Presenting At ConectaIFB, Diplomatic Meeting, and EdUSA Fair

Such a big and tiring day. Amanda (my co-worker) and I met up with professor Fabricio at the metro station at 9 am, and because of traffic we were a few minutes late to the roundtable discussion. Luckily, the last presentation had run over, so we got there just in time. There were about 10 presenters there, and a group of 25 audience members. I was shaking as I introduced myself and so scared. I apologized to everyone and mentioned my trembling and they all giggled. Some people loved to hog the microphone, then again Brasilians do love to talk. I got to say three quick comments throughout the presentation about language learning through immersion, Fulbright, and the ED USA Fair. We were already past the scheduled time to leave for our Fulbright meeting, but as we snuck off the stage we got asked to do an interview. It was my first presentation at a conference in Portuguese and first interview in Portuguese! I stumbled on both of them, but made it work. My students sent me a massive pile of love through photos and videos they took of us presenting and saying how proud they were. Fabricio drove us to the Fulbright Commission headquarters, which was in a hotel. We had to wait there for a bit, and they gave us yummy snacks. Finally, we had our meeting with past Fulbrights from Brasil, the commission, and Secretary Casagrande. We all did a small introduction of ourselves and talked about our projects. I expected there to be more conversation, but the whole time was utilized by this. One of the women there had worked at Emory University for the production of HIV prevention medicine, then integrated it into Brasil, and now works as the head of Medicine and Healthcare for Brasil (A similar name that -I can’t remember the exact name). We went to lunch at a restaurant for lunch and it was super fancy. I ate a salad, chicken parmigiana, and a torta Alema (cheesecake). Then, off to my final event of the day- the EdUSA fair. I got there super early and didn’t have anything to do in between, and I went over to the shop vendors who sell touristy trinkets, and just walked around by the TV Tower. By 5 pm I walked back to the Convention Center. I found some of the Access students I knew and members of the Embassy and RELO. The Access program students remembered me and how I had volunteered in their class with starting the presentations, since they were nervous, I offered to do one in Portuguese, and it felt very full circle. I was trying to find a place and way to volunteer at the fair, and one leader suggested that I sit in the front table and talk about Fulbright and fellowships. Just as the fair was starting they realized that two of their translators didn’t come and asked if I would be willing to step in for one. I was definitely nervous, but I agreed. I worked with the representative from UMass Amherst and talked about the English Language Intensive Program to students in Portuguese and translated back and forth. It was my first time translating, and I found it much less stressful than I had imagined- but more tiring.  I successfully worked for 3 hours translating! The international fair definitely gave me pings of saudades for when I worked for Admissions at SU and as a recruiter. I got home safely by 10 pm, and tired after a 13 hour full day.

The registration for the event

Introductions, and boy was I shaking

My first interview in Portuguese!

Probably laughing at my very bad Portuguese in my first Conference Presentation in Portuguese

Jennifer from RELO at the EdUSA Fair 

Very thankful for her mentorship and friendship while living in Brasil

The EdUSA fair had over 750 students sign up to attend!

I translated for about 100-200 of them! Very tiring