PA2

SECOND DRAFT
CHANGES

In 2011 I took a giant step and went to an international exchange student program. As
a 16-year-old girl that was a huge adventure and nowadays, I think that was my greatest
achievement. Since when I was 10 years old, I used to talk with my parents about living
abroad, so it was not a surprise for them and gladly they were able to afford it. Luckily for me, I
could choose where and how long I wanted to stay, so I choose to live for 6 months in Sydney,
Australia doing a high school program in a public school.
As a teenager I had to live in a host family, it was a single mom, Cezara and, her three
kids, Jerri, Zane and, John. They were wonderful to me I had no complaints; my dream is to
visit them again one day. The house was well located and close to the school, sometimes I like
to see the house on Google Maps just to keep reminding me about the good days.
The experience of high school was the best part, I made a lot of friends including,
Brazilians, Germans, Italians, Americans, and of course Australians. I still spoke with the
Germans and the Italians girls; they were really kind. A funny part is that the school was in
front of the beach and when it was really hot, the other Brazilian girl and me I, used to go with
wear our bikinis under the uniform and skip some classes to sunbath, luckily we never got
caught. However, the school was very strict about the uniform policy, which made me
grounded sometimes for not wearing the right shoes or a the correct jacket.
I was able to visit a Brazilian friend in another city too, my friend was living in the north of
Australia and I took a plane by myself and I stayed a week in her host family house in on Gold
Coast. Visiting another city was cool, I was able to identify the differences and I noticed how
Sydney is an expensive city, everything on the Gold Coast was cheaper. Although I did not
regret the city I chose to live, Sydney’s weather was more likely somewhat similar to São Paulo
and it is a magnificent place.
Looking back, I think that I made the right decision, sometimes it was hard to be alone
in a different country, but I knew that was the biggest experience of my youth and I had to live
and enjoy it to the most.