Notes about Exchanges

All right, I'm here since August 24th and have a lot of stuff to say.Maybe it will help people in the same situation or bring up some interest in exchange trips.I really hope my experiences can be useful not only for me but for other travelers too.

The School:That's a crucial difference between Brazil and Canada since exchange students are supposed to have good marks in all the courses otherwise they will be sent back home. I remember being lazy to get up in the morning and going to school in Brazil, maybe because it was the same school and I pretty much enjoyed to be home by my own.But here I just love going to school! I have heard this from other exchange students too and I think that's because it's very exciting for us to get in that yellow bus that at home we only knew from the movies, and more important, is that at school we don't feel lonely.I mean leaving your family and friends behind and traveling alone for a whole year when you are a teenager can be really depressing if you don't quickly make new friends, and in my case the only place to make friends is the school.

System:The school system is different too. Here the students get to choose their courses each semester and have to walk to the classes, and each teacher has a classroom. While in Brazil the schools have a classroom for each grade and the teachers are the ones who have to walk from class to class, besides, in the Brazilian schools no one can choose their courses, everyone has to study the same thing, 14 courses.This is a picture of our school:

Hants North Rural High School

Teachers:Because that different system most exchange students don't have any trouble at school and even find it easier than their own.

The teachers here are friendlier then anyplace else, but when I talk to Anne( the other exchange student that is living with me)she says that teachers in Germany are not as friendly as the ones in Brazil.So I guess the schools are different from place to place, but have some similarities.School in Germany is much more similar to the Brazilian ones to the Canadian ones.

Friends:One of the things this kind of experience brings up is how sociable we can be.I have to confess I used to be a very shy girl in my school, but I think that's because I was feeling comfortable between friends and people I know, I could be shy.Here I can't. Being shy here is a passport to loneliness, because people are used to exchange students so they have to try hard to make friends as soon as possible, and tolerating all the different groups of friends that can appear.I think I just realized how important it is to have friend around now that I have seen how horrible it is to be alone.

Family:It has been hard for all the family to have someone this far away from home.But homesickness is something inevitable, and the only thing we can do about it is learn to live with it. But is always good to know there is someone supporting you back at home and counting with good changes in the way we see things, in our personalities.

Host Family:The host family is the base for everything, maybe the most important help any student will have.I was incredibly lucky with mine, It is good to feel at home and with nice people around to have fun.It is a little strange in the beginning, before we start to know these people.I remember at the airport when they picked me up, I was feeling completely out of place, but time fixes things up and soon I started talking more and more, and now I can't believe I was once shy.

Food:The way people eat is different even from family to family, imagine how different it is from country to country.In Brazil the main meal of the days is lunch and here lunch is just a sandwich or something like that.Having lunch at school was really strange in the first week, I even forgot to put my lunch in my book bag one day, but now I got used to it.

Habits:There are many things I was curious to find out here. One of them is the fact the teachers here are called by their last names, it's funny.In Brazil nobody calls anybody by their last names but police officers and lawyers. Other thing is taking your shoes off when entering a house, I never did it back at home, but I will probably start doing that when I go back.Also people here don't kiss and hug as much as south Americans do.Only when they are vary close to each other. But these habits are easy to get used to.

Weather:My city is in the coldest region of Brazil.But our winter doesn't get as cold as it gets here.It has been a warm fall until now, but I'm looking forward to seeing lots of snow!

Maple Leaf!

Some pictures I took from this amazing place! Wherever you look there is a different beautiful landscape!But of course I can't avoid my love for plants and flowers!

Packing!

Six months and a couple of days after I had this "exchange" idea I'm starting to pack.That is a lot of work, I don't want to leave anything behind, but in the other hand I can´t take everything :) I am having a lot of fun with this.

I took lots of pictures in Rio and wish I could share them all, but my computer is too slow so I'm posting only the most important ones. When we came back from Rio I didn't stop taking pictures^^I invited my friends over and we had a Barbecue on saturday.

No mood for jokes today

Something horrible happened this tuesday in São Paulo. I know I wasn't there and tecnically had nothing to do with it, but I didn't want to let it go as if it didn't happen:

17/07/2007 - 19h12
Avião bate em depósito da TAM em Congonhas

Um avião da TAM que transportava 176 pessoas sofreu um acidente quando pousava em Congonhas na noite desta terça. A aeronave, um airbus A320, derrapou na pista, atravessou a avenida Washington Luiz e se chocou contra um posto de combustíveis de bandeira Shell e um depósito de cargas da própria TAM. O acidente causou um grande incêndio, e o fogo consome o depósito, que fica na rua Otávio Tarquino de Souza, perto do aeroporto.O prédio corre risco de desabamento e a Eletropaulo cortou o fornecimento de energia da região.




This headline is from a newspaper and it says a plane with 176 people had an accident while arriving in Congonhas(the airport),it couldn't brake and hit a building, exploding and causing a big fire.
I feel bad about this tragedy and sad when I think about the families of the people who were in the plane or working in the building.It shocked the whole country and it is hard to talk about
accidents because it's no one's fault but everyone feels guilty about it.

Lazy or Bored? ; )

This is what I call lazy holidays! I haven't been doing anything but organizing papers and filling forms about the Canada trip and talking a lot but A LOT, and typing too ;)I Had to stop taking pictures for a while because my camera is not working and it's been raining for a week, but maybe when I get my camera fixed I will try to take "wet" pictures anyway :).

July 11th was my brother's birthday and he wanted a yokel style party!It was really funny, with all those tradicional clothes and food. I was the only one with no costume^^

What's for dinner?

A concerned husband goes to see the family doctor and says, "I think my wife is deaf because she never hears me the first time I say something, in fact, I often have to repeat things over and over again."
"Well," the doctor replies, "go home and tonight and stand about 15 feet from her and say something. If she doesn't reply, move about five feet closer and say it again. Keep doing this so we can get an idea about the severity of her deafness."
Sure enough, the husband goes home and does exactly as instructed. He starts off about 15 feet from his wife in the kitchen and as she is chopping some vegetables, he says, "Honey, what's for dinner?"
He gets no response. He moves about five feet closer and asks again. No reply. He moves five feet closer. Still no reply. He gets fed up and moves right behind her, about an inch away, and asks again, "Honey, what's for dinner?"
She replies, "For the fourth time, vegetable stew!"

A joke to start with...

At the post office...
In the post office, there is a man whose job it is to prosses all the mail that has illegible addresses.Just before Christmas he saw a letter, addressed in shaky handwriting, to God.He decided to read it:
Dear God,
I'm an 83-year-old widow, living on a very small pension.Yesterday someone stole my purse, with 100 pounds in it, which was all the money I had until my next pension cheque.Next Monday is Christmas, and I have invited two friends over for dinner.Without that money,I have nothing to buy food with.I have no family to turn to, and you are my only hope.Can you please help me?
Sincerely, Edna Jones
The man was touched, and showed the letter to his fellow workers.Each one of them came up with a few pounds, and, by the time he had gone round them all, he had collected 96 pounds, which he put in an envelope and sent to the woman.All of the workers felt a warm glow for the kind thing they had done. In the New Year, another letter came from the old lady, to God. All of the workers gathered round while the letter was opened.It read:
Dear God,
How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me? Because of your gift of love, I was able to fix a glorious dinner for my friends.We had a very nice day and I told my friends of your wonderful gift. By the way, there were 4 pounds missing.I think it must have been those thieving bastards at the post office.

Vacation!!

Yesterday was my last day at school!!And this morning we went there to pick my grades and now i'm free until August 1st!Now I'm going to have more time to draw, take pictures and write!

I have been playing with Photoshop and transforming pictures, it's funny.I've done a vacation notebook, A Canadian flag of Brazil (or a Brazilian map of Canada) and colored a hand that I drew a long time ago and gave it a puzzle to play with.Now I'm working on another drawing of mine.The original drawings are in my gallery on DevintArt:

http://lucianaehilarius.deviantart.com/

My brother and I bought some games for the playstation, but he's using it right now so I can't play XD

My grades are ok, but I didn't expect to get 10 in Text Writting that's so cool, the thing is... I can't remember what I've written XD

That's funny... people do strange things when they are asleep, getting up early in the morning, or during the night can affect people's brains.

(Strange)Things that people do to sleep better:

-Set up the clock to go off 5 minutes before the time they are supposed to get up

-For breakfast they have a plate of milk and a glass of bread

-Turn on the tap when they mean to turn on the shower

-They start laughing with no reason when it's too late at night

-When there is the need of going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, they don't flush the toilet because of its noise

-Or when they do flush...They cover their ears with their hands

-Get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom but end up in the kitchen

Collecting things is very funny, some people collect photos, others collect stamps,stickers,rocks, insects, movies, so I decided to start collecting too.I'm going to collect jokes! I will start writing them here as soon as I get some ^^

Brazilian Photos

I took all these pictures near my house...
No mater how far I might be, the roots can not be forgotten!

Getting started

-Alright let's start...

-The first pictures here will be from Brazil, until august =)

-I'm showing here my family, friends and nature that i'm going to miss during the next year...

-There is no better way to start than showing some pictures of myself:

OK...That's enough of me...For now :D

My friends are really important to me and here they are...=)

Aline and I

Jonathas, Aline and I

Luany and Aline

So is my family:

My mom and her husband Fabio

Me and Fabio's son Guilherme(and our dogs)

Luciane and I

Mom and I

My dad,brother and I

My grandma

My father and I