Asia Grant

2008-09 Outbound to Brazil

Hometown: Jacksonville, Florida

School: Bishop Snyder High School, Jacksonville, Florida

Sponsor: North Jacksonville Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida

Host: Belo Horizonte Barro Preto Rotary Club, District 4760, Brazil

Bio

Asia's Bio

Hi!! My name is Asia Grant. I am 16 years old and I am a sophomore at Bishop John J. Snyder High School.

My family consists of my mom (Stacia), my 2 brothers (Janard, Trevelle) and my sister (Kierra). Of my mom's four kids, I am the baby.

At my school I run track. I absolutely love track. I have been running since 7th grade but most of the time it seems like much longer. I didn’t really know how much I loved track until my mom told me I might not be able to run this year. I was devastated. in track I run the 100 meter dash and the 200 meter dash. I also run the 4-2 and long jump. It is such an amazing rush just to know that it is a competition and that you can affect it positively or negatively because it is a team sport. My goal for this year is to get more personal records or at least improve my speed and height without getting hurt like in the last 2 years. I really look forward to it every year.

Family and friends are very important to me. It is a good thing because, as an exchange student, I will meet new people in both categories. Oh yeah, did I neglect to mention I love to eat!!! That is also good because I am open to many new things. I am so looking forward to being an exchange student. The chance to learn a new language and hopefully make a positive effect on many peoples lives. This is definitely a chance of a lifetime and I can’t wait to explore and see what awaits me.

August 25 Journal

Oi!!! I have been in Belo Horizonte, Brazil for 2 weeks. I love it here so far and I hope it only gets better.

My family is great and I couldn’t have asked for a more loving family!!! My mom is a sweetheart, my dad is awesome and funny. My sister Bruna is soooo cool and she answers any questions I ask her without any problems. Now... for my little brother, he's kind of shy but is warming up to me a little more everyday.

My school is also cool. I don’t understand the language well enough to know what’s going on in school classes yet but I like it so far. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that I get out at 12:45 either!!

I have been to two Rotary meetings so far and it's like any Rotary meeting, I guess, for a teenager. The people here are also very people friendly. I just love it. I’m not homesick yet, so that’s also a plus in me liking it here.

Tchau!!!!

September 26 Journal

Oi!!!

I have been in Belo Horizonte for 7 weeks now and I am still loving it!!! I forgot to write this last time but my first week here I went to Buzios Beach in Rio de Janeiro and it was amazing!! BH (Belo Horizonte) doesn't have a beach so we had to drive 7 hours to go and we stayed for 5 days!! I have also been to 2 Cruzeiro games (soccer team). They have been great and very....interesting to say the least!! I have been to 6 Rotary meetings and next week I get to read the prayer for the meeting!! I'm very excited and kinda nervous because I’ve seen the prayer and there are some haaaard words to pronounce but I’ll make it...I guess!!

Last weekend I went to my first Brazilian casamento (wedding) and it was very interesting too!! Also very different from the usual American wedding. My boy cousin got married, I had a blast!!

In school last Friday I had to give a presentation on where I’m from (America, Florida, Jacksonville, my school, RYE Florida). Don't worry, I did an excellent job and I brought in many different things from America to show and the class loved it. There are 3 other exchange students in my class and one other in our school so it's not really a big big thing that I’m an exchange student, plus I was the last to come. But it's still kind of new to them having a kid from America here I guess, because they always ask me questions about school, like is everything in the American movies true. They really believed everything was true in the movies!!!

As many exchange students can tell you, I’ve been to a lot of Rotex parties and they are amazing!!! I thought they were going to be boring and.... Boring! !Lol but every time I go to one it surprises me how fun they are. You meet kids from all over the globe and it's just wonderful to see how everyone interacts. It's kind of sad that this is the only year I will see these people and I love them all already!!

Now these 7 weeks, even though they have gone past really fast, have not been all fun and games. I have been very stressed at times trying to learn this language as fast as I can and having to deal with being away from my family and friends. Even though my family here is extremely nice, there are times when I feel as if they’re judging me because I don’t know Portuguese too well and I’m not learning it fast enough for them. So I am trying to cram all of it in and to tell you the truth... It’s not too good for me. The Rotary Club has arranged for a Portuguese lesson every other Friday, and I went to one already and it was great, and I feel if I keep taking the class then I should have no problems here. The one for tonight was canceled because of the rain (a totally different story!!!! Not so good day lol!!) The other students in my class are very helpful and they try to teach me Portuguese when ever they can and I love them for it. My teachers are great also and sometimes helpful. The most helpful I would have to say are the other exchange students and the Rotex, because they understand what it feels like to be away from everyone you know and having to switch to a whole new world, and they are also great to talk to. They are trying to learn this language too, so the words you do know you use them all the time with each other and help one another.

This experience is changing my life already and I’m liking the changes so far; it can only get better!!! Oh yeah my little brother..... He opened up!!!!! We play together now and he helps me read his little books (he's 6) and he also shows me off to his play friends whenever they come over!!! So.... Until next time,

Beijos e abraços

~*asia*

October 18 Journal

Oiiiiiiii!!!!!!!

OK I’m still loving Brazil now and everything has gotten a lot better since I last expressed my thoughts. I now have 2 Portuguese classes, one I go to every Thursday so that’s better than every other Friday and the other one I go to ends in November so that’s good. The new school I learn Portuguese at is called Luziana Lanna!!! It really is a good school and me and about 7 other exchange student take classes there and during our year as exchange students we will learn Portuguese by offering our services to kids 12-18 who come from good families but can’t afford the school. The school is associated with the program and we talk to them in a little English and they speak to us in Portuguese and at the end we all will receive a document signed by Brazil that says we offered our services and it can help us get into better colleges, and it's said to be a great honor for our countries. Only Brazil has this, so I’m really lucky!!!!!!! We will record videos of our sessions but for now we are in the classrooms. We only had 2 classes and during the class we can only speak in Portuguese - if we speak in English we have to put money in the container!!!! I talked in English twice my first class!!!!! Come to find out she told us about this little rule earlier in class but I didn’t pay attention!!! Lol.

I’m not stressed at all now and I feel like I am connecting more and more with my family and people at school.

Last Saturday (Oct. 11), I went to the our district orientation. I am in district 4760 and there are about 50-70 students in our district!!!!! At the orientation I met with like 3 or 4 other exchange students I met up with from the airport in Dulles, Washington. So we were happy to see each other again and talked for a while. There were so many kids from the United States and Canada they had to separate us into two groups!!!! It was amazing to see all the other exchange students from all over the world and know that we are all sharing the same experience... And together. After the orientation most of the exchange students and all of the Rotex went to this little place called Afrodick and chilled there most of the night!!! We took up the whole upstairs - it was about 100 or more of us because we invited other students from the other district and friends came and it was just a wonderful time there with all of them!!!

The next big event on my itinerary is the infamous Rotex costume party!!! Next Saturday (Oct. 25). As far as I know everyone knows about it and everyone will be there!!!!! Kids from my school who are not even with Rotary know about it and when I first got here all the exchange students and Rotex were telling me about it!!! I can't wait and I still have to find my costume, I’m going this week before all the good ones are gone and I’m stuck being a little red rose or something like that!!!!

I change host families in November sometime and I don’t know who I am going with. They told us that we switch after natal (xmas), then 2 weeks ago they said before xmas, then last week my dad told me November!!! I knew both of my next host families but now they are not hosting anymore students so now I don’t know anything, and the inbound coordinator didn't know anything about it 2 weeks ago and she was not at the meeting last week so I don’t know if she knows now but it'll be alright!!!

I don’t get to talk to my family back home much because of the long distance but it's ok. I tried to explain to my mom about msn and skype but....i don’t think she gets it much!!! Still not homesick so that’s a great sign. A couple weeks after I got here, me and another exchange student were talking and I was like "Why don’t I miss my family??? I love them and we were very close why am I not missing them????” Lol. I felt kinda bad about not missing them but I got over it in like 3 minutes!!!

Well I’m having a wonderful time here with my family and school and my host club and other exchange students. Sometimes we all go get açai!!! Its a fruit made into this kinda ice thing. It's pretty good. So don't worry about me mom!!!! Lol.

So until next time...... Tchau!!! P.S. Obrigada Rotary!!!!!!!!!!! Beijos e abracos, ~*Asia~*			Host sister Bruna
Orientation	Friends	On our way to get ...	...Açai!
Belo Horizonte at night from my window	At Buzios Beach in Rio	With my family at a Cruzeiros soccer game	Rotex party!