If there is one thing that I take away from my year abroad
it would be that no matter where you are there will be people you can count
on. Traveling to a new place is
scary. You don’t know anyone, the
language is a mystery, and you don’t know how to act to fit in. you become so dependent at the
beginning. Then, once you get into
the groove of things you learn more about yourself than you could have
imagined. I have exactly 90 left
in Brazil. The thought of this
makes me cringe on the inside. It
seems like such a short amount of time.
I know is actually a long time, but to me it feels like next week. 90 days. I know everyone in the States is really looking forward to
me coming back. I am too, its just
that it’ll be really different for me.
The States and Brazil are so different. And leaving everyone here, not knowing when or if I’ll be
coming back is a lot to handle.
When I left the States I knew I was coming back. I hope and pray that someday I’ll be
able to come back to my small Brazilian town. But I don’t know for sure.
My
time abroad has also taught me how much I love to travel and meet new people
and discover a whole new culture.
Paracatu is so different from Shelby. I grew up in Shelby, and then I finished my journey into
adulthood in Paracatu. I love it
here. Through Rotary I’ve made
friends from all over the world.
More than I could have ever imagined. I hope one day to get to travel the world and I hope that it
works out.
I
kind of dread packing all my stuff up to travel back to the States. My stuff has multiplied in ways I can’t
fathom. I have no idea how I
amassed so many things. But there
are some things you can’t pack up.
I would love to pack my new kittens up and bring them back. Or all my new best friends. All the delicious food. Certain smells. These things can’t because they are
intangible. That’s the part of
traveling that’s not so great.
Leaving a place you have come to love and call home. At the same time its always nice to
have a place you can always call home and always go back to. My friends and family in the States
have supported me through everything.
I wouldn’t trade them for anything. Leaving for a year can really open your eyes to what is
important and what isn’t.
Lets
skip to what I’ve been up to. I
ended up staying at my second house.
Woot woot. I recently went
to a concert for Henrique and Juliano.
They are semi-famous singers.
They were the Brazilian versions of country singers, so that was really
interesting. Also a few weeks ago,
I went to a costume party. That
was fun. As you all know, Brazil
does not celebrate Halloween. I
know, that was really sad. But
this costume party reminded me so much of Halloween. Everyone went all out with their costumes. I went as a Native American Indian. I’ll be posting pictures of both of
these events later. And this past
week there was a big sporting event called, Jogos Escolares de Minas Gerais, or
JEMG for short. It was a three day
long event where from 1PM until about 6:30 schools from all over MG came and
competed. My school wasn’t
competing much, so I sat with kids from different schools. Brazilians are very competitive about
sports. They take it so
seriously. My favorite Brazilian
singer is coming to Paracatu in a few months, and I’m very very excited to see
him perform. His name is
Naldo. I think he is awesome. One of my school teachers is moving, so
later on this week my entire school is throwing her a party, I’ll be posting
pictures of that as well.
My
life has been crazy and hectic recently.
It seems like every single day I have things to do. I’ve finally gotten into a groove with
things. For those of you who don’t
know, I got accepted into my dream school UNCW. I think this is awesome and amazing. I will be back in the States on the 21st
of July. You can contact my
dearest mommy, Sandra the amazing Yarbro, if you want to meet up with me J I am really looking forward to telling
everyone about my year abroad. I
also can’t wait to just hug everyone.
I chose this song because I listen to it before I go to bed
every night. I really enjoy and the
lyrics speak to me. I can relate
to feeling this way when I arrive back in the States. The entire song just speaks to me. I hope that everyone who reads this blog, takes the time to
listen to this song. Even if you’ve
already heard it before. It would
mean a lot to me.
