três e meio..

eu sou intercâmbio (i am an exchange student)

eu era intercâmbio (i was an exchange student)

in less than three short months, this verb, to be, will change from the present, to the past.

i will no longer be an exchange student, no longer be the only american in vale do aço, the girl with the silly foreign accent, i no longer will be different from everyone else around me

the date: july 16th

the day i have to say goodbye to my families, the people that have taken care of me; have to bid a farewell to my friends, my school, that i have laughed and joked and smiled with for the past year; leave ipatinga, my city, my home, until my next return which might not even happened; and then i have to say gooodbye to brasil, my dreamland.

in a flash of my eyes, this year will be over. just a year that i spent in brasil, a collection of memories, of stories that no one will find funny, of pictures that try to hold a moment in time but fail, of experiences that have made me the person that i am.

then somehow i have to pick up my life, back into "reality"

go to westmini as a freshman and hit the books, hard. find a job, hopefully. and spend time with my loved ones, and try to make up for lost time.

but it was a year of separation ..a year of change ..a year of growing up ..a year of expereince that you dont find in Pennsylvania.

i am terrified to go home. i am scared outtta my mind to return. i'm afraid

but theres a part of me thats excited to come home:

i'm excited to go shopping in boardman with riss, try to sell our clothes at platos closet, sneak into girly movies with foood, have lunch at panera bread, steal her clothes & "ruin" them, take her car and have to pay for the gasss.

i'm excited to hear my mom yell at me for leaving hair in the drain, find a list on the counter with her handwriting, have tea in the morning on the backporch.

i'm excited to hear my dad's laugh, see his dirty (&ugly) boots, watch him roll his eyes at my mom, and see him purposely put meat into the pasta on sunday even though he knows i dont like it.

i'm excited to see how much natalie has grown up to a "litttle lady," tease her on teenage things, hear her attitude and watch her eyes light up while she plays with bunny.

i'm excited to go to grandma's house on sunday and family picnics!

i'm excited for bonfires with friends, MARSHMELLOWS, gossiping with girls, driving around just cause and then eventually saying goodbye as they venture off to college.

i'm excited for the litttle things.

but then sometimes, i think about things back home and through the gap of 7months, i have forgotten about things. like the thrill of driving with the window down and the breeze in your face; the smell of my house; the WAHS bell schedule that was always wired into my brian; why north-ers hate winter when allll i wanted was to feeel a snowflake on my tongue; how to flirt, ooh god how i wish i know how to flirt again; how i acted in high school, did i have an ongoing conversation? did i pay attention in every single class? what did i do on weeknights beside study?

so these next three &half months here, i am going to enjoy every last minute of it.. because before we know it, ill be at the airport, thinking ..i'm going back home? i thought i just got here?

tiradentes !

this past weekend, dias 19-20 de março, was rotary weeekend with all my other exchange students whom i loveeeeeee

(this weekend was also the weekend where president obama came to brasil. this was a REALLLY big deal here, all over the news, from his life story, to first lady, michelle and her fashionable style, to all the secruity procedures brasil was willing to go through to make sure "the most important man" was kept safe. Obama wants to strengthen relations with the brasilian government, because brasil has a new president, Dilma, and brasil is on the raise as a international superpower.)

the weekend began at the ungodly hour of 6am where we would all gather at the bus station to travel 3hours or so to a historical city, Tirandentes.

there were 40exchange students, or "exchangers" as i like to call them.

20brasilianns that are going to leave on exchange this summer and

20 "gringos" (foreigners) that have already been here for some time now

i hadnt met the brasilians yet so i was bursting with excitement for them: "where are you going?!" "do you know what city?!" "have you beeen studying the language?!" "i just cant tell you how happy i am that your adventure is just STARTING, this is such an amazing thing!!"

and i hadnt seen half of my "gringos" since september so i was bursting with excitement to see everyone, to have a litttle family reunion, although we were missing four of the "old" aussies that left in janeiro to be replaced with the four "new-young-baby" aussies. i felt like the coool older sister, translating for them since they havent mastered português yet, asking them how everything is and telling little anecedotes about my exchange here and there to let them know, babies, you are not alone and crazy in this world.

so my crazy girl obnoxious annoying laugh was heard from 6am and didnt stop until we alll hugged and kissed gooodbye the following afternooon.

saturday morning, after we arrived and got setttled into the CUTEST litttle "hostel/hotel" we did some rotary stufff, talked about our lives, if we had any problems, liking your family, going out with friends from school, that kinda stufff. afterwards, we had freee time of "adventuring" this litttle town of Tiradentes. this town is spilling with tourism, cobblestone roads, houses of all shapes and colors of the rainbow, and the most curb appeal ive ever seen. just fell in love.

there was a group of us wondering the streets of Tiradentes, some american, some aussies, some brasilians, a german, a danish, a mexican. alll friends.

it was the perfect time of day, before the sun descends over the mountains of minas but after the humid air lifts from your shoulders, allowing you to breathe easier. just perfect.

we didnt do that much, after i think about it. we took millions of photos, of the city and of each other, had millions of litttle conversations at once, in languages and accents all different from what we have always known. we walked up and down millions of little roads, admiring the charm and character of this historical town. walked on millions of litttle cooblestone, history under my feeet, more history than they teach you in school.

i walked into another church, yet ANOTHER chruch that took my breathe away ..where i just wanted to BREATH ..and take it all in. take in every moment that i have here. not digging into the past or poking into the future, but be present. right here, right now, with who i am with, and try to remember every detail of every moment. (amen)

later that night, everyone came back to this church which had one of the best views of the city, where we sat and listened to the guitar being strung, the laughter of our peeers, and the exchange of cultures being made.

the moon was full that night (as a "mineria" (people from minas gerias) we said that the moon looked like cheese, a full beauitful chesse. we love our cheese here in minas.)

if i learn anything from exchange, its that we are all the same. wherever you come from, whichever language your tongue speaks, whatever corner of the world youre from, we are the same. we all laugh at the same stupid jokes, have a common ground of boys, think that this world is wayy too beauitful and mysterious not to see every inch of it, and have the same desire to find love, excitement, and meaning in this life.

the following morning, everyone wake up, tired, and had to practice for our presentation. the next meeting, in april, we have to present for our district. so we start off with typical brasilian dancing: samba, forro, axé etc and finish with funk ..a dance that is for the nightclubes. you would think that the brasilians would take center stage for this one, since they are masters of this dance.

nope, ariana, americana, broke it down, dropped it like it was hottttt, did the stanky leg, everything! all.by.herself. ..thinking that MANY people where behind me.

embarrassing.

we left after lunch, already missing eachother, missing this city, and excited for the next and probably the last time we would all be together..

tou com fome, always

let's talk fooood :D

ooh, comida brasileira..

café de amanhã (breakfast)

on school days, my breakfast is always reallly quick, something easy and light. Usually a bowl of ceral(with their milk that sometimes is warm) oatmeal, or maybe some fruit. If my family has coffee, i will drink it. There coffee here reminds me something Lori Jones would like: forte (strong). You dont drink a whole cupfull of coffee like we do because its powerful and if you would, you would be bouncing off the wallls, for about 3days

when its a weeekend, holiday or i actually have time to eat breakfast, i usually have my little sandwich of fresh bread (delicious) with a little cream cheese. muito bom.

what brasileiros think of OUR breakfast:

that we eat alot and its too sweet.

they are thinking of the thick juicy saugage links (or patties, whichever you prefer) sizzled in grease, next to fluffy chocolatechip pancakes drenched in too-sweet maple syrup, whippcream on top, just for looks, with a side of hash browns and maybe bacon if you are feeeling extra hungry.

BUT i have been to places where they do serve cake for breakfast. yes, like birthday cake

almoço (lunch):

ooh meu almoço.. has my tongue literally hanging out in school just day dreaming what i will find on the table when i get home.

every family is different (obviously) and has different food (again, obviously) but there is somethings you can always count on: a salad (sometimes with fruit which i find a very nice addition) rice, beans (various types of beans, dark, light, black. the darker the better for me) and some sort of meat. always on the table.

(i always get the question: what do you eat everyday?)

i dont eat the same thing everyday. they have arroz e feijão everyday so they think we have a main dish tooo. but we dont. in american, with all our mixture of cultures and ability to have mexican one night, italian the next, the hateful "leftovers," something that is typical american foood, and then mediterranean on a tueday, we never have the same thing. they find this unbelievable. i quite enjoy it, all the variety.

special topics:

hamburgers. OMG. i could (already have) made out with a hamburger. I absolutley LOVE hamburgers here. ask my parents, i did not like hamburgers and would refuse to eat them at home. here, they throw just about everything on their sandwichs. a thing juicy pattty, lettuce, tomate, corn, eggs, things that are mixture between french fries and potatoe chips, alot of mustard &ketchup, cheeeeeeese = Nobel Peace Prize. I cant tell you how much i love their hamburgers..

Churrasco (BBQ) alot of parties here are BBQs. Depending on who is cooking, depends on the quality of the BBQ. I've had alot of BBQ that just wreck my stomach because alll the food is meat (alottttttt of meat) and bread, sometimes rice and beans if your lucky. you just get served little pieces of meat, after meat, after juicy greasy meat, after meat. we all know what happens to the stomach of ariana.. but i have had alot of goood churrasco ..or just alot of goood memories ;D

Pizza: Pizzza is realllllllllly gooood here. (also made out with pizzza) they dont normally put red sauce on their pizzzas, they just serve it on the side, oooh and when they do that.. I get the question: would you like more sauce for your pizzza? It's kinda riduclous. BUT at my schoool, they have a litttle "cafeteria" where they serve snacks during the break (just like school back home, the foood here is gross) and they have pizzza..and people put KETCHUP on it. i can already see peoples eyebrows raised and disgusted looks from many.

seafoood: i eat alot here (i am not complaining about it either) and have found the love of my life: sushi. i am considering going on an alll-sushi diet. donnt know how that will work out but MEU DEUS is it goood.

what brasileiros think of OUR lunch: McDonalds.

juntar (dinner):

dinnner usually depends on the family and the person.

my first family: we always had a litttle snack together late at night, 7 or 8. With fresh bread and a litttle George Foreman Grill, i made some beauitful creations. Fruit was always available or an extra goodie brought home from the bakery. just a litttle snack.

my second family: they usually ate a dinnner. an actual dinner. pizza, pasta, something leftover from lunch, they wanted me to eat something. I mean, i never complained about it when i was shoveling food into my mouth but i think that was the reasons i put some kilos on

my third family: almost the same with my first family, just a litttle snack, but i drink alot more chocoatle milk. dont know what has happened to me but i am OBSESSED with chocoatle milk. haha sometimes, on special occasions, we go out to a bar and have a litttle snack but usually its just a little sandwich, equalviant to our lunch.

what brasileiros think of OUR dinner:

that its our biggest meal and question why we eat our biggest meal late at night. i agree. at college i am going to try and have my biggest meal at lunch, just because of brasil :)

doce (sweeeeeeeeets!)

and now, dessert. goibana com queijo ..there are no words, phrases, NADA in the english language to describe this. its from the fruit of gobaia (we UNFORTUNATLY dont have it in US) with cheese. you just gottta trust me and believe me that if you ever come to my homeland of Brasil, you eat it and fall in love.

their ice cream.. i think its better than ours. Ofcourse there isnt our 9357847flavors but its more creamy, light, can i use the word suave here? muito muito bom

i eat alotalotalot of popiscles here. maybe cause its so hott here, maybe cause they are so cheap, maybe because they are so delicious, not sure ..but i always see a popiscle vendor and get my lose change and get myself something delicious.

this is when i talk about my maids and their specialities ;)

Dondora: Ofcourse being the oldest and wisest of them alll, her foood was probably the best. she KNEW how to make her juice. let me just name all the juice that i have drank: orange, strawberry, goiaba, melon, watermelon, passion fruit, grape, mango, apple, pinnapple. these are alll natual, squeezed freshly with the sweat and love only from Dondora. and that is why i love brasil

Betânia: this women knew how to make a salad. i love my salads and she never disappointed me. she always put in alot of weird stufff that somehow mixed perfectly

Evetech: i havent had anything AMAZINGLY goood here (not yet, anyway) but she always has just enough foood for everyone. its perfectly portioned that you dont eat SO MUCH but you also dont walk away from the table hungry.

the special ladies in my life ;)

have i made you hungry yet?

CARNAVAL..em mutum?

the first weekend in march was the celebrated weekend of CARNAVAL

if you havent heard/dont know what a Brasilian CARNAVAL is, i am insulted that you are reading my blog

..but not tooo insulted to describe it to everyone.

CARNAVAL is celebrated immediatley after Lent in almost all Roman Catholic countries. This festivial usually involves costumes, parades, masquerade, circus elements, and lotsssssss of partying. CARNAVAL in brasil is especially "grande" and referred to many brasilians as "the greatest show on earth." Rio de Janerio is one of the biggest cities to celebrate this hoilday, in all the world, and often attracts millions of people because of their "samba schools." In Rio, 12 schools of samba march in what is known as the Sambódromo where each school choses a theme and thousands of samba dancers join in with their elebrate customes. The customes are outt of this world; every color, animal print, wild design imaginable. Each night of CARNAVAL, the 4schools of sambas march and after all 12 show their best performance, the victor is announced and has bragging rights for the entire year.

Other cities that have famous CARNAVALS are: São Paulo, Recife, Salvador, Ouro Preto, and Diamante. Some of the smaller and historical cities, such as Ouro Preto and Diamante, have litttle "blocos" where a minature school of samba choses a theme and anyone can make their custome and join in. Whenever you go to a city where CARNAVAL is celebrated, you hear alot of Axé music, typical music from the state of Bahia; you dance a lot of sumba; and often "bebe bastante."

i knew CARNAVAL was almost here by the way it was constantly being advertised. A brasilian TV channel, Globo, had this commerical that had my eyebrow raised (being the conserative american and alll) a women, obviously from the northeast of the country, had absolutey no clothing on, her whole body was painted in a raindow-glitter-colorful fashion and dancing sumba the way i wish i could. the camera would zoom in on certain parts of the body where obviously paint was less likely to appear and i just had to laugh because this is sooooo brasil. i asked my brother one day, after seeing his eyes glued to the screen while this broadcast ran across the screeen, if this is allowed, i mean Globo is a family TV station.

he found absotutely no problem with this commerical, of course he didnt.

he asked if we have CARNAVAL is the US and after thinking for some time, we doo.

...

helllo, Mardi Gras? Lousiana? the famous beads?

that is our CARNAVAL ..although it is only celebrated in one whole city in the entire US.

I'm sure you are waiting to hear this crazy party that i went to for my CARNAVAL and see pictures of me dressed in a beauitful custome while dancing and rolling my hips to sumba.

unfortunatly, i cant say that i had a typical brasilian CARNAVAL.

i was in mutum

AKA the middle of nowhere.

being with my new family, we traveled around 4hours to mutum, a city with dirt roads and i can possibly say, more cows than people, in order to celebrate my father's mother birthday, my new grandma.

we left saturday morning and arrived later that afternoon to meet the entire side of my father's family. he is one of seven children, i think all are married with children and all where staying at grandmas housse (althought not alll the children came to mutum for CARNAVAL)

i remember when we arrived my father looked to me and was like, my parents are very simple. they live a very simple life.

simple: yes.

potential candadite for one of the craziest familes i have met: absoluetly.

we had a big party for grandma that saturaday night, with matching tshirts and alll and it was realllly a goood time. to be honest, family time is always bittter sweet for me. because if you get the right family, they will always welcome you with hugs and kisses and you feeel right at home (which usually happens) but more often than necassary, i start thinking about my own family which eventually leads to "saudades." but at this family, there were a lot of cousins my age and we had some extreme cousin-bonding-time. (one night i remember, we literally sat around the table for atleast 6hours and just talked. just talked. ive come to believe that i am extremely awakard in conversations esp. when they are talking about situations where i wasnt there and people i dont know, but my family always made sure i knew exactly what was happening and understood everything.)

i had one cousin who asked me, ariana do you miss your family? (i get this question a lot and have a hard time anwering it) i usually reply, "as vezes" (sometimes) becasue realllly, depending on the day, i miss you all back home. if im having a crap day, bad mood, and just hating everything, of course i miss you alot more when for example, i am having the time of my life here in brasil. my cousin, who is around 22, said i dont think i could do what you are doing. what if you are put into situations that you dont want to be put in, like if you have to sleep on the floor (thankfully i didnt) what if you dont want to? and i said, mann, i gotta be flexable, i have to be willing to do whatever and just suck it up sometimes. can you go home? she asked.

going home is never an option and never will be one.

the weekend of CARNAVAL brought horrible weather all over brasil. it rained alllllllllllll day, everyday, except in the northeast where it was sun bathing weather.

so we were stuck inside all day where we slept, ate, talked and just relaxed.

i had a cousin who lovesssss english, apparently he speaks it all the time at home with people who dont speak it.

usually when people speak english with me, i get somewhat annoyed. i can speak português, i am here to learn how to speak português, speak it. but my poor couisn, he just wanted to practice his english with a native speaker and although my other cousins gave him some crap about it, he spoke english and i replied in português haha

so that was my CARNAVAL. not the CARNAVAL of my dreams but it was a realllllllly nice time to get to know my new family.

ultima familia

i am all settled into my third, and basically, last family in brasil (although i will change another two times, returning to my previous families for various reasons)

litttle info on the marchesini familia:

meus pais (parents):

Raul e Lili

They are both in their mid 40s, work at USIMIAS, the local steel company as engineers. They live in a different neighborhood than my other two families, Barrio Das Àguas which is just residential and quite a way from the actually city of Ipatinga. Good thing: while everyone is at work or studying, it.is.so.quite.here. perfect for napping :) im telling you, when a car drives by in the afternoon, you are stratled by all the noise and wonder what it is until you realize someone is just passing by. Bad thing: because it is so far away from everything, i do have to either walk (a good long distance, up hillll) or take a bus (or two buses and we all know what an adventure that is)

i remember being riduclouslyyyyyy nervous to come to this family. riduclously nervous.

i remember asking if i could stay longer in my previous house, until this day or until after this hoilday. but of course i moved when the time was right

i dont exactly know why i was so nervous..

but i think it was because i didnt understand why they wanted me.

like my first family, already had an exchanger living in their house and their daughter IS an exchanger. my second family, my mom WAS an exchanger and i think she wanted to plant the idea of exchange in her childrens head. this family.. welll nothing.

but after being here and settling in (been here 10days and i am already adjusted nicely:D) they are amazing people that are willing to open their home and hearts to an american. simple as that.

..back to my parents, my dad likes to shoot guns. what a hobby that is.

there are countless trophies throughout the house; he has a real eye for the targent. he enjoys reading the newspaper at the clube on weekends and likes a tall glass of whiskey or beeer. meu pai :D

m mom is the cutest women, everrr. i remember first seeing a picture before meeting her and thinking, wow, she is brasilian.

and she is!

reallly litttle women with a latin american body frame (booty) with dark hair and creamy colored skin. the sweeetest women, always smiling, always laughing. minha mãe :D

i remember my last families saying that Raul e Lili are just really simple people.

And they are.

Simple and Wonderful

meus irmãos:

João Pedro e ViVi

my brother is recently turning 19 and just passsed his vestibular (acceptance into college) so he moved to another city about an hour away, Itabira, where i think he will be studying engineering of somesorttt. when you pass the vestibular and your a guy, you have to shave your head. ..and if you dont, someone willll. so he is recently without hair and almost always with a baseball cap on now. a really sweeet kid, sometimes odd? hah but i feeel like we are gonna become great friends! meu irmão :D

my sister is recently turning 15 and just got back from a 2wk journey in the wonderless land of America. she saw snow for the first time in NYC and held hands with Mickey Mouse in DisneyWorld. Saw her pictures: dediced that i MUST live in New York. She is shy, but realllllly sweeet, just like her momma, and always asking if i need anything. minha irmã :D

litttle info about minha mais nova familia

próxima: CARNVAL !