that we had a unique opportunity! That show was the most incredible thing we have ever seen. Sometimes the pool would get really deep, with a lot of people jumping in and one second later, the water was inches deep with performers running across it. All the performers were excellent, and we felt like we were watching something surreal. Sometimes was hard to believe that I was really there!

When the show was over, we thought we were going to get a shuttle to get back to the hotel, because it was late night and our bus drivers had to sleep early, but once we get to the lobby area of the Bellagio, there were two limos waiting for us! Everybody was so excited! It's not often that we get to ride inside a limo, in Vegas, two days in a row!

After Vegas, we went to the sunny California State!!! We went to Newport Beach, to Universal Studios (that is very different from the Florida one - there, we actually can take a tour inside the park, and see some of the studios where a lot of the American TV shows are recorded). We also went to Disneyland, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills. We saw the Walk of Fame, and the Michael Jackson star was full of flowers and letters from fans.

In our last week, we went to Yosemite National Park. When we were getting there, we had an amazing view of mountains and waterfalls. Everybody went hiking and for the first time I went rafting. It was a lot of fun!!!!

Our last city, was the beautiful San Francisco. Some friends and I went to a Churrascaria Rodizio (a Brazilian restaurant) where we had a perfect lunch. We had a tour around the city in a cable car, and it broke (it's really hard to break one of those cars).

We walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, and we took awesome pictures. In the afternoon, we headed to the Alcatraz Island, where we learned a lot about the history of the place. At night, we had a goodbye-dinner in Hard Rock Cafe (in Pier 39), and when we got back to the hotel, we had a DJ waiting for us. Our party was really fun!!!!!!! We had to elect the superlatives for the trip, and I got the "Person who would stalk a celebrity" (because I was considered the "Gossip girl" during the trip).

I didn't sleep at all that night. At 3 o'clock, when the party was over, I went to my room to pack, and I went back to the lobby to say goodbye to my friends. I was soooo sad...that I started crying like crazy! Everybody was really upset that the trip was over, and we are already planning a meeting next year.

I have now only one more week here in the United States. :/ I don't really know how it's going to be when I come back home, and I'm sure I'll miss the U.S. really much! This is my home now!!!!

I want to thank Rotary one more time, for making my dream real, and for making me a better person. I want to come back one day, and see everybody, but until then, I'll be always thinking about all my experiences, and the wonderful time that I have in this awesome country!

I also want to thank BELO USA, that organized the West Coast Trip, and say that I couldn't have chosen a better trip. Beijos e abracos, Taina