Airport Excitement

I'm sitting in an airport leather seat, of course next to an outlet that I claimed, and feeling nervous. On the drive to the airport I was shaking, and it really started to hit. I was surprised that I held back tears, unlike when I cried while leaving for New Zealand. I waved goodbye to my mother and step dad, and breezed through security in about fifteen minutes. International flights require you to be there about two hours early, which I take seriously, but also means that I'm the only one sitting in our terminal section. After finally figuring out how to successfully connect to the Wi-Fi, I'm now a happy duckling about to enjoy some preflight Office. For those who don't know, I started watched the show The Office for the first time through about a month and a half about. I'm now only a few episodes away from finishing it, and I've been dragging it out. I'm debating grabbing a glass of wine as I wait, but part of me knows that then I'll really never sleep on the flight, or it will make me sleepy before the flight. Ironically, my flight includes two hours from Philadelphia to Toronto, and then then hours from Canada down to Brazil. Sao Paulo Brazil has a three hour time difference, and I'll make it just about lunch time. My plan is to Uber straight to Vila Madalena and meet up with my Fulbright travel buddy, who landed in Brazil this morning. So far my flight is on time, so fingers crossed!

Congratulations Are In Order!

Not the next time that I wake up, but the following time… it will be the day that I board the plane to leave! These past five months of counting down has felt long enough to be a year.


I’ve found a common pattern in my conversations recently. It normally goes something like this:

Person: Oh! You’re going to teach in Brazil. That’s awesome. Are you teaching at a middle school?

Me: No I’ll be teaching at a university.

Person: Cool. What will you be studying?

Me: Well, I’ll be teaching English there?

Person: Wait… so you are teaching at a university?


It takes a while to finally get to the realization point. Maybe it’s the fact that I look so young. Either way, this has been a battle to convince people that YES I will be an English Teaching Assistant at a university in Brazil. Now that the hours are ticking down, I’m getting really excited!

A HUGE congratulations to the person who pushed me to continue striving for the fellowship, and who still is helping me to look into more fellowships for my masters degree. In college I never expected to find a professor that invested so much concern for my postgraduate future, let alone to call her my friend. Thank you Dr. Walton for giving so much of your time to help students apply for prestigious fellowships, and congratulations for making Salisbury University history for being recognized as a top Fulbright producer! Your hard work with hosting editing workshops every Friday, leading a Fellowships class, ripping apart essay drafts, and giving advice at all hours shows its success. For the 2017-18 year we had 13 Salisbury-ites apply and 4 get selected as finalists, and I cannot wait to see the large turnout for the 2018-19 years, especially knowing that we already have 8 semifinalists! Thank you for your continued support for the past two years.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/Top-Producers-of-Fulbright/242557

In other news, todays adventure includes condensing everything that I want to bring and trying to narrow down the selection! At first, I thought that I would have so much extra space in my suitcase, but now I’m getting worried about the limit. I can’t help myself but wanting to bring lots of gifts and teaching materials!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1..... Count Down Continues

I'm down to one hand’s worth of days in my countdown! The nerves and excitement are building. I still need to compile everything into my bags, and make sure that it's going to fit the weight requirements. When I first get to Brazil, and before orientation begins, I'm traveling to Ilhabela for some sights, beaches, and hiking. I also am so grateful to be adventuring with a fellow Fulbrighter, who has better Portuguese skills, and explore a beautiful island. Evidently Sao Paulo is consistently a rainy state, which is probably equivalent to the humid rainy showers in Florida, but I'm hoping there will be sunshine for my week there.

So far, I've said goodbye to everyone except for my mother and step dad. One of the worst parts about leaving long term to go abroad, other than missing the food, is leaving your family. It was so hard to hug them and say goodbye, especially knowing that I won't be home for the next major holiday. Like I said- it's a mix of nervousness for leaving what I know and excitement to experience something new.

Lastly, I want to give a huge shout out to someone who has major this experience less scary- Mario. I think I only met you once when we studied together in New Zealand, but I'm so incredibly grateful to have met you and that you've been helping me. Between Skype sessions practicing my Portuguese and assisting me to find an apartment, I appreciate all of the time and kindness that you have shown me. I can't wait to be your neighbor down the street!

Here come the last minute planning sessions for my pre-orientation travels!

Spanish and Portuguese Are Basically the Same Right? Wrong.

I hate to admit it, but I got sucked into the lull of a false sense of security with learning Portuguese. I told myself- Britt, you know Spanish, so this should be easy. WRONG. Portuguese and Spanish are very similar in structure, and a lot of the words are similar, but I forgot that it’s also a completely different language. Some phrases look alike, but the pronunciation varies greatly. For example, in Portuguese the letter “r” can be pronounced as a “h” and “d” as a “j”. Also, Portuguese, so me, seems like a mix of French and Spanish. Maybe one day it will make learning French easier.

Seeing as I first applied to a Fulbright in Spain, a Spanish speaking country, I did not plan at first to be teaching in a Portuguese speaking country. It wasn’t until September that I found out I won the Fulbright Fellowship for Brazil, and then started practicing. I fumbled around with Duolingo, which is helpful that it gives the lessons in small chunks that are categorized. I honestly did not practice as much as I should have, and only realized in January that many library systems offer Rosetta Stone for free. Since then, I have been utilizing both programs, but I’m frustrated that both programs still focus on phrases like “she is cooking” and “This is my mom”. I’m probably going to look up some crucial travel phrases before I head out. 11 days of cramming Portuguese to go!

Lessons Learned- vaccines aren't cheap and apartments can be hard to find

Please ignore my embarrassing face in the image clip of the video. 😂 My first video blog entry! What a crazy busy week it has been in preparation. 15 days to go! I learned the hard way that I can only upload one minute of a video clip on here, so my plan to share more live is thwarted for now, and I'll talk about it through text.

First off, vaccines can be very expensive! My program suggested that I get the Hepatitis A, Typhoid, and Yellow Fever vaccines, and I finally got the last of the bunch. I searched all through the CDC website suggestions, but only found that Passport Health travel agency had the Yellow Fever vaccine. I was so excited to get the yellow WHO card!

Searching for the “right” apartment was a journey! I wanted to find somewhere close to the center city, in a safer neighborhood, and with apartment-mates close to my age. My host professor suggested a few apartment ideas, and I reached out to an undergraduate she had listed to possibly having housing. With luck, the student is so incredibly nice, and also an English major! There are two other apartment-mates, who are a little bit older, but also seem like they will be nice. The apartment is between the large city lake and the city center, which makes it very easy to go for a run around the lake or take a bus into the city.

Things are shaping up, and there are just a few more things on my list that I need to do in the last week. For example, I can’t get my long term medicine prescriptions until the week before and I need to call my banks to let them know I’ll be abroad. I made the mistakes of not notifying my banks when I went to Fiji two years ago, and lesson was learned!

On the Brink of a Packing Frenzy

Do you ever have those moments when something finally clicks? It makes you stop, physically stop what you’re doing, and take a minute to let it soak in. Three more weekends in the USA for a while, including this weekend. Nineteen days and counting! I wish that I could say my Portuguese is better at this point, but Rosetta Stone still has me on phrases like- o gato e preto and os meninos sao cozinhando (the cat is black and the boys are cooking). It’s a work in progress, but I’ve been working on it everyday.

This past week kick started my packing frenzy! While in New York City, visiting Columbia University, I picked up some souvenirs to give as gifts. Then yesterday I went a bit crazy. As ironic as it is, The Christmas Tree Shop is open all year with a little bit of everything on sale, and it had a great clearance sale. I went in with the intentions of getting some stationary to bring, but instead I walked out with holiday themed items to use as teaching materials and a few small gifts. To say the least, I nerded out and laid out all of the stuff I bought when I got home. Yesterday was filled with packing lists, inquiries for opening a bank account, and organizing materials. 

Interesting fact- Brazil also has HSBC, Citibank, and Santander banks, BUT when I talked to Santander they reported that the USA branch is separate from the Brazilian system. This means opening a bank account in the USA would results in foreign transaction fees everytime I used that bank card in Brazil. Tip- if you’re going abroad then definitely check into bank affiliations that limit or prevent foreign transactions and atm withdrawal fees.

Another tip- if you’re looking to exchange foreign currency then start by asking your bank if you can do so through them! I made the mistake when I went to New Zealand to swap money at a currency exchange station in a mall, which resulted in a lot of fees. This time, I went to TD bank and they said that there would be a $7 charge for the exchange, meaning I could take out $500 or $1000 and either way still be charged only $7 for the exchange!

One more thing- we received our orientation week schedule for Sao Paulo, and it makes me so excited. They included dance lessons!! Oh, and time for a coffee break everyday! I’m getting so excited to meet the other 100+ Fulbrighters in Brazil, especially my three other co-teachers who will be living in Londrina with me.