The Brazilian Way

Annika

"When I arrived at my new home here in Blumenau, I felt really welcomed in their house. My host family is really great and I have lots of interesting conversations with them. As I live in Tribess, I always have to take the bus to get to the school and everywhere else I go. But I don't mind about this. My host family includes my host parents, Paulo and Ivone, their two children, Stephani and Victor and the dog Susie. Victor isn't living with us at the moment because he is doing and exchange in Germany. I'm enjoying Brazil, although there are some times that are really hard because everything is so different and because of the homesickness. But when I get use to it, I'm sure I'm going to enjoy it it even more."

Annika's Host Family

 

Deutsch in Brasilien

Andrea in Oktoberfest

"When I arrived at my host family house in Brazil, I was very surprised because it was the opposite of my own home in Germany. My host family has a different way of living from mine there.  I used to go by van to the school, but as it's just 2 kilometres away, I can get there by walking, which is not a problem. In my family there are only my host parents and I, they have no pets or children. I'm really enjoying this exchange programme, it is awesome. At first, I didn't get along with my host family, but I didn't want to give it up so early on and I really tried to have a nice time with them, and eventually I did. Here in Brazil, everything is different, every day I meet new people and witness new experiences that I will certainly tell all my friends and family when I go back to Germany."

Exchange Students in Blumenau

भारत

Luiza

"The first host family I had was an unexpected thing from India because it was just my host mother – Indian families are always big and they often live together - who is a teacher in my school. Not a normal teacher, she is the most feared by everyone, including me, because she’s very strict even for the pattern of an Indian school, where we only use Sir and Mam to call the teachers. We always stand for them to show our respect, but they can punish or even hit the students and we have strict uniforms and rules. Despite all of this, she was very careful and kind to me, and we had a great time together. I’m still calling her Maa, the Hindi translation of mother. I went every morning with her to school by car, it was only 10 minutes away from our home, located in a residential planned neighbourhood, with 2 floors; the first with rooms (where I had my own bedroom) and a kitchen and the second one with a terrace and a small temple where she placed the holy book of the Sikhs, her religion. As she is retiring from school due to her age, I received a new host family, whom I’ve been living with since August 2nd. Here I have my host parents, two younger brothers, my paternal grandmother, one dog, five birds and a turtle. My dad drops me and my brothers at school everyday, as we study in the same one, and my mother picks us later. As it’s just 800m far from home, it would be possible to go by bicycle or even walking but the traffic rules are ignored and there’re no sidewalks, what makes the streets very dangerous. People are used to drive everywhere here, as there are no buses or subways in my city with 1,5 million people. But I’m in love with India and I’m really enjoying my experience here. Indian culture is awesome and the Indian people are so friendly that I don’t even miss Brazil that much."

 

Luiza's Family

Arriba

Tâmara

"I've  always wanted to be an exchange student, but thinking about staying more than a year away from home seemed like a huge challenge to me. Mexico actually wasn't my first choice, but after  I started to get in touch with my family, who lives there, I knew I wouldn't find a better place to go. My first impressions were kinda wrong; they turned out even better than expected. I have 2 sisters and a brother. Anabel, who is 17, went to Brazil before my departure. We only spent 2 weeks together; however, we are still in touch as she is like a real sister to me. The other one, Ariana, 13, is very funny and sweet. She is such a chatty box, and I love her so much. Martin is 18 and is already in college, doing an Architecture Design course. He always gives me a ride and cooks something. My parents are great, just like my real ones in Brazil. I love them, and I know they'll always be my second family. 

Tâmara's "Familia" in Mexico

As I'm staying here for a year, I'm missing hundreds of stuffs back in Brazil, but it's been easier than I thought. I've already got tons of friends in school, and they are pretty supportive, helping me get through ordinary things, specially missing home. Our exchange programme managed to keep all the Brazilians in the same school, as we felt more comfortable. The School, named Tecnológico de Monterrey, is in the city of Juarez, and has 14 Brazilians. Sometimes, I feel like I'm in the best place on Earth, even though the city ain't that much of a big deal. But no matter what, there is no place like home, and in a year from now, I'll be back"

Don't judge a book by its cover

Mari

"When I first thought about going to Germany and staying in a family house, I was pretty sure that they would all be very strict, careless and not a loving kind family. I was also very nervous because I knew that not everybody would be lucky with theirs host families. And I kept thinking like that till the day I arrived at my German house. At the train station, they were all very kind and helped me with my luggage. My house was a huge typical Bavarian one, not a chic or a rich house, but a very comfortable one. After unpacking my stuff in my own bedroom, I sat at the dinner table with my family and that was the moment I realized that all my thoughts about my “strict German family” were wrong. My family had a huge heart and they were always looking after me and offering me something.

My house was on a neighboring village of the main city called Murnau. Seehausen, the name of the village was just 2km away from Murnau, where my exchange school was. That’s the reason I didn’t have any problems getting there. My host mom usually drove me by car and when she couldn’t take us, we went walking.

I had a 16 year old sister, and she was really sweet. So, as she used to go to school with me everyday, we became very close friends. I had also an 18 years old brother and, of course, my lovely parents. Their grandparents were also in the house and we had no pets. Lucky me, as I am very allergic to them.

Mari's Family

I really enjoyed my time in Germany. My family contributed a lot with that, because they were always taking me to visit some different places and taking a good care of me. Now, I certainly can say that I have a second family, which will be always in my heart, even coexisting for a short time with them."

Mixed Feelings

Lucas

"As soon as we landed and picked up our belongings, everyone took their cabs feeling pretty scared, as no one knew exactly how things would turn out. Lucky me, I was able to share the cab with both Arthur and Andre, who made the whole journey more enjoyable. My host mother, Marie, was such a sweetheart. She's a retired lady who was very kind to me. Her house was adorable, and very British. As I had never been abroad before, everything was just wonderful. For my assumption, her house was pretty big for just an old lady, but then, I was introduced to her sister-in-law, Diane, who really helped me in the first week. Our daily journey to school was pretty ok, as it was only 30 minutes away from home. However, we used to have to walk until our nearest tube station, Willesden Green, and after arriving at Finchley Road, take a bus, which left us in front of The Hampstead School of English. It wasn't such a boring journey though, as André, who lived nearby, used to go to school with me. After a while, Cecília, Beca and Gabi ended up in the same house I was. You can't imagine the amount of fun the 4 Brazilians had in that lady's house. It was really awesome. It seems to me it was just yesterday when I arrived at Cultura and Beca was like "LONDON BABY! OH MY GOD, ONLY xx DAYS YOU GUYS, YAY!" You have no idea how I'm missing that place. I would like to thank everyone who was a part of this trip, which was by far, the best in my life."

Lucas, Gabi, Marie, Beca and Cecília

Our project

"We're students in Cultura Inglesa Blumenau, and we've created this blog to talk about homestaying in a foreign country. Every year some students from the school travel to London, where they stay for three weeks, to improve their English, so we decided to create this blog to talk about their experiences. We'll be updating the blog every two weeks, so keep connected. See you guys later!"