Saudades/Singing

Saudades is a word that really only exists in Brazil I think. When you have "saudades" for something or someone is means you have a "longing" for them (so you miss something/someone essentially).
I have had a lot of Brazilians ask me if "estou com saudades do Canada, minha familia, ou meus amigos" And my answer is yes, I do miss some things about Canada like: Tim Hortons, peanut butter, and ceasar salad. Right now I have only been here for 2 weeks so I don't really feel like I "miss" anything or anyone too too much yet. I'm sure I will eventually.
What I do miss though, is singing. In Canada I sang ALL the time; at home, at school, on the street, in the car, at work, EVERYWHERE!
Here I hadn't really sang because I was just getting used to my surroundings and I thought it would be kinda weird to go into my bedroom and just belt it out.

However, the other day, my friends at school were singing familiar songs and asked if I knew any Rihanna songs. I said yes and started singing "Stay". I wasn't singing all that well, I just sang a few words so they would recognize the song I was singing. All my friends told me they loved my voice so then they kept making me sing different songs for them. They loved it so much that when we got back to the classroom, they made me sing for a ton of other people as well. Every day since that day that I first sang, there has been someone that has asked me to sing for them. It's weird because this has never really happened to me where so many people at school ask me to sing. (People at my school in Canada usually tell me to shut up hahaha).
One of my friends in my class said he plays guitar, piano, and bass and that someday he will bring his guitar and we will sing and play together, how cool!?!

It felt really nice to sing again, I am going to do it more and more now.

Igloos and What Not

So today after school I hung out with some other exchange students. A girl from the states, one boy from Belgium and another boy from Poland. We all went out for acai (of course) and had a really nice time.
While we were hanging out, the Polish boy (whom I am going to refer to as 'Mat'), asked me what it is like in Canada because he doesn't know. So jokingly I told him about life in my igloo. I honestly did not expect him to believe me but he actually did. I went on about telling him how my family and many other people in Canada live in igloos. He was very confused as to why we wouldn't just live in a house. I told him that houses are too expensive to build and it's easier to live in an igloo because you can just hire someone to come and build it for you in only one day as opposed to building houses which takes many months. He thought this was very strange because in Poland they have lots of snow as well but no igloos. I told him it's very homey living in an igloo because everyone is together. He asked," but what if you don't have enough snow to build one? Like in the summer?" good question, eh? I replied," not a problem! You can choose a property and hire someone to bring the snow to you then build it for you." He was absolutely shocked. He could not understand why we don't just live in houses. He asked how we get food and where we keep it. I told that even though every town has a walmart, my family generally likes to hunt everything we eat. But if we get a moose then we are good for a week. Also we don't have refrigerators because we keep our food outside. He thought that was funny but he said "that makes sense I guess because it is so cold." True.
Okay I know this all sounds ridiculous but it was hilarious. He was honestly just so confused and started freaking out saying "what do you do in an igloo?!"
Then I asked," the same thing you do in a house!"
He was confused about how we hire people to build our igloos but I replied saying," it's the same as if your maple syrup machine breaks down and you need to hire someone to come fix it."
Again he was a little confused.
He then asked me what I do for fun with friends. I said that we have a drinking game that consists of sitting on the dock and counting as many beavers as you can. Whoever counts the least, has to buy the drinks for the party. Where do we party in Canada? not in our igloos of course because people can destroy them, we like to party in the mountains (which is actually very true).
This went on for a good half hour... no joke. I died laughing...
But at the end he thanked me for giving him a brighter picture of Canada.

I feel good knowing I can share my experiences with other people from around the world here in Brazil. I am still laughing.... ;) I guess one day I will tell him the truth about Canada.

More Things To Say

School has been really awesome, I am just now starting to understand what the teachers are talking about. Thursday (September 19?) was the first and only time so far that I slept in class. In my defence, I went out the night before with Clarice and Nina to watch some soccer and have a good time so I wasn't going to pass that up! Thursday night I had my first Rotary meeting where I got to meet most of the Rotarians and the other two exchange students in my club. Everyone there were so nice and just came up and hugged me. I didn't really understand what they were saying in the meeting so I just kind of zoned out (oops) but then all of a sudden I heard my name and everyone just stared at me. I sat there like an idiot not knowing what to do until someone said "Stand and speak!" HAHA oh sure, why not?! So I stood up and they told me I could speak in English if I wanted so my reply was "nao, nao, eu nao falo ingles, so portugues" (no no, I don't speak English, only Portuguese). Everyone laughed after I said that but they were happy that I wanted to speak Portuguese even after just arriving in Brazil. I gave my speech about where I come from, that I am happy to be here, thanks for having me, blah blah. Then they wanted to know what I did for the last week since I have arrived so I told them all about school, the food I tried, everything. Everyone was very impressed that I spoke to them in Portuguese instead of English. It made me really happy.

The next day (Friday), I went to Pampulha with Clarice and Nina. Pampulha is an area that is part of BH but it is on the outside of it so we had to take a bus for like 30 minutes to get there. It actually seemed like it was its own community. It had a really nice lake with a famous church near it. AND I SAW CAPYBARAS! Okay it was really exciting for me even though some may think it is not a big deal but it is. Apparently they have diseases so I couldn't pet them.
Anywho.. we walked around the lake and as we were walking, every.single.dang.car. that drove by honked at us or yell things like "Que Lindas!, Meu Deus!" (Oh my god, beautiful girls!)
I was not used to it so apparently my face was really funny to look at when that happened.
After, we toured in the really nice church which was really cool. Then we went and bought coconuts again. OMG so good.
Later that night, we all got dressed up like we always do, and headed out to meet some friends.
I got to meet another exchange student in my district who is also from Canada. She is living with one of Clarice's friends. Another one of her friends showed up with his exchange students and one of them happened to be Adri from my district back home! WHAT!?
So that was cool haha.
We didn't get home until about 3:30 in the morning so I slept in quite late. Since my parents were out of town for the weekend, Clarice and I went out for lunch just the two of us to this awesome buffet. And when I say "awesome buffet" I am not lying. It was a buffet of Chinese, sushi, Italian, and Brazilian food. MEU DEUS.
Later that night I got dressed up again and went out with some friends. It was soo much fun but my feet hurt sooo bad because of dancing in heels.
We got home at around 4 in the morning! Once again, I slept all day sunday hahah.
Tough life of the exchange student.

Sunday night, I went out and met up with some people from rotaract. They met in a cute café with live music outside and fresh food inside. It was on this certain street where no cars were allowed to pass through, only pedestrians. It was really nice to meet younger people in Rotary as well because they know kind of why I am here and they know perfect places to take me. It was nice hanging out with them because they only really spoke in Portuguese so it was good for me to listen and try to understand.

So far I am absolutely loving Brasil. I couldn't be happier with the place I chose or the people I've met or the things I have done. I truly believe that I am in the right place and exactly the right time. I've made many friends, gone to many places, learned so much Portuguese, surprised myself, and completely fell in love with this culture...and it has only been a little more than a week :)

School

School in Brazil is very different. I know I already talked about my first day and what it was like but now I will tell you about my other experiences with school. I made a lot of new friends and I feel like I am part of the class which is a really good feeling. I still don't really understand what the teachers are saying but I can understand some words. My friends like to speak to me in English because they are practicing but most of the conversations are in Portuguese.

The classes here are brutal! On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays school goes from 7am-12:30pm, which really isn't that bad. On Tuesdays and Thursdays school goes from 7am-5:30! that's like 10 hours of school!!
Because I am an exchange student, I don't really have to do anything. I'm even allowed to sleep if I want to (I don't though). Yesterday (Tuesday) I stayed for the whole day until 5:30 even though technically I didn't have to. In one day I had: Literature, English, Spanish, Geography, Math, Biology, Chemistry, Portuguese. Some were double classes. By the end of the day I was so exhausted from listening to so much Portuguese. I liked math class because it was the only one I understood. English class was funny because of the accents and the stuff they were learning but that's normal.

For lunch my friends took me to Subway! I told them that I work there in Canada. It was so different here in Brazil though! They had mostly the same things but not all so I tried one of the ones that we don't have in Canada. I had a chicken with cream cheese sub. It was actually really good. In Brazil, they don't have hot peppers to put on your sub, only chilly flakes. I loaded the chilly flakes and my friends looked at me like I was crazy because not many people like spicy food here.

I'm starting to understand more and more Portuguese which is really awesome! Every morning my father drives me to school and then picks me up after because it is about an hour to walk to school from my house. He doesn't really speak English so the whole conversation to and from school is in Portuguese. There's sometimes confusion but we can actually hold a conversation! He teaches me Portuguese and I teach him English.

The last couple days I really began to realize how easy I have it in school in Canada. We only have 4 classes a day and here it's like 8 or 9 in one day. ALSO fun fact: in schools here, you are not allowed to use a calculator.... WHAT! We were doing math, physics, chemistry, etc, without a calculator... OMG!
It was so hard. I understood the math part but trying to do stoichiometry without a calculator.. no thank you!

In October there is a huge test that everyone has to take to get into college but if they don't do well then they don't get in. That's why they study for so many hours during the day. One of my friends takes another english class outside of school so after she gets home from a 10 hour long day at school, she goes to another class and then studies at home after that. It's brutal. The funny thing is that in class, no one pays attention. Everyone talks and texts and laughs with their friends the whole time. It's quite fun but I really don't see how it is good.

Funny story though, in physics the teacher walks in and starts talking. (This was my last class of the day so I was really tired). He was talking away and it looked like everyone was kind of dozing off because everyone had either their heads down or their eyes closed. I kinda just sat there pretending I was paying attention but then everyone at once said "amen" and I realized they were saying prayers. Oops.. I didn't know so I looked like an idiot just looking around at everyone. I guess maybe they were praying that they wouldn't fail physics? Not quite sure.

Anyways, I love everyone here, they are all so nice and always asking me questions and to sit with them. It's great.

Loving Brasil so far!

As Fotos No Brasil

 

                                             Clarice, Nina, and me all ready for the party

 

Belo Horizonte

 

 

 

Ouro Preto

                                                 

                                                      This church is filled with gold

My First Few Days

On Saturday (sept 14) was my host sister's birthday (Clarice). The party took place at the bottom floor of our apartment building where there's a lounge with couches and chairs, a place to dance, and a stereo for music. Our family supplied all of the food and drinks for the party (WHAT). That's a lot of beer and wine. There were waiters to bring the food and drinks to you throughout the whole night. I met tons of new people and spoke tons of Portuguese. I also learned how to dance like they do here... it's different.. hahah
Honestly though, the people here are amazing. Everyone talks to everyone and are so nice.
One thing about arriving at a party in Brazil: you must say hi to everyone. What I mean is, when you arrive, you have to go to each person at every table and kiss them on the cheek to let them know you arrived. If you do not greet everyone, it is considered rude. It was really nice because I spoke with almost everyone at the party. Most of them speak English but our conversations were portingles (Portuguese/English). Everyone was so friendly and really wanted to know about my life in Canada and why I chose Brazil.
I had so much fun!

The next day (Sunday), my family took me to a city about an hour away called Ouro Preto which means "Black Gold". I only ever saw pictures of this city and oh meu Deus... it is amazing. The streets were all cobblestone and super narrow, the walls were all stone and they buildings were so old! It was really one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. We walked around, I learned a lot about the buildings and the history. We had lunch in a really cool place were you just walk in take a plate, take some food, and sit down. Rice and beans of course ;)
We arrived back home after spending the whole day there and when we got home, I tried on my uniform for school because today was my first day of school!

Monday (Today) I woke up at 5:45am to go to school for 7:00. My host father drove my mom and I to school where we walked around and they showed me to my class. My mom left and I stood at the door of my classroom where EVERYONE stared at me. I personally don't like when people stare at me so I started smiling too much and looked away. The teacher introduced me to the class and asked the students where I can sit. When she said that, there were so many people pointing to me saying "aqui, aqui!" (here!). I felt so good haha.
There was already a chair open near a couple people so I took it. The teacher began to teach the class. The thing about schools in Brazil is that the students stay in the same classroom the whole day with the same people but the teachers change rooms. For the first two blocks we had Portuguese class. I understood barely anything but it was okay because I didn't have to answer any questions.

Another thing about schools in Brazil... the classes are crazy! Everyone is so energetic and so is the teacher! It's normal to yell your opinion in class, I never saw anyone raise their hand. After Portuguese, we had gym class. In Canada it's pretty organized I would say. You are split into teams and the sport changes every couple weeks. In Brazil, everyone goes outside to the court yard, the teacher gives you a ball and says "go". So for an hour I just played a game with my whole class but I forget the name. Basically you pass a volleyball around the circle and on the third pass, the person spikes it as hard as they can on another person to get them "out". It was very interesting! I love the people here because everyone is so close since they have been in the same class for a long time.

The best part about school here is the people. It is so easy to make friends here, it's crazy! Everyone likes to know why I'm here, where I'm from, stuff about Canada, why I chose Brazil, and how I learned Portuguese. I spoke with many people today in Portuguese and no one could believe it was only my third day here. Our last block of the day was English but the teacher never showed up so it was a free block. Everyone stayed in the class and talked in circles. The circle I was in kept growing bigger and bigger because everyone wanted to ask me questions. I felt like such a celebrity. By the end of the class, I talked to everyone. It was so nice to make friends to quickly because that was one thing I was a little more nervous about. After class I had friends ask me to go for lunch with them, and hang out during our breaks. It made me really happy :) So if anyone from my class is reading this, Obrigada! ;)

After school, Clarice's cousin Natalia and I went to the mall to buy a chip for my phone so I can use it. (it didn't work though but we will figure it out). At the mall I met up with my friend Rui who did an exchange in Canada last year. We stayed at the mall and ate acai for the first time. It's kind of like ice cream but it's made from acai. I looooved it. I don't know how I will return to Canada without it. After the acai we went to a really awesome place in BH but I forget the name. It was like a giant park with a fountain and a bunch of really cool things! It's a great place to relax, read, run, apparently it's a good place for couples to go to show PDA because I saw that everywhere. Before arriving to this awesome park type place, we walked past this coconut stand where you buy a coconut, the guy punctures it and puts a straw in it. Rui was so awesome and bought one for me because it was my first time drinking it. It was so good! It was really cheap and you get a lot of coconut milk from it. Rui and I then met up with Clarice and Nina and we all went for more acai (don't judge me it's good).

These past few days have been the best start to my exchange that I could ever ask for. I am loving every second of it. It's hard to write in this blog because there's so much to say but I don't want to ramble.
It's also difficult at times to write in English because I'm focused so hard in Portuguese.

Tchau por agora, ate a proxima vez xox

First Day

My first day in Brazil was amazing. Once I got home from the airport, Mae showed me around the house and I got to put my stuff away in my room. My room is so cute btw. I have a huuuge closet and mirror, it's crazy. The first food I tried was pao de queijo (cheese bread) and oh my good lord that was so good. (this ain't no ordinary bread). I also tried guarana which is a soda drink. I don't usually drink pop but guarana is muito bom! I also had suco de abacaxi (pineapple juice) and holy that was amazing. For lunch we had arroz e frango com feijao e salada (rice and chicken with beans and salad). Foi muito bom! (it was so good). In Brazil, lunch is the biggest meal of the day and family come over to eat with you. Clarice (my host sister) finally got home from school so I got to meet her. We sat down and had a light dinner that consisted of soo many types of bread! My goodness the bread is amazing here. I also tried Brazilian coffee which so very yummy as well. While we were eating, Clarice asked me if I wanted to go to the club with her and Nina tonight. Obviously I said yes so we all got dressed up and went out. One thing I have to point out about the clothes for going out.. if you're wearing a "see-through" shirt it is not even necessary to wear a shirt under it apparently. So if your bra is showing under your shirt it's all good.

Belo Horizonte at night is amazing to look at; I honestly could've drove around all night. When we got to the club we waited in line then finally got in. There were so many lights it was so cool. After a little while we started dancing. That was my favourite part.

I must say... whatever you hear about the guys in Brazil being really straight forward and persistent is completely true. I literally had to jerk my hand away from some guy who kept pulling it. He even got his friend to ask me to kiss him because I rejected him to his face. Clarice and I were dancing just the two of us when next thing you know, some guy grabs my hair and starts stroking it. We quickly departed from that area as well. This happened a few times actually. But overall it was a great night!
My feet are hurting soo bad though! I wore high heels like the Brazilians do and now I'm laying in bed with incredibly sore feet from just one night. I really don't know how they do it!

Anyways I would say my first day was quite the experience :)

Traffic in Brazil

Driving home from the airport today made me laugh quite a bit. It was about a half hour drive from the airport to minha casa em Belo Horizonte and along the way I noticed the traffic was... different from what it is like in Canada. Why? Let me make a short list.

1. I personally didn't notice any speed limit signs but even if there were I think they are more of a suggested speed instead of a maximum speed. Motorbikes especially drove super fast.

2.Stop signs. Also more of a suggestion. If you're making a turn onto a road and you think it's clear, heck why not go as fast as you can to make it?

3.Traffic lights. These are used by most people but to others I think they are more of a suggestion sometimes as well.

4. Switching lanes was actually quite interesting. There is no "waiting for an open/clear spot, signaling, shoulder check then moving over". No. If you need to be in the other lane, switch lanes fast so you don't hit a car. Signals? HA naaahh.

5. Motorbikes honestly just do what they want. It's not like in Canada where a motorbike is generally like a car and has to wait behind cars. If you're driving a motorbike, feel free to squeeze your way in and out of the line up of cars. Don't slow down or anything either, go as fast as you can.

Funny how I noticed these things all within a half hour of driving.

My Arrival

My flight from Miami to Belo Horizonte actually went by pretty fast. I took gravol to make to fall asleep and it totally worked! On that flight, there was no one booked to sit next to me so I had the 2 seats to myself which was awesome for sleeping. When I woke up, it was 3:30am and I could see that the sun was about to start coming up. I kind of fell back to sleep again only to wake up to the sun rising over Brazil. It was so beautiful, I couldn’t keep my face away from the window.

When I got off the plane I had to go into customs. A man came up to me to explain where to put my bags but he started rambling off to me in Portuguese then walked away. I stood there with probably the most confused look on my face and just copied what others were doing. Once my bags were put through the detector, I put one of them back on my cart but then a different man came up and took my other bag away thinking it belonged to the guy in front of me. I walked quickly behind him trying to get his attention but he brought the bag to that man and finally I said “e meu, e meu!” He thankfully returned it back to me and started speaking fast Portuguese. He then searched both of my huge suitcases top to bottom. (messed up my organization I must add). Finally I got to go out and meet my family. There were so many people lined up waiting for others that I couldn’t process who was who. All of a sudden Sofia jumped out and hugged me and I started crying! Behind her was my host mom, dad, sister’s friend (Nina), and Sofia’s dad. I was so overwhelmed because they all started talking in Portuguese to me. They knew I was confused because they all started laughing.

Mae, Pai, Nina and I took the car home. It was about a half hour drive from the airport to their house and I loved it! BH is beautiful! I loved looking at all the PALM TREES! And other really neat things that were different.

I’m honestly just going to write a separate blog post about the driving and food because oh man, that’s different.

Airport Life

 

I have one thing to say: HOLY CRAP these airports are HUGE! I’ve been in big airports before like Toronto, Calgary, Tokyo, etc.. but holy none of those compares to Dallas or Miami. I’m very thankful I had a 3 hour layer because I needed to take a sky train to get to my terminal. I was in Terminal D and had to get to Terminal C… it took about 5 minutes going super fast. It takes about 5 minutes to WALK across the whole Kelowna Airport so you can just imagine the size of these airports. At this exact moment I am sitting in the Miami airport. (oh ya, did I mention how I almost missed my flight to Miami?) Funny story, they changed the gate that I was supposed to depart from and of course I did not realize that until the exact time the plane was supposed to go! LUCKILY I ran fast to the right gate and they were still boarding people so I made it.
Anyhow.. I board my final flight in about 30 minutes. This is it… last flight! No going back now! Miami at night is absolutely incredible. It was one of the coolest things to see on an airplane because there were sooo many lights! Surprisingly I actually slept on that flight, only a little though. This next flight is about 8.5 hours and it’s overnight so hopefully I’ll be able to sleep (I bought gravol to put me out).

Miami is the only “culture-shock” experience I have had so far. Every single person I am near speaks Spanish or Portuguese. I can’t even understand the announcements when they are in English because of the very strong accents! Luckily I found the right gate right away and my plane is on time.

Anyways I am about to get on my last flight! This will probably be posted when I get to Brazil so tchau!

Goodbyes and Such

(this blog post is being written as I am on my first flight to Dallas)

I had a day and a half of notice. Let me say that one more time… a day and a half. I figured that would be a good time to start saying some goodbyes. My best friend Halie and I went out to our old high school to pick up her sister and while we were there I said some goodbyes to my past teachers and fellow graduating students. That night I went to my last rotary meeting. I got to say one last thank you and goodbye to all the wonderful Rotarians in my club. I also had to say bye to our new Turkish exchange student in Armstrong, Zeynep. Zeynep if you are reading this, have an amazing year in Armstrong, it truly is a wonderful community and I know with your personality you will make lots of friends. I wish you good luck with my family, they are a little strange but you’ll get used to it I promise! Next I had to say bye to John. That was actually really weird for me because he has helped me with everything along this process so I was kind of like “what am I going to do without John, ahh!?!”

My last night in Armstrong I had a bunch of friends come over to hang out one last time and say bye. It was honestly so much fun and I am so thankful to have such amazing friends. At about 11:30 night that we all decided to go for one last Denny’s date. So 9 of us hopped in our vehicles and headed to Denny’s only to find out the kitchen was closed so we couldn’t order food. We decided to just go to Mcdonalds instead because nothing else was open at midnight haha. After we ate our food, we went to the parking lot where Austin and I had a “twerk-off” on his car. Yes, a “twerk-off”. And yes, I won.

We got back to my house around 1am and I had to say bye to Austin. Halie and Nathan came inside for a while just to hang out a little longer. Halie left around 3:00 but I said bye to her the next day. Nathan stayed til about 4:15am! We were both so tired but I’m really glad he stayed.

The next day I woke up, brought my uniform to work, picked up my check and figured out my last minute paperwork that I needed to bring. I got to talk on the phone with my Grandparents that live in Ontario which was really nice J. Then it came the time to head up the road to my other Grandparents house where I had to drop off my two dogs and say goodbye. I can’t even explain how hard that was for me. As I sat down to hold and kiss my puppies one last time for a year, I instantly started crying. I hugged them at least 60 times before I could actually get myself out the door. I continued to cry as I said bye to Grandma and Grandpa. We went back home after that, packed the rest of my stuff, locked my suitcases and loaded the truck. Halie came over right before we left to say bye and we had one last sushi date. My god I love her. Then we were off. Family road trip time. We drove for 5 hours until finally reaching our destination: Richmond! We got to the hotel, which was only a 5 minute drive from the airport, and then headed out for a nice family dinner. It was wonderful. Back at the hotel we just hung out in the room as a family, laughing, talking. I was so exhausted so we ended up going to bed at only 10.

Today. Today is September 12 and it is the day that I said my tearful goodbye to my family. We got up, drove to the airport, got my bags checked, then had a very quick breakfast. Then it was time to say goodbye because I had to line up to get through customs. We all started crying (except dad) pretty much immediately. I cried the whole way through the lineup. I breezed through customs fairly quickly actually so I was pretty happy! I found my gate right away, sat down, turned on my laptop. The background was a picture of my parents and me at prom. I started crying again.. ughh.

Finally I am sitting on the plane typing this all out even though it won’t be posted until I have wifi. I gotta say though, the view from the plane as we were flying over Vancouver and then over the mountains was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I am so proud to live in such an amazing country.

I do believe that is all I have to say for the time being so until next time, tchau.

 

The Scramble

Monday, September 9^th, I had my last day of work (for those of you who don’t know, I worked subway). Since my visa had arrived the previous Thursday, I knew that I would be leaving really soon. My travel agent told me on Friday that I would be given my ticket information on that Monday. So I went to work that day knowing I could get an email at any moment saying when I leave. As you could probably imagine, I could not concentrate all that well on work (sorry Lori). FINALLY I received an email saying the info was available on the website. When I checked the website it said I would be leaving Vancouver airport at 8:10am Thursday, September 12^th. I was ecstatic. Unfortunately, there was no flights available that would take me to Kelowna to Vancouver early enough to make my next flight so my family and I had to pack up and drive to Vancouver WEDNESDAY. That was literally a day and a half notice basically. I am so thankful that I had already been pretty much all packed so I didn’t have to scramble with the gifts and clothes part of the packing. Essentially I had one day to get my stuff together and make sure I got all the little last-minute things.

Luckily I am an excellent packer though! Who knew!? Everything is perfectly in place and all the breakables are secured nicely (mind you it did take a few times to get it perfect but that’s because I may be a little OCD).

I’m going to tell you about my flight schedule… because I was a little freaked out. I go from Vancouver to Dallas to Miami then finally to Belo Horizonte where I will meet my host family. My longest layover is 3 hours which I find just perfect because that gives me lots of time to find where I need to be. These airports are very large and this is the first time I’m flying alone so let’s hope all goes well.

 

I was so worried I would forget something that I think I over-packed… just a tad. But you know what? John Irving… if you are reading this, I thank you so dearly for those printed maps of the Dallas and Miami airports; you are a lifesaver. The funny but not-so-funny part is that those maps are the one thing I forgot to bring with me… my bad. I give you permission to laugh at me.

 

Packing

The day I have been waiting for FINALLY came... my visa arrived! WOOO!
I'm still not sure which day I will be leaving but it will be THIS WEEK! Holy I can't control my excitement right now.

Since I have only a few more days I decided to start packing. I did not realize how much stuff I had until now... holy bananas. A couple months ago I went through my clothes and separated the clothes that I will be taking and the clothes I will not be. I have a huge garbage bag FULL of clothes that I'm not taking-which is great- buut I still have waay too many clothes to take haha. No amount of clothes can compare to the amount of presents I'm bringing though. My mom and I may or may not have gone a little over-board with the gift-purchasing... but it's good because I am definitely prepared.

I also had to go through and pick out which pairs of shoes I will be bringing. For anyone who doesn't know me.... THAT'S A LOT OF SHOES. I think I narrowed it down to 9 pairs which for me is pretty good I'd say.

So far in the last month of waiting I have been invited to: 1 vacation, 1 event with my school, 3 parties, 2 soccer games, 1 welcome party for myself and 2 other exchange students, and 1
BBQ. I'm not even there yet and I already feel special. Nossa! haha

I find out tomorrow which day I will depart and I honestly couldn't be more excited. I am so happy it's finally all coming together! I'm not exactly sure when the nerves are supposed to kick in but that will come eventually I'm sure. Right now it's all excitement and anticipation.

Anyways this was just a short post to update you all on my life before exchange.

Bjos

-Hailey

Macie apparently doesn't want me to leave.