Visa? Check :)

I just got word that my visa is back from the Brazilian consulate, and my itinerary is being made! After four long week and agonizing weeks, it arrived! I feel pretty lucky because other outbound exchange students to Brazil just had their papers arrive at the consulate. So, it looks like I will be one of the firsts from District 5060 to head to Brazil :)
I am pretty much as excited as a little kid on Christmas morning right now, and I am now just waiting for my itinerary and I will soon be off! My travel agent, said that I would most likely be departing around the first of August! Which means I only have 5 days to get packed!! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Ohm y gosh! I can't wait to get this adventure started! More to come soon! :)

Tchau!
Maggie

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

Well...it looks like I will be learning Potuguese....

"It begins with a....BRAZIL!!!!" Those are the exact words from the text message telling me that I would be headed to Brazil for my year abroad! Although I didn't exaclty picture myself finding out where I was going via text, it still gave me the exact feeling I was hoping for. The feeling of EXCITEMENT!!!!! OH MY GOSH!!!! I AM GOING TO BRAZIL!!!!!!!!!!! I found out via text because I was working; and Robin DeRock (the wonderful outbound coordinator who told me this news) gave me the option to wait until I got home, or be excited for the rest of my shift. I couldn't wait; I wanted to know!! So the second I got home, after proclaiming this rad news on Facebook, I googled "Brazil", and spent about 5 hours on the computer looking at this amazing country! And since then, it feels like it's not even real. Honestly, it probably won't hit me until I am on a plane in July or August when I head down there.

Ok, well I think this will be it for the first post; I am just too tired to continue! But I first want to give a HUGE thank you to all the people who have helped me get this far in this amazing journey. Thank you to the Wenatchee Downtown Rotary Club, the DeRocks, and all my family and friends; and of course my mom and dad. From day one, they have been there supporting me; although I am sure that even in their wildest dreams they didn't think that the baby of the family would ever go to live in a foreign country for a year, but no matter what, they still said "Go for it!" And it is just very convienient that I am going some place hot and tropical. Really, mom was already looking at vacation packages the night I found out I was going to Brazil! So thanks mom and dad; I am the person I am today because of you two. I LOVE YOU!! And finally, God. The path that God has lead me on has been a blessing every step of the way. I can't wait to see where He will take me as I begin this wonderful journey.

 

Tchau,

Mags