17

Although my collection of significant events thus far has surely been riveting, in my day to day life, as a teenager, I was restless. At 17, I found a solution for my small town boredom in a Cultural Exchange Program in Brazil. I chose Brazil because the study abroad company was running a special and Portuguese was supposed to be similar to Spanish (it was). I  left in July and was paired an AWESOME host family that consisted of a mom and dad, a daughter my age, a younger brother, twin younger brothers, and a cat. My host parents were truly welcoming and treated me as another daughter.

 

I spent time time with my host siblings and also made really good friends at school.

 

My school

Friends

Friends

Friends from the local English school

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got pretty skinny while I was in Brazil, because of all the walking I did and the rice, beans, and fresh fruits and vegetables I ate every day. Everyone I met was unbelievably nice, helpful, and friendly. With the exception of the above English school picture, everyone was happy all the time.  People just seemed to live their lives more joyously down there. I had a great experience and am still a little in love with Brazil and every Brazilian person I meet.  

 

I came back to the States in December to a flurry of college applications. I was ranked first in my class, got a decent score on my SATs, got to check "minority" status, AND was from a rural area. I had it pretty good. I was accepted into the University of Rochester and Clark University, was offered a full ride to Florida State, and received a couple large, annual scholarships to the school I ultimately chose, St. Lawrence University.

 

Once the college application process was done, the second half of my senior year was all about fun. The weird thing about going to school from kindergarten to twelfth grade with the same group of people is that you kind of rotate  back and forth between a few groups of friends. My senior year, people I had known forever and I came together to form this magical, fun group of friends. We prided ourselves on being "random." We hung out at the pool hall in the next town over, made lots of trips to Wal Mart and one trip to a Rutland night club, hung out at people's houses, and visited as many different Denny's restaurants as we could.

 

We really did just have a lot of random fun, but in June it was time to graduate. I was very sad to leave a great group of friends, but ready to get out into the world. I remember telling one of the teachers I most respected that so many people seemed nervous about going to college, but I was just excited, and him telling me it was because I was sophisticated. It was one of the most flattering compliments I’ve received. I wish I’d written to his wife when he passed away to let her know.