William "Will" Linscott

2008-09 Outbound to Brazil

Hometown: Gainesville, Florida

School: Buchholz High School, Gainesville, Florida

Sponsor: Gainesville Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida

Host: Anápolis Norte Rotary Club, District 4530, Brazil

Bio

Will's Bio

Hey everybody,

I am Will Linscott, born and raised in Gainesville, FL, Tree City, U.S.A. I am becoming more and more excited about my year abroad by the minute. Even as I am writing this bio, everything is becoming more real with each word. I had not planned on being a part of the Rotary Program until fairly recently. But now that I am beginning to prepare for the year to come, it feels like I’ve known that this is what I’ve truly wanted to do for a long time.

I am 18 years old and a senior at Buchholz High School. Being my senior year, most of my time is devoted to schoolwork as of now. But in my spare time, my main hobbies are music and track. I am in two local bands in Gainesville, Chupaskabra and Send Away Stranger, and I play guitar in both. Music is probably my biggest hobby now, and when I return from my Rotary trip, I would really like to continue to do something with it. I am a captain of the Buchholz Track and Field team, and I run just about everything that is one lap and shorter, but I mainly run the hurdles. Whenever I am not running, playing music, or doing schoolwork, my absolute favorite thing to do is just chill. I love movies (usually funny movies or manly movies, you know, like 300, The Notebook, etc…), and I’m always down to read a good book. I am a pretty laid back guy with an open mind, and I am almost always up for just hanging out with my friends, even if we have no plans to really do anything. I also just realized that this is beginning to sound a bit like an online dating profile, not that I would know what one of those sounds like ...

Friends and family are very important to me, and they have helped me out a lot during these past few months with Rotary by giving their support and just letting me know that they are there for me if I ever need help with anything. I have a great group of friends that have helped me out an ineffable amount throughout high school. I am very close to my family (being an only child probably has something to do with that), but like my friends, they also have always been there to support me in any difficult or stressful times. Although I thank them for their help, they have done more for me than I can explain, and I am very thankful for how fortunate I am to have such awesome people that care about me.

Thanks for reading about me, and I will be keeping you posted as the year goes on!

September 1 Journal

Three weeks. It has been three weeks since I had my last Big Mac, three weeks since I last heard the voice of an "old" friend back in Florida, and three weeks of not looking back. Everything in Brazil has been everything I had hoped and prayed for. I arrived in a very small airport on the outskirts of a very large city in central Brazil, Goiania. My family was waiting for me outside of the doors that would not keep opening and closing as I waited for my luggage. I immediately recognized them, but tried my best not to look to avoid an awkward staring session. I finally made my way to them, a few hugs and kisses were exchanged and my host brother, Francisco, 19, turned and said with a surprisingly light accent, “You will ride with me.” We made our way to his VW station wagon, and my body instantly began shaking. I wasn’t nervous ... Francisco's car has a fairly large trunk, and it is completely filled with speakers. This will be a good year.

My first day of school was something I could not stop thinking about, and it finally came. I will try to sound as modest as possible, but imagine Brad Pitt walking into a classroom of tenth graders at an all girl boarding school. My first day was fun. I have already made some great friends here and I make more every day. My Portuguese is actually coming along petty well, and as long as people talk slowly, I can carry on a fairly decent conversation. By the way, Laura and Julie, you knew what you were talking about when you told me it would be hard not to use English. I find myself in the middle of English conversations without realizing it. I’ve found that the best way to send a hint that I’m trying to learn Portuguese is if anybody speaks to me in English, I try my best to answer in Portuguese. But it’s hard, so be careful current and future outbounds. Another thing to be careful with. . . do your best to try not to attempt speaking a language that takes virtually all of your thinking ability and cross streets at the same time, It’s a good way to ruin your exchange.

Yesterday it rained here for the first time in 80 days. I spent the weekend reading. I’ll give you a few seconds to catch your breath. I read a book in two days. I’m still amazed. The book was called Playing for Pizza. If any of you outbounds can get a copy maybe by mail whenever your parents or friends mail you something else, it’s an easy read and very easy to relate to as an exchange student. Yesterday involved me, a hammock, my book, mango trees everywhere I looked, and crisp, fresh air. Do I really need to come back home? Just kidding, Mom.

Everything that I have asked from my family, they have happily delivered. Be it a late night snack or a ride into town to meet up with friends. I’m doing my best to do everything that they ask and sometimes don’t ask of me. We are getting along great, but it still difficult to hold much of a conversation if Francisco isn’t anywhere around to fill in the blanks. But everybody seems happy here, and I feel like I am fitting in really well. This past weekend, I really started to feel less like a guest and more like a part of the family. I can’t describe the feeling, but it was one of the best that I have had in a very long time.

I’ll leave you with that, except for one little note for the prospective outbounds for next year. I did not plan on being a part of foreign exchange, ever. I thought it was cool, but had given it little thought beyond that. One of my friends called and let me know that some exchange guy, Al, was having a meeting that started about twenty minutes after the call ended. I decided I wanted to check it out. Since then the whole experience has been unreal, I have made some great friends and opened doors that I did not know existed. So if you have the slightest interest in adventure and finding something that is not necessarily better, but something that is different, check out Rotary Youth Exchange, and tell as many people as you think may be somewhat interested. If it’s not for you, then it’s not for you, but if it is for you, it is an experience you will never forget. One more note. . . I promise. Put Brazil on your top five choices, just somewhere. If you don’t get your first choice and are sent to Brazil, you will have nothing but thanks for the people who sent you there. Tchau!

October 21 Journal

I really have no idea what to begin this journal with with, so I will just start writing. These past two months have been something that I think will be difficult to describe to anybody who has not already had an experience like this. Sometimes, just when I think that I am becoming accustomed here I wake up wondering where I am. Other times, just when I think that I am getting the hang of my new second language, all of the words start to blur together into one long slur that sounds like nothing that I have ever heard before. But it has all been worth it, even now, only two months into my exchange, I know that all of the headaches, stomach aches, all the times that my friends here have tricked me into saying “I just farted” in front of a beautiful Brazilian girl...everything has been worth it. I cannot describe how it feels to realize that you have been speaking Portuguese with your friends for ten or fifteen minutes…without realizing it.

My Portuguese is really improving, and although I still don’t understand everything, I am at the point where I can pretty well fend for myself around my city. I have a feeling that I am picking up a lot of slang, but I’m not planning on writing a novel in Portuguese at any point in my life so, boto fé.

The culture here has its differences and its similarities, as I expected. But something that I did not expect was that I, at least currently, have less freedom in Brazil than I did in the United States. However, I think I am probably on a bit tighter of a leash because I am still rather new here. The good thing about this is I think that my family here actually cares a lot about me, and I already know that changing families will not be easy. My host mom had her birthday yesterday and I forgot about it…smoooooooth. BUT, I made her a really cute card after I got home from school and I am pretty sure that she loved it, it would have been hard not to. I really shouldn’t get started on all of the boneheaded things that I have done here, usually confusing words or hand gestures, but for those of you who know me well enough, you can probably imagine the awkward situations that I have been getting myself into.

So after two months here I would have to say that I am most homesick for fried chicken (the greasy fatty American type) and driving. I mean I miss my family and friends, but I can talk with them, talking to pictures of fried chicken doesn’t really get me anywhere, actually maybe that is why I am on a tight leash…Oh, and I almost forgot about Taco Bell, the things that I would do for a soft taco right now, again, let’s change the subject.

My biggest worry so far was that until two weeks ago, I hadn’t kissed one girl in Brazil. This isn’t really a problem anymore; I think that I just needed some time to get used to things here. Mom, Dad, you’d be proud of me. I am thinking about erasing what I just wrote, but I am pretty sure it is safe. But if Al wants to erase it when I send this to him he has my permission.

All in all, things here are still going really well. Every once in a while I get a touch of homesickness, but it is nothing worse than I expected. I realized I didn’t thank everybody in my last journal, so to Al and everybody in RYE Florida that made this trip possible, Thank you so much, and I will never forget what you have done for me. I will be going on a vacation to a pretty awesome place this weekend, so hopefully there will be another journal on the way soon after, and if you are lucky maybe I will send some pictures too.

Falow!