The last two weeks

Well two more weeks have flown by WAY too quickly. The weekend of the 9th I had a small birthday party at my house. We had pizza, played some pool, danced and had lots of fun.
Here's a picture of me and my cake!

This past weekend I had an AFS orientation in Brasilia, which is about 3 hours from Goiania. Me, Aomsin and the two other exchange students living in Goiania took a bus to get there. The whole drive was through farms and cute run down little cities.


When we got to Brasilia we drove directly from the bus station to a farm to eat lunch. From there we drove on dirt roads that twisted and winded and got us to the middle of nowhere; where the house was. All of Saturday was filled with AFS information. We put up tents and got ourselves situated, and for the first time in my life I was perfectly fine sleeping outside. Our group consisted of three Americans, four Thai girls, one girl from Finland, and one girl from New Zealand. That night we talked all night long about our host families, about back home, about friends and people we have met and things that we miss the most. There is something about exchange students and how we all understand exactly what eachother is going through, better than anyone else, that makes us the best of friends so easily. I'm not exactly sure how any of us fell asleep that night, all I know is that Sunday morning began the continued orientation.


We drove back into Brasilia and got to sight-see for a while. We saw the National Congress building, the beautiful Cathedral, and took a bunch of pictures from this huge TV tower. The city of Brasilia is actually shaped as a plane with a large central area, and two wings that are exactly equal to eachother. Driving through it, Brasilia feels oversized and spread out. It feels surreal and unnatural because it was so planned, and it is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen.

I was so sad to say bye to my new friends and the city, but in two months we are scheduled to have another orientation, and I can't wait!!

All About School

I received a comment about how my school is organized, and so I decided to make a post about it because it is very complicated.

The Brazilian school system very different from out own. In Brazil the public schools are considered awful. Everyone who has the ability to do so sends their children to private schools. However for college it is the opposite. The public colleges in Brazil are free and offer the best education, but they are very difficult to get accepted into. There are very few good private colleges, and they are considered as colleges for students with money that do not take much interest in their education.

For high school students these are called Colegio’s. The Colegio consists of three years; primeiro, segundo, and terceira, or first, second, and third. This is the equivalent to Sophomore, Junior, and Senior year. My school is larger than usual, and we have three classes for each year; A, B, and C.
In my class, Segundo ano B, we have 42 students. Instead of changing rooms, the teachers rotate classes. They teach with a chalkboard and a really high tech program with a projection and white screen that allows them to access the computer from the board (I will post pictures). Each class is fifty minutes long, and our schedule is as follows:

7 AM the bell rings and we all go into the classroom. We have two classes and then a quick 15 minute snack break. Following that we have two more classes and then a long snack break for 25 minutes. Our last two classes are separated by a 5 minute water break, and class ends at 1 pm. We then have a long lunch, and we start class again at 2:45. In the afternoon we have regular classes, except for on Thursdays and Fridays. Thursdays are like UNI's Office Hours in which you have free time to study and ask teachers for help. On Friday afternoon classes all students take tests, except for me and Aomsin, but we will start to take tests as soon as we have adapted to the language.

Each day the class schedule changes, and I never know what teacher to expect. One week I tried to write down which teachers I have and what classes, only to find out that its not the same every week. We have seventeen teachers, all of them with their own subjects.


A list of my classes:
Literature
History of Brazil
Portuguese Language
Art History
Genetics
Geography
Chemistry I
Political History of Europe
Geometry
Analyzing Combinations
Writing
Chemistry II
Physics
Sociology
Biology
Anthropology
World History

And there are three more that I didn’t write down. So on any given day I could have two different writing classes, three maths and four history classes. I just don’t know how it works! What I secretly think is that the teachers do rock paper scissors for what classes they will teach that day.

The classes in the afternoon also include English and Spanish classes as well as practice for the soccer, handball, and volleyball teams. Most students only have one or two classes in the afternoon and so end class at 4:30, but many choose to stay with friends and study and do homework until 6pm. For students in Terceira, this is the most important year for them. They study many hours, and often only leave school when they have to at 10:00 PM, only to go home and finish homework. They are so concentrated in their studies because it is very difficult to get into college.
Luckily for me, I am in Segundo ano, and so my friends have more free time. Every day we go out for lunch, or for an afternoon snack at the local Picole (popsicle)store. And although my friends take their studies seriously, you can always find them laughing and having fun.

And another great thing about Brazil is that nobody likes to work, so there are a TON of holidays. This sunday is Easter, and everyone has Thursday and Friday off of work this week. My school was practically empty the last few days because everyone is on vacation!

Just a little heads-up: The next week it is unlikely that I will post anything because it is a family weekend, and then on Tuesday the 6th it is my birthday, so please check the blog at earliest on friday the 9th. However if I do post anything new, I will make it known on facebook!

Miss you all!
Frankie :)