School

School.  School is very different.  If I had to imagine what it was going to be like, I would have automatically failed.  I mentioned school briefly in a previous post, but really, school is so much more than that.  Teachers are friendly and always willing to help, and they have a great relationship with students.  My first day of school, I was late, and I didn’t know anyone.  Things were done differently, and I had had no way to really prepare for it.  To signal when a subject is finished, music is played from the speaker system.  It was shocking for me to be sitting there, and all of the sudden here music from the United States playing.  I have three classes in the first half of morning school, and three in the second half of morning school.  There is about a twenty or twenty five-minute break in between them.  This break is for students to buy food or drink, to hang out, and to basically relax.  School ends at 12:20 so students can go home for lunch.  Afternoon school is everyday, but Tuesday and Thursday are optional and for students who want extra help.  In total they take nine classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; and six classes on Tuesday and Thursday.  Every Friday at 3PM they go and take tests on all of their subjects, and they take 14 subjects total.  My class is really nice, and I have been with them for only about six days.  They help make sure I understand what is going on, instead of leaving me to fend for myself.  My class is at the same level that I was at when I was at Shelby High.  Brazilian school is much more intense and if you don’t study, you will fail.  Universities are hard to get into as well.  Most students study all the time in order to do well on a certain University’s test. This is a picture of my class from last year, last week we took this year's pictures.