Ana Laura Nobre

2009-10 Inbound from Brazil

Hometown: Brazilia, DF, Brazil

Sponsor: Brasilia Norte Rotary Club, District 4530, Brazil

Host: Ponte Vedra Beach Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida, USA

School: Ponte Vedra High School, Ponte Vedra, Florida

Bio

Ana Laura's Bio

Hey everyone! My name is Ana Laura Nobre and I am 17 years old. I am an exchange student from Brasilia, which is the capital of Brazil. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country. It has a population of about 2,557,000 (3,599,000 in the metropolitan area) making it the fourth largest city in Brazil. When seen from above, the main planned part of the city’s shape resembles an airplane. I live with my wonderful family, my parents Ana Claudia and Cesar, and my only brother, Pedro, who is 18 and also was a Rotary Youth Exchange student in Traverse City, Michigan.

As a Rotary Youth Exchange student, I am living in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Ponte Vedra Beach is a small resort town of about 40,000 people. It is located in northeast Florida about 12 miles southeast of Jacksonville and 30 miles north of St. Augustine. The town is on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intercoastal Waterway and is known primarily as the home of the Players Championship Golf Tournament.

I am attending Ponte Vedra High School, the Sharks, as a junior. There are approximately 1,200 students and the school day begins at about 9:15 am and continues until 3:45 pm. Also, I have volleyball practice after school and when the volleyball season ends the basketball season starts, which is my biggest passion!!! During my time in Ponte Vedra Beach, I will live with 3 amazing host families. The Calvarusos, LaPortes and Fehlings.

To become an exchange student wasn’t the easiest decision that I had taken, but a year of new experiences, new language, new culture, new friends and family members is what every single 17 year old should do! Thank you Rotary to provide me the most amazing opportunity that I could ever think about!

January 6 Journal

We are almost half-way of our exchange year and it really scares me! Time is going really fast and seems that each day is getting better! My English is improving and since I arrived in Florida, almost 5 months ago, I have been doing a lot.

As a Ponte Vedra Shark, I played volleyball for a few months, and for about two months ago I made varsity basketball. The experience of playing my favorite sport in the best country in the world in basketball was amazing. My name was in the newspaper at St. Augustine as "players to watch in St. Johns County this season" and it made my excitement even bigger. However, about a year and two months ago, I tore one of my knee’s ligament and after starting playing basketball again my knee got worse. Unfortunately, I had to quit the team and now I’m doing physical therapy.

As a Rotary Youth Exchange Student, I have done RYE presentations with some others inbound students to help make this program become better known at Ponte Vedra High School, Pedro Menendez High School and Clay County High School. Also, we helped in the interviews of 2010- 2011 outbound students and I am attending my Rotary Club meetings two Thursdays mornings each month.

By the way, I’m so happy to be hosted by District 6970. Besides the Inbound Orientation and Disney World trip where all the RYE Florida students attended, we have got together other times: St. Augustine weekend, Halloween party at Alvin’s (from Denmark) house and New Years Eve party at Leandro’s (from Argentina) house. Also, I would like to thank the Rotarians and all the host families that make this program possible. A special thank you note to Al Kalter, Jody Davis, Paula Roderick, Bill Learn, Louise Anderson, Daphne Cameron, the Calvaruso family (my current host family), the LaPorte and Fehling families, the Starks (they hosted me in the St. Augustine weekend) and the families that hosted the parties, the Glogers and the Shacters.

As I said in my bio, becoming an exchange student was not an easy decision, but arriving in Jax airport 24 hours after I left Brasilia and see an enthusiastic and smiling people (my host families, Rotarians and also Ponte Vedra High School Interact Club members) was very exciting! They all were holding up signs and little Brazilian flags, making me feel really good and welcome.

Since the really beginning I realized that I did the right thing. As a tourist, I have been in Florida twice before, but as a Florida resident everything is so different and every single thing exceeds my expectations.

I got to do fun things during my time here, as samples going to the beach almost every weekend when the weather was warm (I live right next to the beach), hot tub in the club at night, bowling, some parties, a few weekends in St. Augustine with friends, high school games, Gators football and basketball games in Gainesville, Jaguars games, I went on a cruise to Bahamas, South Beach and Palm Beach.

Since my arrival in Florida I have already noticed a lot of changes in me. Start all over again, learn how to make smart decisions, to actually be responsible, to not waste opportunities and become more open-minded are some characteristics that for sure will help me during my entire life. It’s weird to think how much can we change in a short time and how mature we are all becoming.

I guess that is it for today! Once again, thank you Rotary for the opportunity! :)