By Jacob Nicholas

During my trip to Brazil I had the opportunity to stay with the Braun family in Gravatai. I had hosted Bruno Braun in January, February, and March and was honored to have the privilege to stay with his family. Bruno was the middle child of three. He has a younger sister named Luiza and a older sister named Helen. While staying with the Braun family I was able to become very close with the children and parents, Antonio and Loreci Braun.

Throughout the trip there were many unforgettable and memorable moments, but the one which stands out in my mind is the trip to Porto Alegre to watch the Gremio game. Luiza, Bruno, Antonio, Bruno's uncle, and I left Gravatai around 7:30pm on a Tuesday night to go see the Gremio game. Gremio was playing Santos which was one of the best teams in the league at the time. The crowd and the cheering were amazing as we watched number 18 Gremio beat number 1 Santos.

One of the biggest or most noticeable cultural differences which I observed was the way in which people greet each other. Instead of greeting each other with a hand shake like you would in the United States it was common to give a girl or women a hug and two or three kisses on the cheek. For a man to man greeting it was common like in the United States to shake hands. I feel though overall there was more public affection between people in Brazil.

The funniest or most humorous experience for me in Brazil was trying to communicate with people. Throughout the whole stay and especially at the beginning I had to use many hand motions and gestures for my friends and host parents to understand what I was trying to say. There were many instances I would need to have someone help me translate to communicate to my host parents and friends. Towards the end of my stay I believe I was able to communicate with everyone much easier.

During the second week in Brazil Matt and I did volunteer work in Porto Alegre. We traveled to different English schools called "Culturals" and talked about ourselves, Indiana, and the United States. It was a great opportunity for me to meet new people who spoke English and strengthen my Portuguese. At the end of the week Matt and I were together at Ana Isabels' cultural classes talking with the students. I feel this was a great and easy way to do community service while in Brazil.

Once I returned to Indiana I was eager to share all of my wonderful experiences with friends and family. The first thing I did was sat down and showed my parents all of my pictures of friends, family, and different places I had visited. I told them of all the great and unforgettable moments which I had in Brazil. I encouraged and educated both my friends and family to travel to Brazil and see what the great and magnificent country is like.