 Ola!
My name is Sarah McIntyre. I am a Rotary Youth Exchange student. I'm
currently at Fletcher Middle School but, I will be spending my first year of
High School in BRAZIL! I am 14 years young. I live in Jacksonville Beach,
Florida all my life. I have traveled outside of the Untied States for
vacation but only to Canada and Mexico. That's why I cant wait till I go to
Brazil. I have one sibling and that's my 16 year old brother Alex. Alex and
I are very close. My mom is my hero and I try to be like her as much as I
can. My mom loves to travel and has passed that on to me. Here is a little
bit more about me.
I am a very social and out going person. I love to talk to anyone,
everyone and meeting new people. All of my teachers and friends love me. I
think mostly everyone I have met has liked me. I love school, it gives me
the chance to learn new things and talk to my friends (who wouldn't love
that). I live at the beach so of course I am a BIG beach girl. Sitting on
the beach reading a good book makes me feel amazing. I love scary movies.
Give me some popcorn and a few scary movies on a rainy day and I will be all
set. My favorite scary movie is Paranormal Activity. I also love music. I
have no clue what I would do with out it. Some of my favorite singers are
Rihanna and The Black Eyed Peas. I have a love for animals, I adore each and
every animal(except snakes).
I am so happy that I will be going to Brazil! All I have heard about Brazil
is that it is an amazing place to go and the people there are so nice. I
don't think I have heard one bad thing about Brazil. It's gorgeous form the
beaches to the jungle. The only thing I might have a hard time with in the
language but, I think once I get there and start speaking it more I will
learn it much better. I hope I will be able to speak it like I speak
English. I am sure for the first few months I will stick out, and not fit in
at all. I know after a few mouths I will look and act like I have lived
there my whole life. I bet when I get back to Florida I will stick out more
then I did in Brazil. I cant wait to learn a new culture and learn a new me.
I think everyone has room to change and I know for me a lot of these changes
will come out while I am in Brazil.
Thank you so much Rotary! I really appreciate everything you have done
for me and how hard every one has work to send me to Brazil. I couldn't have
asked for anything more. I can't wait to go to Brazil! Thank you so much!
|
WOW
I can’t believe I am already in Brazil! I have been here for about month now
and it already has been the best month of my life! There is not a single
word that could describe how my life has change in just the little time I
have been here. I have had to grow up more than ever but in the end there is
no place I would rather be than in Brazil!
Being at the airport with my mom, brother and best friends was one of the
hardest things I had to do in my life. Taking time with each person there to
say goodbye was a lot harder then I'd thought it would be. My best friends
Logan, Maddie, Kyriana and Brittany are like family so it was really hard to
say bye. My brother and I are really close so, saying bye was really hard
to. Although I have a saying, “It’s never a goodbye, always a see you
later." Keeping that in mind I walk to the gate with my mom. She had to
walk me to the gate! Well she thought she HAD to. I sat there with her and
she gave me advice like moms do. When it was time to go I had to say my
hardest goodbye, to my mom. Then as I was walking in the plane something in
my head said, "you’re gone for a year that's not long, you need to take
every bit of it in and leave Jacksonville with a smile on your face." That's
exactly what I did.
The feeling of coming off the plane was excitement mix with fear. To know
that there would be a group of people welcoming me into their home was
amazing. I walk out to them and all I said was, "Oi" (hi in Portuguese) and
waved my hand and smiled. Right after my host brother Marcos came and gave
me a huge hug and kiss on the cheek and said, “I can’t believe you’re real."
When I heard that, I was just over whelmed with happiness. Right after came
another new person then another coming and giving me kisses and hugs. I
wasn't use to all the kissing so I stood there and took it all in. I knew
once I left that airport that my exchange suddenly became a reality.
My first night I was sitting in the living room with my host brother and
there was a moth flying around. I hate any kind of bugs, so I asked my host
bother how to say disgusting moth and he said "mariposa nojento." So a few
night had past and I was sitting in the living room with my whole host
family and there was a moth on the ceiling, so I said "mariposa nojento" and
my whole family looks at me and starts laughing so hard! I was wondering why
are they laughing at me? Then they told me that they have never hear an
exchange student learn this as the first words on there exchange. I thought
about this and started laughing to cause out of all the thing to learn in
Portuguese I learned, disgusting moth as my first saying! Now, if my family
ever sees a moth they point and look at me, so I will say, "mariposa nojento"
which is my famous saying in Portuguese!
In my first week I did everything from rock climbing to exploring my new
city. Curitiba is the best city in Brazil! It's nothing like Jacksonville at
all, there are huge buildings everywhere, a different park at every corner
and I've never seen more malls in my life! I live right in the middle of the
city. The location of my house is great! I'm between two big malls in
Curitiba one is Shopping Curitiba and the other is Shopping Estação. Two
really great malls in Curitiba! I go them about five times a week with my
friends. I also live really close to my school which I walk to every day.
Making lots of new friends in my school is something I'm good at. Everyone
loves the blonde American girl and everyone wants to be my friend no matter
if they can speak English or not. Everyone tries to speak English with me
even, if they can’t and everyone comes up to me and says, "The book is on
the table." I just laugh because that make no sense at all and everyone says
this to me. I have made lots of new friends and they are all amazing!
The best thing in Brazil is the FOOD! I have never eaten as much in my life
as I have in Brazil. I will learn how to cook all of the meals my host mom
makes for me! My favorite meal is Escondidnhs it has the best red meat in
it! Some of my other favorites are Feljoada and Pastel! My favorite snack
that my mom makes is Pao De Queijo, it’s kind of like cheese bread. Oh, I
can't forget I've never eaten so much rice and beans in my life but, it’s
great because I love them! The desert in Brazil is like no other. Before
coming to Brazil I didn't eat desert at all and now I eat it every day! My
favorite is Brigadeiro, it’s that best thing I've ever eaten! One thing that
I have eaten that I didn’t like is Coracaozinho which is Chicken Hearts!
Brazil has the best meat ever! They have these things class Churrasco, where
they cook so much food and you just eat, eat and eat! They're the best thing
ever!
There is really no other place I would like to be than in Brazil. I feel
like it’s my new home with my new families and friends. I am in love with
Brazil. I'm hoping from reading this you will fall a little bit in love with
Brazil yourself! There' lots of more adventure to go on. I am just getting
started! Tchau!
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
I have now been in Brazil for four months now! It goes by so fast it’s
scary to think in six months I have to go home! What’s even scarier is I
don’t feel like I will go home because Brazil is my home. I have my family
and friends here and I am in love with this country. I never thought that I
could ever say that my new home is a country. I have only lived here for
four months but I can and love saying that Brasil is my home! I know that my
new families and friendships will last forever!
Adventures
I have taken many adventures in the past few months. I have gone to a beach
in my state called Caioba. It was every nice but it rained all five days
while I was there. I was able to spend some good times with my first host
family. I also went to a beach called Camboriu in the state Santa Catharina.
That state is right below my state Parana. It was very nice there but, again
it rained until finally the next day it was a little sunny. The whole month
of December I have been in a city called Toledo, it’s in my state of Paraná.
It's a small city and not much goes on here. I did travel to the famous
waterfalls called Foz do Iguaçu. They were amazing! There were so many
waterfalls and the views were breath taking. It was one moment in my life
where I know that I will never forget it! Going there was one of the most
amazing things I have ever done in my life. My plans now are to stay in
Toledo until a little after New Year’s, then I am off to my Northeast dream
trip!
Homesickness
Homesickness has been hard on me but every time I pull through it. I am
really close with my mom and I thought that being away from her would be so
hard but, in the end it’s not all that hard. I miss my mom a lot but I just
think in 5 months I am going home and I won’t be able to see the people that
are my new friend and family until who knows when, that is when all the
homesick feeling go away. The holidays were the hardest part for me. It was
the first time I was away from my family during Christmas. It was different
but not all in a bad away. I got to see how my host family did Christmas and
they made me part of their Christmas and for that I couldn’t thank them
enough. When it’s the holidays the best thing to do (instead of sitting
around and think about home) is to go and be with your host family in your
host country. It makes everything feel a little better.
Host families
I think that I have been blessed with such great host families. I am now in
my second family. It is just me and my mom, I love it. She treats me just
like her own daughter and that’s one thing I couldn’t ask for more. One
really hard part I had in my exchange was leaving my first host family. I
love them! My host mom in that family is like my really mom she has helped
me though hard times I’ve had and has been there for my first new
experiences I had when I first came to Brazil. I call her my mom and she
calls me her daughter and I am so thankful for that. It was so hard when I
had to moves families. You get so attached to the people that take you into
their homes. They give up a lot to host you and I can’t put into word how
much these people mean to me. My families have change my life so much and in
so many different ways. I love my new families!
Language
Language has 100 percent been the hardest thing I have had on my exchange.
When Rotary tells you to learn some of the language before you go on
exchange PLEASE do it! I regret not knowing more when I came to Brazil. I am
now starting to understand about 80 percent of what is being told to me.
Speaking is very hard to but, I am coming along. It’s really a hard thing to
do, learning a language but as long as you don’t give up you will learn it.
Rotary gives you this opportunity, one thing they want to come out of it is
knowing a language and without studying that won’t happen. Try your hardest
and in the end all the hard work will pay off!
Next time, I will have the great things I did on my northeast trip and I
can’t wait to share them with all you guys! Hope you have a great new year! |
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