My two weeks in Sun Valley

Sorry that I took so long to post, but I had so many stuff to do on this past week that I couldn’t find a time to do it.

So, let’s start it.

These couples of weeks that I pass in Sun Valley were amazing.  I learned so much and I star to see some things in other perspective.

My host family was the best I couldn’t ask for a better one. They were so thoughtful and kind I really hope to see them again.

The school was bit different from what I was used to. Starting from the free periods, they were great, but different. We could follow the schedule of our hosts or watch any class of our interest, normally I followed Meredith (my host sister) schedule, but sometimes I went in other classes.

We had 6 classes:

American Dream, which is a literature class focusing on texts, books and other types of arts that express the idea of the American dream.

History, in this case how she is an 11^th grader it’s American History specificity the Civil War.

Spanish and French, it was really funny and kind of confusing in the beginning learn another language in “English”, but after a while I got used to it.

Physics, they were basically learning the same thing that we do and I could realize that even though they use the calculator on the time the teacher also teach some of the concepts not just the formulas.

Pre Calculus , they were learning what we learn in Geometry in the second year and once again they use the calculator a lot, but the teacher also taught the concepts.

In terms of exchanging cultures I think it was the main point, because we all could explain so much about Brazil and our states and cities giving everyone a totally new point of view. Also we could break some stereotypes too not only about Brazil, but about US too.

This trip was a great learning and I’m sure everyone learn and teach something.

Last Night in Sun Valley

So, today is our last night at Sun Valley. It's so sad to leave, but we had such an amazing time here! They are all so great and welcoming! A lot of them want to come to Brazil in June and not just the host brothers and sisters, but the other students and even the parents! I think they all had a great time too! This trip was so good, I learned so much about their culture and lives, I think I also teach a lot about Brazil and all of us could break a lot of stereotypes and learn so much from each others. 

Goodbye Dinner

Today we had a goodbye dinner at Lisa's where all the host families and host brothers and sisters were invited, just like some other guest as David Holmes, the future headmaster of the Community School. We had such an amazing time, Lisa made us Lasagna (meat and vegan) and we could tried Root Beer, that it's not a beer it's a soda really famous here and tastes like mint gun and we also could all talk and have fun together. 
We also handed this card we made for thanks all the people from the Community School for all of they did for us!

Last Afternoon

In our last afternoon in Sun Valley we (Melina, Raisa, Meredith, Sophia, Jordy, Eric and Yara) spent playing we and chatting at Meredith's. It was so fun! We gonna miss this guys so much!! And after we get ready for our goodbye dinner!

Last days

We are in our last days in Sun Valley! I'm gonna miss here so much, they all are so nice and friendly here. It have been so good to be able present so many things about Brazil and see how they enjoy that, not just the teenager, but all the kids from Community School and the host families and friends. This experience has been incredible and unique.

Meeting the Mayor

Today was so special!
After a day of class we had an appointment with Sun Valley Mayor, Wayne Willich. We all went to a conference room where we all could talk.
We found out that the Mr Willich used to work at Boeing designing airplanes with Raisa's host mom dad and that he already have been to Brazil a couple of times, but only in Rio and Sao Paulo to some business trips. Then we all told him what we wanted to do in college and he encourage everyone.
He was so nice and told us a lot of histories and one of them was about a friend who asked him to create a  hospital equipment , which would help a lot of people and he told us that took him 5 years to do it, but it was one of the greatest things of his life. The ending message was that don't matter if you not familiar with something if you feel that you should tried, you should go for it. 
They gave us little gifts from the city, so sweet!
It was such a good experience and they all were so nice!

Tests Day

Today the hosts are having a lot tests. Physics, Spanish, English (American Dream), but today it's friday and are preparing ourselves for an amazing weekend!

Physics and Potatoes

Now,  in the physics class we are calculating the force we must apply in a bag of Idaho giants potatoes to put then in orbits. Fun!

End of the First Day

We had a fun day at classes. Some different subjects like American Dreams class, which is about that talks about the idea of the "American Dream".
After school, me (Melina), Raisa, Yara, Jordy,Geraldo, Eric and Camille went to the town to check around. We went to really fun store where we buy it a lot of books for 50 cents each. Then we visit the Community Library and Visitors office. After that we went to a chocolate store, where Camille works on Vacation, they have really good chocolate. And in the end we went to Java`s cafe, where Meredith join us, talking and having a good time.

Some pics from the Community School bus

First Day of Class

So, now I'm in a free period, we already had some classes.
It's a really cute school and everybody is lovely. We are having a lot of fun!
Next period is gonna be lunch, it's gonna be our first american lunch....