Blog Entry #6 - Spring Break

When I heard "Spring Break" I always used to associate it with beach, travel, sun... in other words, Florida! Although spending the Spring Break in Florida would surely be amazing, it was not a possible reality for me. So, instead of getting tanned under the Sun, I spent my entire break getting whiter at the campus and in little trips to Walmart. But it did not mean I can not have really good moments. 

The most worthwhile moment during the Break was when I met my friends at Lucas' house. We spent almost all night there ranging from playing videogame, beer pong, to dancing a lot. Lucas welcomed us with pão-de-queijo (cheese bread, a Brazilian traditional food, picture on the left side), just when I first bit it I could realize how much I missed it. The girls also made caipirinha (a traditional Brazilian lemon drink), I brought a strawberry mix, and there were also vodka, tequila, fireball, whisky and plenty of beer. I started playing videogame with Eric, Lucas and Vinicius while the others were building the beer pong table. My partner of beer pong was Vinicius and we played against Eric and Paulinho, it was a really strained game, we started winning but they turned the game in the end and we lost it. We also could play the songs that we missed so much and we grew up listening to them and we sang them at the top of our lungs. I really missed this moments with my friends and it was really nostalgic.   

Stéfanny, Ruana, Vinicius, me , Lucas, Eric, Paulinho, Valdery, Mariana and Thaís.

Blog Entry #5 - Panambi

 Panambi is a city located in Brazil, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (the southernmost state of my country), by this way, it is really closed to Uruguay and Argentina. Panambi has a lot of parks and trees and places where you can hike. Also, it has a plenty of waterfalls and you can easily connect yourself with the nature. 

So, let's suppose you do not like nature at all, it will not be a problem for you. Panambi was mostly colonized by Germans and they brought a lot of their culture with them, it is really reflected in architecture, gastronomy, language, etc. If you look for "cafe colonial" (colonial diner), I swear to you, if you love food, you will not regret. 

There are also a lot of cultural shows, museums and pubs and a plenty of food and nature to enjoy.

A city view form my house

Believe me, this is downtown!

Waterfalls ♥

Blog Entry #4 - A city problem

I am from Panambi, Rio Grande do Sul (the southern state of Brazil). A major concern in my city are the street potholes. There are many potholes and everyday the number of them just increase. They are caused by two major factors:

1) The low quality of the existing asphalt and the replacement asphalt (which is also of low quality and by this way cheaper than one of a high quality).

2) The constant water leaks caused by old water pipes across the city.

The solutions are easy ones. First of all, they need to replace the old water pipes by new ones (actually, already exists a project for this) and after, but just AFTER, they can replace the asphalt by one of a higher quality (that is more expensive, but in a long-term it pays itself).

A little of the putholes

Blog Entry #3 - The best and the worst place on SUNY Oswego (for me)

I really enjoy SUNY Oswego. The best place on campus for me is the combination of my old room and the Lake Ontario. I loved the view it had. It was at Waterbury Basement with a lakeside view. I could just walk a few steps and I was in the lake. The Lake Ontario is huge, it seems like it never ends on the horizon. By this way, it is amazing watch the sunset there, because the sunset is over the lake, on the horizon. During the summer, almost everyday I went to the lake to watch the sunset, and everyday was a different sunset. Sometimes the sky was just blue, other times it was orange, or even pink. 

An amazing degrade of colors.

In contrasct to this beautiful summer images, the places I hate the most, here, in SUNY Oswego, are the corridor between the townhouses on The Village and The Village bus stop. The bus stop is an open bus stop. It do not have any walls or protection against wind and snow. I hate it so much that I always wait for the bus inside my house and when I see it I go outside. In addition, the bus stop is located in a corridor between the townhouses, where it creates strong wind chills. These winds often raises the snow on the ground and make swirls with it. I totally avoid these two places during my days.

A little bit of snow, but a lot of wind and cold.

Blog Entry #2 - Meaning Photographs

Photographs are able to register and keep tiny moments to eternity. I particularly love taking photos of my friends and landscapes. And I also really enjoy printing and keeping them. I chose these two photographs below because they represent my best friends.

From the right to the left: Kelly, Gabriel, me, Pedro, and Henrique.

This picture was took last February; we were customizing the t-shirts for the Carnaval. One day before, we decided to organize a group and make the t-shirts. In my town, it is not a holiday, so we rented a van and went to the nearest city. It was really cool, and it was my first Carnaval. Our group's name is Alucicrazy (it's hallucinate + crazy), we took the name's idea from a popular soup opera in Brazil. These are my best friends in Brazil, we used to hangout, party, or just watch a movie every weekend. We had really good times together. 

Me and my boyfriend, and also best friend, Vinicius

I took this photograph during our Winter break trip, in Houston, TX. I met him, here, in Oswego. In a couple weeks, we started dating. It was something really spontaneous and I wasn't expecting this. He became my best friend, my boyfriend, and my home.  As we are from the same state, we have lot of cultural similarities, which ones I don't have with other Brazilians. He is my base here, the reason why I'm not feeling so much homesick, and the sunshine of my darkest days. I really appreciate this photo because we were watching the sunset (something we aren't able to do in Oswego's Winter). It was a beautiful sunny day, it wasn't warm, but it still was warmer than here. We planned this trip during months, and it was one of the great times of my life. We also traveled to New Orleans, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San  Francisco, but it was his idea to travel to Houston, where we could visit NASA, which was an amazing day. 

Blog Entry #1 - Studying Abroad

Hello!

My name is Debora Daniela Wendland Amorim. I am from Brazil and I also am an exchange student at SUNY Oswego (Oswego, USA). Making the decision of studying abroad was really hard for me. I needed to choose between graduate last year (2014) and study one year and six months abroad and postpone my graduation in two years. Studying abroad, understanding new cultures and meeting people from all around the world was an ancient dream of mine. And so, the opportunity came out and I submitted my application, but I had been struggling with these two ideas during months. It was in the summer break (Dec 2013 - Mar 2014) that I realized that another opportunity like this one will not show in front of me again, so soon. I could graduate when I come back. But another to study abroad with everything paid... Who knows?

Ok, now I was decided. On the other hand, I was not feeling prepared for it. I am majoring Physics, and had been a long time since I had coursed my English classes (from 8 to 13 years-old, and I was 20). By all these years, I had learned a good English, but I could not remember a lot of things. I arrived here, in USA, for learning English at first. After 4 months of only English classes, I feel much more confident than I was before. Now, I need to face more 2 semesters of academic classes. I had had a lot of concerns last semester about it. And if I am not able to understand the professors? And if I fail on the courses? And if the courses be so difficult? And if.. And if... I had a lot of and ifs.  I chose five courses and one lab to do this semester, thinking that I will drop the most difficult. But after this first week of classes, I decided that I will not drop anyone of my classes. I know that some of them will be hard, and a couple of others will be laborious. In the end, I know, everything will be fine.

The most challenging thing in Oswego: the snow.