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 #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.