Diana - Hello!

HELLO!!!

I´m Diana I´m from México I arrived August 18th but I missed my second flight so my first night in the USA was in the airport but it was a good experience .

I went to a  Mexican restaurant. I ordered a burrito and soda. Then I went to pay my food cashier saw me cried and wore my blazer .He said go to eat your food  IT´S FREE

Then I like so much that day.

The next day I arrived to Hayden and with my host family returned to Denver by car. We stayed in Denver 2 night, We visited the zoo and their friends and my host mom´s parents.

That weekend I went to camp to the others rotary exchange students. It was very funny and cool !!

The others week I went to high school and a lot barbecues and went to event of airplane .

IT WAS AMAZING THAT WEEKS I LOVE LIVING IN STEAMBOAT .

Mallory Richey - Peu Plus de 2 Months!

Hellllooo Everybody!
I apologize for the late blog post but as the last two weeks have been vacation I have not been home very often, but it will make for an interesting blog post! Let me start with the Mt. St. Michel Rotary weekend!! LOVED IT...three days of crazy sight seeing with all of the other exchange students. After one night of running through the rain, and trekking through the ocean the next day, and very little sleep over the weekend, I came back sick as a dog. It was well worth it though to see the abbey and even a stop over at Omaha Beach (that was so cool). I love Rotary Weekends because after struggling with the language barrier for a while , it is nice to be able to express yourself to your friends.

 Mt. St. Michelllll

Omaha Beach

After the excitement of Mt. St. Michel it was time to go back to school :( but not for long! Only two weeks. It flew by too, due to the fact that school is getting easier and easier. I am meeting more and more people and understanding more and more in the classes. It is now beginning to feel just like regular school! And then, the vacation commencessss. The first day, Saturday, I went to Bruxelles for the day. IT IS SO COOL, it is one of the coolest cities I have ever been to...the streets...the food (waffles, fries, chocolate, had it all). It was also the first time I took the TGV...took us 40 min to get from Lille to Bruxelles. It is so bizarre for me to have everything so close here! The next week I headed to Bordeaux, where it rained, but still was gorgeous. The first day we hit the beach and the dune de Pyla, the second, the cutest little vineyard village you have ever seen called St Emilion. I felt like I was living in a postcard, every other shop sold wine, and we went down into the cellar of one, as it is one of the most famous villages in France for wine (and that is saying something). It was incredible. Finally, the last day the city of Bordeaux...another beauty! Upon the return. I went to see Paranormal Activity 4 in french and understood it all...which was a small victory. I then headed to Versaille. MAGNIFICENT! I pretended I was a princess the whole time and was in awe at the fact that this was someone house at one point! That was a fun day and I think I met more Amercian's than French. On Friday, my host family surprised me by taking me to London! It was so bizarre because it switched from me being being the one struggling with the language with my host family, to being the translator! SO FUN though, we had some serious laughs. I loved London, and we were blessed with beautiful weather ( odd rain in Bordeaux, sunshine in London). It was great spending the day with my host family. No time for homesickness anymore, and yesterday I was with my french friends and she mentioned to me that she was going to cry when I leave, and for the first time, I realized that I have already built a life here without knowing it. Overall, the last week has been the best in France, I finally feel like it is real life now...hope everything is good back it the States.

 Chillin' in Bordeaux

 Versaille with Franco from Peru

 LONDON

Bruxelles with my second host sister

Bisous

Kestral Johnston - São Thomé das Letras

São Thomé das Letras is a city in the neighboring state of Minas Gerais with the main export being rock. This rock is used for pools in all of Brasil because it doesn't get hot even with all of the sunlight. This town lies along the Estrada Real. The Estrada Real refers to the roads which were used during colonial time Brasil to move goods/people from the interior to other parts of Brasil. São Thomé is very touristy because it is in an area surrounded by waterfalls (cachoeiras). For a weekend in October, I got to visit them with my host mom and godmother....

Map of the Estrada Real

Welcome to Sao Thome!

The view over the town

Cachoeira Veu de Noiva - My host mom and I

Cachoeira Antares - My favorite

Tourist keepsakes made from the rock in Sao Thome

Minas Gerais countryside

The closest I'll be getting to snow this year....This is a cloud over one of the mountains

Sorry for all the pictures, and if my English seems off, it probably is....Tchau, beijos s2

Kestral Johnston - Centro do São Paulo

Here in Brasil, things are busy as usual. Since I haven't had time to update very much, I'm going to try to split my past month into parts. I have been on so many adventures here so far and have seen so many different things. We, as exchange students, are lucky to be able to live in another country for a year and be able to do so many things that not even the locals have done yet. So here it goes:

O Centro do São Paulo

The first time I went to São Paulo to actually see the city, I went with the other exchange students for a Rotex event. Rotex is a group here based out of São Paulo that is comprised of past exchange students who still want to interact with exchange students. They coordinate different events for us, with one occurring about  each month. They took about 60 exchange students on this trip to explore the center of the fourth largest city in the world. We first went to a Praça da Sé and Catedral da Sé. It was beautiful inside!! From there, we went closer into the center and got to go on top of one of the buildings there. It was really neat to get a bird's eye view of one of the largest cities in the world. We then went to see the outside of the Teatro Municipal, and then to one of the first schools in Sao Paulo. It was a really tiring tourist-y day, especially with the weather being so hot (about 90F). Plus, time with the other exchange students is always fun.

All of the exchange students that went to Sao Paulo

Catedral da Se

How many stoplights does it take for all the exchange students to cross the road?

Everyone always assumes it...

FIFA World Cup 2014 mascot

Teatro Municipal

Part of my school

Train Station

One of the churches

Inside one of the churches

Fruits at Mercado Municipal

Banespa

Top of Banespa over Sao Paulo

Bovespa- Brazilian stock market

Cultural Center

Train Station, going home

So, I got to visit the center of Sao Paulo, not just once, but twice. This time, I went with my school, and we went to different cultural sites. I went across the street 25 de Marco (one of the busiest streets with many fake things), the Cultural Center, Mercado Municipal (full of fresh fruits, fish, and other food), Banespa (Altino Arantes Building, 32 floors and 2 flights of stairs, one of the tallest buildings in Sao Paulo) , Bovespa (the Brazilian stock market), inside the actual Teatro Municipal, and many smaller churches. Although my time in the big city of Sao Paulo has been fun, I think I'd rather stick to smaller places. :)

Tchau, ate mais....beijos s2