1 month and 2 weeks of my wonderful exchange is already gone. And Poland keeps suprising me.
I live in Słubice, a small town on the border with Germany. Although it’s far from bigger cities and the other exchange students, I couldn’t be happier somewhere else.
School:
After 1 week in Bydgoszcz for the Polish Language Camp, I came back and school started. One of the things I was more scared about was if I would be able to make friends or not, because I knew previously that it is a bit hard to make polish friends. I proved myself wrong because I am friends with a lot of people, especially my class, who is extremely welcoming and helps me with everything I need.
My profile in school is Mathematics, Geography and Politics. I also take advanced English and basic German. German is one of my favorite classes because the teacher is actually interested in me and she knows that I wanna learn both german and polish, so she talks to me, gives me books about those languages and induces me to take part of it.
Home:
My host family is wonderful. They are calm, easy going and helps me with everything I need. I feel very welcome and loved in our house. And my host mom is Poland’s best cook.
Language:
Polish is a very difficult language. My host family and friends teach me a lot of things and I’m really grateful that they are patient with me. I have a hard time with pronunciation sometimes, but I definitely am improving everyday. I always pay attention to the conversations around me and try to understand it or I read whatever I see in the streets. I don’t expect myself to be fluent and perfect in Polish, but I would really like to be able to speak and understand enough to have a conversation with someone.
First Rotary meeting:
I prepared a presentation for my host club about Brazil in Polish and I explained everything also in Polish. It was hard, scary and all other adjectives possible. I prepared my lines and then with the help of my host sister Ania and my friend Tamila, we translated everything to Polish and they helped me to practice. I guess my pronunciation was good enough, because they understood everything and even asked questions to me! They gave me a beautiful gift: a big photography book about Poland with historical explanations.
Birthday:
21st of September was my 18th birthday. My friends and family surprised me in every way possible. My host family woke up early to sing happy birthday and gave me lots of gifts. My class started to sing happy birthday during the first school break and they gave me one of the most meaningful things in my life: a bracelet with a infinite sign, to represent our friendship. Cheesy, yet extremely adorable. I felt – still do- so loved and pleased.
There is still a lot for me to see and experience and see, and I can’t wait for it.