Ana

2011-12 Inbound from Brazil

Sponsor: Rotary Club of Barreiras-Rio de Ondas, District 4550, Brazil

Host: Rotary Club of Coastal St. Johns County, District 6970, Florida

Ana's Bio

I want to feel intense emotions, know different places and be fluent in other language. So, be an exchange student is a opportunity to learn, is not only about have fun, because I have to face difficulties like homesick and adaptation. Imagine living with families that you never knew or start from scratch to make friends. Is not one week, but one year that I will be here; I have to forget what's happens between my friends in Brazil and keep me busy, because if not, I'll be sad and want to go back.

I was disorganized in Brazil with my stuff, but here is not my house, I have to be organized! My parents used to say "how you can be a person here, and another there?", and I said "Moral has nothing in common with discipline".  But my way to see the things is changing, and I know that in the final of this exchange student I will have grown and matured very.
 

November 27

I was in the airport in August 11, day to farewell my Parents, my dad just cried and no reaction from my mom. I hugged them and said “ I love you, see you again after one year”, I didn’t felt sad or scary, I was curious, wishing go. This would be the first flight of my life, I was really excited to live all the experiences that was waiting for me. The door to the world was finally being open, and into in this plain was like make the fist step inside that.

I thought travel by plain was more excited, with some adrenaline, but I just felt dizzy when the plain took off and landed. I was surprised in see a metro station in the airport of Miami, I had never took one, this was the first time. When I arrived in Jacksonville my Counselor was holding plates “WELCOME TO FLORIDA ANA”, my eyes filled with tears when I saw, because I was too happy to believe that my dreams was becoming true.
The city where I will live the whole year is Saint Augustine, and I believe when people say that is one of the most beautiful cities in US, is the oldest too, with a lot of history. My first impression about here in contrast with my country is that here in US doesn't have walls around the houses and the cities are really organized and clean. The wash dishes it’s something not common in Brazil, and the sink disposal still scare me.
The Rotary made a welcome party for me and the others exchange students that are living in same town that me. In this party I had the opportunity to meet them and all my host families, including Michael, the boy from Palatka that is living with my parents in Brazil now. Hug everybody with a kiss is common in Brazil "especially when you are going to live in their houses or spend a long time together", so in the beginning here I just couldn’t accept a wave of hand, but now I understand that this doesn’t mean that people don’t like you.

The first Inbound Orientation Weekend, with all the exchanges from Florida was amazing, I made friends who I always contact to exchange experiences. The Brazilians are a big group, and we had a lot of fun making jokes with each other because the different accents we have from different regions in our country. But I hang out often with the exchanges students from my district, whose are from other countries in the world. They became good friends of mine and we have great moments like when we went in the beach once in Jacksonville, or the Inbound Weekend that my Rotary District organized.

In this weekend we had a lot of fun, they came to my town, we did tours in the old city, we took a boat, where we saw many dolphins, was fantastic! After we went in the beach and visit the alligator farm, etc... I remember the first time when I supposedly saw a dolphin here, and it was really close to me and my friends, "It is a shark or a dolphin?" we just left the water quickly.

If you ask me what I did with my host families, I can said that I went in Orlando once, to the Universal Park, or in Alaska for some days… What?? Yes, I went in Alaska, one of the most wonderful places that I have never been, a gorgeous view and the local people are very friendly. Was my first experience with snow, and now I know how this can hurt you, because it’s frozen!

The thanksgiving became one of my favorites holidays, and my host family celebrated for the whole week, a lot of people, delicious food and football. How could I not get fat in America? All the cookies and "Chicken Fill A" that I love! The time is going fast, and I don’t have time to homesick, the only I can said it’s that some days I wake up more excited than others, but I'm glad that My English is improving and that I started to understand the point of view of Americans better.