Clarissa Pereira

2009-10 Inbound from Brazil

Hometown: Santos, São Paulo, Brazil

Sponsor: Santos Rotary Club, District 4420, Brazil

Host: Sebastian Rotary Club, District 6930, Florida, USA

School: Sebastian River High School, Sebastian, Florida

Bio

Clarissa's Bio

Hi everybody! My name is Clarissa Pereira and I'm 17 years old. I'm from Santos, Brazil. And I'm living in Palm Bay with my first host family.

My Brazilian family is very different from my host family. In Brazil I don't have bothers and sisters living with me, and here I have one brother and one sister! I don't have pets in Brazil too, and here they have two dogs and two chickens! The other different thing is that I live in an apartment in Santos, and here I live in a house!

I thought that the school where I was studying in Brazil was big... Before going to school here in the USA! It's very very very big, and the students have to switch classes... In Brazil, the kids only wait for the teacher in one classroom, and the teachers change the classes. It was confusing for me on the first days but I hope I won't get lost!

I used to take dance classes in Brazil and I'm missing it here. I like to go to the beach (yes, I'm in the right place!) and to use the computer too.

I really want to know some places in the USA and I hope I could visit during this year. I'd like to go to Chicago, NYC, California, etc. There's a lot of places that I want to visit, and these are some of them...

Being here is like a dream coming true and I really hope I have a GREAT year here in Florida!

October 14 Journal

I've already completed 2 months here, can you believe it???????? Well.. October is gonna be a busy month.. and I like it!!! :DDD it's my birthday month, I turn 18 on the 29th.. so exciting!

in the beginning of the month I went to Orlando and I went to a Brazilian Restaurant, just to take a break of junk foods haha - it was SOOOOOOOOO good! oh my God, I was missing that!!

Also confirmed my trip to the West coast of the country in June.. lots of exchange students together, it's gonna be awesome, I bet!!!

I've been watched a lot of Rugby practices so far.. because my host mom is the coach in my school and my host sister plays! so I didn't really have a choice hahahah ... it's making more sense for me, though!! It's kind of fun haha. In the beginning I was totally lost, didn't get anything about the game AT ALL!!! But now I don't get that bored anymore when I watch those practices :DD It's not a game for me, though.. I'm too skinny and short and..... I don't like to get hurt!!!!!! >< hahaha

Last weekend I went to Atlanta-GA with my host mom and sister. My host sister would try-out to a South team, or something like this... It was cold there!!! (OK, not too cold, but I'm not used to that hahah :P) I wore my jacket all the time, totally different from Florida and from my city in Brazil (Santos)!! But it was pretty cool :)) As I said, I wasn't bored watching the practice and on Sunday my host mom took me to the Underground mall, that takes place where there was an underground railroad during the Civil War.. the place is so different and interesting (as you can see in the photos).. And obviously, it's totally historical ... that's where Atlanta began!

Well.. my Homecoming week is in the last week of October, near to Halloween, near to MY BDAY!!! :D Told you that it's gonna be a busy month!!! :D haha I'M SO EXCITED!! Homecoming AND Halloween are both new things for me.. we don't have neither Homecoming dance in Brazil nor that 'trick or treat' stuff.. it's gonna be sooooo cool xD 2nd month definitely passed by much faster than the 1st one, and things are finally MOST better :DD I haven't been homesick at all for more than one week, and I see it like a real good thing for me!! I'm really happy here!!!!!!!!! It feels so good...	Atlanta Underground	Brazilian restaurant
	Rugby!

December 28 Journal

I've been so happy these past months! I'm having a real great time and there's a LOT OF things going on keeping me busy, which is really good for me.. (and that's why I've been forgetting to update my journal)

So many things to talk about…

Well, I'm an adult now!! haha Turned 18 on October 29th and I really enjoyed that!!! Fortunately it was a busy day which didn’t let me be sad of being far away from family and friends… We had 'Shark Frenzy' in my school that day. That's when the girls played football and the guys were cheerleaders (veeery funny) and we had a huge bonfire too. People that I love called me that day so wish me Happy Birthday, which made me VERY happy!!!

HOMECOMING: Since we don't have this kind of dance in our schools in Brazil, I really wanted to make sure I would attend that. And I did!! I danced a lot and had lots of fun! I was missing parties like that (just to dance and have fun with friends, you know?)

My club YEO had 2 tickets for a Dolphins game and he gave it to me. I went with Shaina's mom… (by the way, Shaina is the girl is living with my parents right now in Brazil, and it was really interesting meeting her family too) The game was really exciting and it was the first time football made sense to me :P I also went to a barbecue of her mom's Rotary Club (RC Fort Pierce) and it was cool to meet more Rotarians and participate of an American culture's thing!

HALLOWEEN!! Not a big thing in Brazil AT ALL! So I wanted to make sure I would have the experience of trick or treating like the little kids do hahaha I did it with Adelaine (outbound 2010-11 going to Croatia next summer!!) and we had a great time! We went to a Halloween party at her friend's house and it was also pretty fun…

They had a Pumpkin Contest at the church my first host family used to go and I participated! It took me 3 hours to do that, and I did it by myself!! (so proud!! lol) I made a SPONGEBOB and it was really cute :) didn’t win the contest though, but it was worth for the experience (like everything I'm going through here)

NASA!!! District 6930 took their inbounds to see a space shuttle launch and it was just AMAZING! It is so crazy to think some people are inside that thing, going somewhere else…… We could also feel the shaking during the launch, so awesome!!!

THANKSGIVING: I was invited to go to Destin-FL, which is on the gulf coast, by Leelah's family. Leelah is one of the outbounds 10-11 and she just found out she is going to Taiwan next summer!! That place is SO pretty!! I was amazed by that beach, that transparent water, that white sand… I did want to go shopping on Black Friday too! Also, another experience hahaha And obviously, it was crazy!! Got some good and cheap stuff though :) I PET AN ALLIGATOR and I still can't believe that.. Nobody will believe me too, beside the Greenspans that were with me, cause we couldn’t take pictures of the moment (they were selling the pictures, and it was expensive :( ) I was freaking outtttttt! So scary!! its mouth was taped, to make it safe.. but I still was scared! That animal is so fasssst…

I went to the Prism Concert in my school and I was amazed all the time! Wasn’t bored at all.. no pauses, it made that interesting from the beginning till the end!

I just changed families 3 days ago and it was kind of weird.. I felt bad saying good-bye to my first host family, that’s when you realize how important they became to you. But I'm sure I'll have a great time with my new family too, they seem to be really nice and I'm excited to know them more…

AT THE MOMENT, I'm stuck in a Days Inn in a town called Dumfries – VA (about 20 miles from Washington DC) cause it's snowing SO MUCH and it was really bad to drive, a lot of people were having a hard time along the road, so we had to stop. Even WALMART shut down!!!!! By the way, I'm travelling with the Greenspans again for Winter Break :) And YES, we ARE wearing our ugly snow boots that we bought on Black Friday and they are being very useful! LOL Well, hopefully the weather is gonna be better tomorrow and we are gonna get to the mountains in Pennsylvania “soon”…			District 6930 exchange students getting ready to see the Space Shuttle Launch at NASA
Me and "Pumpkin" Bob :D	Addey, her friend, and I trick or treating in her neighborhood	Me having fun at the Dolphins game. FINS UP MIAMI!	Ginger Miranda and I enjoying the Dolphins' game
Ginger Miranda, who's Shaina's mom, and I in her Rotary Club barbecue	Some school friends and I before our Homecoming dance	The Cuellars (my first host family) and I on my 18th birthday	My Rotary club (Sebastian) brought this cake for me on my birthday!

February 15 Journal

Halfway gone...

I've been here for 6 months.. 5 more to go.. cannot believe this!! At the same time I want that day, when I'm gonna get to hug my family, to arrive, I wanna continue having this great time here =S

Last meeting with all the exchange students was in January, and we went to Seacamp in Florida Keys!! That place is amazing, soooooooo pretty! We did snorkeling and it was hard to me at first, but I got it and I was proud of myself in the end hahahaha we also learned a lot about the environment in a fun way, which was cool :) now all of us are hoping to meet again someday.. like in the west coast trip, that's in June :)

My school's tennis team volunteered in the Frog Leg Festival, in Fellsmere and, since I'm now part of the team, I also volunteered :) it was fun, but unfortunately I didn't have the chance to try frog legs.. :( (surprisingly I did wanna try it :P)

My district's chairman, Tracy Carroll, invited me to see a Broadway musical in the Vero Beach theatre and I just LOVED it!!!!!! It's called "42nd Street" and, since I'm really into dancing, I love musicals as well :))

I just came back from a Brazilian friend's house, who lives in Orlando, and I had a great time! Brazilians are having Carnaval right now, and I could see the parades in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro on her TV. I really miss that holiday!! That is always soooooo much fun! I got to see my favorite soccer team, Corinthians, playing also on TV :DDD I miss watching these games too :P But I'm gonna have my whole life to do it, so......

I'm just gonna enjoy myself while I'm here!!!!! :D

Me and my friend from the tennis team working at the Frog Leg Festival's parking lot

Before snorkeling in the Florida Keys

The Carrolls and I after the 42nd Street musical

June 3 Journal

Hi everyone!!!!!!!!!

These few last months have been A-MAZING! And I think what made it so good was my decision of joining the tennis team of my school. All my friends that were exchange students last year were right when they told me "JOIN A CLUB! JOIN A TEAM! THESE ARE THE BEST WAY TO MAKE FRIENDS!" Yes, I made some real good friends from that team and we are hanging out so much after the season ended... It seems like we became friends kinda late, we could have hung out so much more if we've met before.. but I do believe that everything happens for a reason and it happens at the right time. I also know that good friendships take a while to be built, it is a whole process and we are doing it right now. It feels so good when you start to make plans to visit and be visited in your home country by close friends you made this year.. It's priceless, for sure!!!!

I went to prom last month and that was really fun, very traditional too, that's why I really wanted to attend. Me and my best friends got dressed at my friend's house and we went to a restaurant in Vero Beach to have dinner after we took pictures... That was really cool, I'll keep those pictures forever! The actual dance party wasn't that amazing though.. It was just like a regular dance party, it felt like I was in a regular 15th party that a lot of girls have in Brazil.. so I guess I could say I was kinda used to all that, but it was still fun! :)

I went to RYLA too, and that was a fun experience!! RYLA stands for "Rotary Youth Leadership Assembly" and we learned some leadership skills, I would say... We made up a skit with our skit group, each of us gave 2 min speeches, pool party was reaaaaaally fun too. So thank you again, Rotary.. especially my host club, RC of Sebastian, which sponsored me. I'm so grateful I'm having such amazing experiences.

And I can't believe I'm leaving really soon!!! Don't wanna leave the awesome friends I made here, I'll miss all of them :( In less than a month I'll be back to Brazil, back to real life... Looking forward to the West Coast trip too, in 2 weeks!!! I'm having so much fun!!!!!!!!!! :D

Me and my best friends before prom!

Having fun at the pool party at RYLA!