Today I received the most genuine and warm welcome that I feel any person could ever give to another. Arriving in an unfamiliar place that is nearly 5,000 miles away from your home can leave you feeling very worried and homesick. However, today my classmates and I were shown so much appreciation and happiness worry and homesickness never materialized!
My day started off with a lovely breakfast provided to me by my host family. After breakfast, we travelled to school and received all of our welcome information. We were promptly greeted by some of the students who attend ESEG (our school in Brazil) and we all quickly became friends. All of us spent the morning learning about the lives and interests of one another. After we met our US Diplomat, the students and some faculty members took us out to lunch and to tour the city of São Paulo.
Our tour of São Paulo was absolutely amazing! We visited many different locations learning about their history and why they are important in the city. All of this was done while chatting with our new Brazilian friends.
Before the trip, the idea of going to a faraway place for three weeks was quite unsettling. But after just day two of this excursion, all of those feelings have fled. My new family that I am staying with greeted me with hugs and smiles when first seeing me. All of my new friends were so eager to learn about me and the things that I enjoy doing. The local students have also helped me with learning and improving my Portuguese, which is very useful for this trip. My host family and the students that I have befriended welcomed me into their lives and culture very quickly and the only feelings remaining for what is to come are excitement and eagerness.
I think that sometimes we can be too quick to assume that things may not work out the way we want them to. But in reality, there is always the possibility that it goes better than what you imagined it would to begin with. I learned today that traveling is a transformative experience. Change occurs in ways that we can’t always see before it already happens. All of the new people who I have met have welcomed me so warmly into this new experience and I couldn’t be more grateful to be where I am today.
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