Passport, check! Visa, check! Yellow Fever shot, check! Malaria pills, check!
I have always dreamed of studying abroad during college but I never thought I would actually do it, until a recruiter came to one of my sustainability classes and explained an opportunity to travel to one of five countries to focus on a specific sustainability topic. I immediately knew that if I was ever going to study abroad, this is the way I would want to do it.
At this point I have two weeks and a day before my departure from Newark airport to Sao Paulo, Brazil. I have never traveled out of the country alone or further than a five-hour plane ride at that so this will be a new experience for me. Part of me is nervous and part of me is excited for all the unknown adventures I will undergo while traveling to and being in Brazil.
I’m nervous because this trip is more than just being a tourist staying in a hotel or resort separated from the daily occurrences that happen in the host country. No, this is a foreign country where I am going to be submersed in a whole new culture without safety barriers for three weeks! What are their norms when it comes to their lifestyle? Food? And clothing? And on top of this, I don’t speak Portuguese
But with all that said, I’m excited to meet new people and form bonds that will last a lifetime. Taking this huge leap is easier knowing that even though I will be traveling alone, I will be sharing the experience of living in Brazil with 15 other Arizona State University students. After going to a few of the pre-departure meetings I get a sense that the group of us all share the same interests and are going to get along very well. It was also during one of our meetings that I found out that we are going to have the opportunity to sleep in hammocks during our boat ride down the Amazon River – which I’m also very excited about!
I am currently trying to learn about Sao Paulo, Curitiba and The Amazonia without having too much of a vision of how it will be when I arrive because I want to go there with an open mind and no expectations. What I hope to get out of this trip if nothing else is just a new perspective and a better understanding for what I want to do in a career in sustainability. For me, school is only part of the process for determining what my future will look like. I want to go out there and experience real life situations to find what really is fulfilling to me personally. There is a big world out there and many different avenues that I can take so I’m excited to be one more step closer to exploring it!