The truth always comes out when you talk to your real mom,
I started crying as soon as my mom said: “Hi Sweetie”…
February was the hardest month to be away for over 200 days (7 months) in Brazil. I only have 100 days left here. So I wasn’t expecting to get homesick because my life has been an ongoing dream, but getting a whole month to myself it lead me to think about HOME in the US.
It’s exhausting to always pay attention and translate everything…. As I get better and better at Portuguese, I try to translate every word in a conversation, on the TV or the song on the radio. My mind is going all day long! I don’t want to seem uninterested when I get to sit down with my family over a meal, but my brain just shuts down by the end of the day.
So after returning from a month-long coastal road trip of Brazil, I gave myself a break and stopped going out every day. I chose to rest the majority of the weekdays and make most plans during the weekends. When my host parents are working, I quickly get pretty bored and lonely. My friends are at school all day, so I find myself obsessing about a Netflix series. I thought that would keep my mind busy and NOT cause over thinking nor staying on social media. Yeah, no….
Maybe it was the Netflix series I chose, which kept up on High School drama. I found myself feeling like I was growing up too fast, but no one seems to be noticing. Sure, the series would make time go by fast but I couldn’t help but relate it to my own experiences. As my mind started to carry on, I found myself comparing the two worlds none stop. To step away from my simple routine in the US with family, friends, teachers, mentors, coaches I’ve known my entire life. Too then start over making my own decisions can feel pretty complicated. I don’t miss the drama of High School, but I do miss being a regular teenager.
Like everything, this will change. In the meantime, I need to keep myself distracted from my wandering thoughts of home, stay motivated and live in the moment. I found a really cool cafe down the street that serves delicious acai. While I have the free time instead of being consumed in my head, I prefer to enjoy acai (a famous dessert in Brazil) and also people watch out the window.
of the day off, but coming back my senior year, the school day is going to seem like an eternity. My school is known for students that are good with technology or want to become a mechanic. My classes are in normal subjects, but the topics taught in the class are gibberish to me because I have not been studying Sociology or Physics. Its hard enough in a new language. I am basically attending a semester at a university for my junior year because here “junior year” they study for “the biggest test of their lives.” For those of you that have never heard of this before its a test about every subject out you learn in school and the more you pass helps them get into college. So as an exchange student only studying here in school for a semester its pointless if I spend it studying for a test I won’t even take. So instead of re-taking my sophomore year, I am enrolled in a level higher (senior year).
same. The picture on your right is a picture of the way they number the rooms. I can’t compare that to other universities in Colorado because I haven’t gone to college, yet, but compared to Summit High it’s not normal for me. The classrooms are empty because the teachers move around from building to building just as much as us. Many students do not speak English in my school, at least they are shy to speak up when the teachers introduce me. So for those that try to get to know me, I type their sentence into the translator… but the daily questions I seem to get are “Do you smoke weed in Colorado? Are you voting for Trump or Hillary? Why did you choose Brasil? And How long are you here?” Not very many teachers can speak English either but as I present myself to them they are super welcoming, I can’t say its easy to understand what they say because of my Spanish, but it certainly helps. Each class is with a new set of people so I can’t seem to find one person I have multiple classes with. On the bright side, I will have friends in a bunch of different groups.
