Rotary Exchange Student - Jess Mokrzycki's January report from Brazil
Here is Rotary exchange student, Jess Mokrzycki's January report from Brazil -- a Prince Rupert student who is now half way through her year.
Hey there everyone, I hope all is beyond well on your end. It looks like my halfway point has been hit. OLÁ 2014.. Where to start? Starting off with the New Year and with a bundle of fun packed activities to slide to the end ... click on more to read the rest of her report.
of my "summer break “… I've been extremely lucky and managed to get a lot of travelling in, in the past few months and it didn't seem to slow down one bit this month.
Starting from NEW YEARS, where I celebrated it a tad bit differently than I am used to and got introduced to a whole new tradition. One thing I found very neat was how every color has a significant meaning which lead me to me wearing all white as a Brazilian tradition representing Peace.. (May I add how hot it was outside) I also got to celebrate a Japanese tradition, 12 pomegranate seeds wrapped in a bill of 2 reais (equivalent to one dollar) and having to keep it in your wallet for one year.. to bring you good luck and wealth. From a family orientated New Years to personally setting off massive amounts of Fireworks right in front of the house. It was a great and memorable way to kick off to the New Year.
The first full week in January I was given the opportunity to go to the beach house of one of the fellow Rotarians in my club. Myself along with three other Exchange students (France, Mexico and Indonesia) got to go. We spent one week in Maresias, which included long days at the beach to travelling to a little Island called Iha Bela, which was really beyond words amazing. We also visited some beautiful sites and waterfalls with natural slides. In this area there are so many mosquitos, it is almost impossible to leave with out looking like a pepperoni pizza. Therefore there was natural bug repellent offered in various spots. During this week in Maresias we did a variety of things from hiking trails to getting the opportunity to visit a little tribe which concluded to lead this week to be a memorable one.
Yet another travel opportunity rolled my way at the end of January to spend one week in Sao Paulo at a friends house. It’s sure true that the best way to get a tour of the city is by the locals, I got to visit various Museums and parks as well as many popular tourist points like ‘Rua 25 de Marco’ (25 March Street). This street is one of the oldest streets in Sao Paulo and is Latin America's largest outdoor market. Talk about getting caught in the rain? I’ll tell you one thing, when it rains here it can be spontaneous and when it rains it POURS. While shopping in the street 25 de Marco my friend and I got caught. All in all at the end I can tell you it looked like I had jumped into a pool being completely drenched. By nearly losing my flip-flops leading to be barefoot running up a hill, a large hill.. to get to the metro in nothing but laughter. Lets just say the next person to sit in my seat in the metro might have gotten a little surprise. Being only so early in the day the remainder of the day was left with trails of puddles left behind us anywhere we went. Talk about memories!Everyday in Sao Paulo was planned out solid, which resulted in a very fun packed and busy week. What a great way to spend my final days of “summer break”. School has now jumped into gear for the end of January and so has switching families. Time is sure flying by and I cant quite put my finger on where the last three months have gone with my second host family.. let alone the last six. Here I am packing my two suitcases again and off to another great experience moving into my third family on the 2nd of February.
Words can’t even begin to describe how great this experience is. Learning a second language doesn’t even sum it up, from beautiful sites and amazing memories and international friendships being made to daily challenges.. Exchange is seriously the best decision I have ever made in my life and I know if I could rewind back 6 months I would do it all over again. There is a popular quote floating around in the world of exchange students and it is ”Its not a year of your life, It’s a life in a year”. From various scales this really couldn’t be anymore true. I’m still left with the endless question of time; it sure does fly when you’re having fun. I can’t even begin to describe how thankful I am for this experience, never will there ever be enough thank you’s said. I hope everyone’s January was great and that the New Year is off to a wonderful start. Six months down, six months to go..Let’s vamos! Can’t wait to fill you in on February, Tchau for now!