Editor’s Note: This is the final column in the series from Bremerton Rotary exchange students Adriana Alexander and Grant Clarridge.
It’s June already! I can’t believe how time flies when I’m here! I guess being busy helps a lot too. With school, friends and Rotary, I don’t really have time to slow down.
A few weeks ago on the first Saturday of the month, I attended the last YEP (Youth Exchange Program) Conference of this Rotary district. It was at a ranch-like hotel called Cliv Sol that was in the middle of the countryside in the city of Lepê — it was beautiful. Twenty-six other exchange students and I spent our last day together riding horses, swimming in the pools and walking the trails. It was great to catch up with them and share our experiences over the last few months. When it was time for us to go back home, no one was willing to return. Our goodbyes were filled with tears, hugs, promises of future visits and just complete sadness. My relationships with all those exchange students showed me that although we all have different cultural backgrounds, we’re all really the same. We all felt the same emotion when we were put into the same situation. The only differences between us are our appearance and ages.
After that weekend, I returned to school and started on our bimestrial tests. About a week ago, I received my tests back and scored unbelievably high on all of them! I was, and still am, so proud of myself. The teachers believe it is a shame I don’t receive a grade like the other students do. When I first went to school I thought that I was in a different world and everything except for math was foreign to me. Once I began comprehending Portuguese, I realized I am learning what I was learning in the U.S., just at a different pace. The school curriculum is really similar, but everything is just taught a bit slower in most of the classes. Math and physics are the faster classes. Though school has been my number one focus during my time here, my interest is starting to move toward the parties that are to come.
June is the month of the Rodeo! It comes around twice a year, in June then again in November, and it’s considered one of the bigger events of the year. The Rodeo lasts for five days and is complete with the horse barrel-run, bull riding and country music concerts every night. I went to a Rodeo last November and it was the most fun I’d had in awhile. I love it because everyone in the city gets together and you can reunite with the people you haven’t seen in ages. This year, a few of the other exchange students joined in on the fun: Robert from Germany, and Jesus Alberto and Luis from Mexico. I was so excited to see them again and even though they hate country music, we had a lot of fun. I am also planning my going-away party for the week before I go home. I’m going to invite some friends over to my house to swim then we will go out to take pictures and eat ice cream.
Well, the time has come for me to close the book on this Brazilian adventure and return to the real world. Although I have been here for less than a year, I believe this trip has changed me a lot. I have had time to reflect on my life back in Bremerton since I was away from it and see the aspects that I want to change within myself and my life. I have learned how to respect the cultures of others and be more open to the world. I also have learned that you don’t realize how good you have it until everything has been taken away from you. While here in Brazil, I have experienced a new way of living and learned to respect my own. I am now aware of what freedoms I have in my own country and how I have taken them for granted. I am thankful I received this chance to get away and find myself while finding out about a new Brazilian part of me that I didn’t know I had. Thank you Bremerton and Adamantina Rotary Clubs for making all of this possible and thank you all my Bremerton readers who have been loyal to these articles. Thanks to all of my new family and friends here in Brazil for accepting me into your lives and homes and making me feel at home. I hope you all enjoyed reading about my experiences as much as I enjoyed living them!
Adriana Alexander returned to Bremerton June 19.
