And the city I am going to is...

Belo Horizonte!Belo Horizonte is the capital of Minas Gerais (the state I will be in) and it's translation is "beautiful horizon"! There are about 2.4 million citizens in the metropolitan area; so you can imagine that will be quite a shock coming from a town of about 70,000 people. I got an email from my first host family too! My host father is Helio Resende and my host mom is Luciana Pereira. Helio is an acupuncturist and Luciana is an English teacher!! They have three kids, and their youngest is going to Germany on an

exchange; while the two older ones are attending college. Talk about hitting the host family jackpot! In the email, they also told me about the school I will be attending; Escola da Serra. Luckily for me, I was able to use a translator on the school's website to start getting a taste of what I am getting myself into. :) I start school the first week of August; so that means I will leave the U.S. between the 25th and 30th of July. I am so excited to meet them and see the beautiful city I will be living in for my year.

Thanks for all the love and support these past few months!
I guess there's no turning back now ;)

Tchau!

Maggie