Making the most out of this exchange program

I have heard several students back home in Montevallo voice interest in applying for the program I'm in to come next spring semester. One word of advice: Fully commit to wanting to learn Portuguese! It is not a given that since you will live here for six months you will be fluent by the time you get back to Alabama.

I know the semester before coming here, Portuguese tutoring was very important to me but I did not study near as much as I should have due to my other classes & time. And I do not know about the participants placed in Vicosa, but here at UFG the "letras" ( literature) department is fairly large and you will not have much trouble finding people who speak English on campus. However, if you want to connect with someone other than English speaking students and see a broader view of Brazil, Portuguese allows you to fully submerse yourself in this culture instead of being a passenger on a six month ride. It is necessary to fully understand the classes, and showing interest in Portuguese shows respect for the people of that country that you are trying to learn their language instead of hoping that they know yours.

I regret not spending more time learning Portuguese back in Montevall0, and with only four months to go I have a lot to learn in a short amount of time. So, future applicants...study, have fun with it don't worry, and be ready for the experience of a lifetime! The Brazilian students who come to Montevallo have to do a very expensive and difficult test (TOEFL) to test their language ability, all we are required to do is a one semester tutoring program so it is the least we can do. I highly recommend this exchange program, being a student here at UFG has allowed me to experience Brazil in such a beautiful way that six months is going by quicker than I could have ever imagine.

Good luck to the future applicants!If you have any questions, I'll be glad to answer them.

The end of tutoring, beginning of classes!

It has been so busy, I've taken trips to Pirinopolis, and Rio Quente! More on that later. The first thing on my mind is that today was the last day of classes with Camilla, my portuguese tutor.

The semester back at The University of Montevallo has been in full swing since January, however here the semester does not start until monday. Today was our ( Devin, West, and myself) last day of Portuguese tutoring with Camilla(pictured left), a student at UFG. We will have an official
Portuguese for foreigners course, as well as start our courses within the university Monday. Today we had a farewell party , which included reading and watching a popular Brazilian children's comic/cartoon which is entitled "Mônica", and eating homemade fruit salad (the picture above shows Devin & I eating some of this!)prepared by Camilla's mother. It is hard to believe that we can barely read comics, yet we will be taking college classes in this language in less than a week. Baby steps, we are all learning so much every day!Learning a new language takes more patience than I had ever imagined.

This comic strip is known by everyone here, it is a very common and favorite comic of Brazilian children. The main characters in this comic strip include (from left to right):

Magali: she eats enormous amounts of food and is always looking for more, has a cat who's name Mangau translates to "Porridge"

Cascao: a little boy who has never taken a bath and is afraid of water

Cebolinha: speaks with a speech impediment and often replaces "L's" with "R's". Cebolinha means little onion, a name attributed to by his hairstyle!

Mônica: a pudgy buck toothed girl who gets teased a lot by the others, but who is very endearing and takes revenge via hitting people with her stuffed bunny who's name is Sansão, translates to Samson