Escola do Brasil

Heeeey

I hope everyone is enjoying the crisp Vermont autumn weather. I heard you guys just had the first snowfall of the year? How ridiculous! The spring here is beautiful and warm and I'm enjoying everything very much. As I am writing this I am sitting in Physics class at my current high school, Colégio Albert Einstein. Because in the states I haven't yet taken a physics class and the teacher is speaking very fast in a language different from my own, this class is probably the most impossible thing for me to do right now. Also if I try anymore to understand what the heck is going on my head will explode. Literally. So I've decided to write a little about my experiences in school here so far.

School in Brazil is veeery different than what I'm used to at MHS (Montpelier High School). Here we stay in the same room with the same people all day and the teacher move and change classrooms. We have 6 class periods each day but normally only 3 double period subjects. Each class you take one time a week, except luckily for me Physics and Chemistry each happen 3 times a week. I know, how great. Classes start at 7:30, but the teachers don't usually get things going until around 8. We leave show around 12:30-1:00 for lunch and usually then the school day is over. Rarely we have one class in the afternoon but they're never required. I usually go to the afternoon world history class once a week because I find it really interesting to learn history from an un-american view point. For about an hour during the school day we have interval where you can just hang out with friends or do whatever you want, kind of like a really long free period that everyone has at the same time.

One of my most favorite parts about school here is that we basically have no homework. Like maybe every other week we have a one-page writing assignment, but other than that, nothing. I also feel that the teachers are well prepared and give interesting classes. What I don't like as much is staying in the same classroom with the same people in the same seat all day. I prefer to walk around inbetween classes and see much more people throughout the day like classes in the United States. But the school day is very short and it doesn't really matter anyways. Also, the students here don't get to choose which classes they'd prefer to take. You have to take all the same classes as the rest of the people in your classroom. Kind of annoying but hey, not a big problem.

In my class the people are so great; I love all of my friends and classmates so much! There are groups of friends but there are no cliques here and everyone just likes eachother. There are never any fights, confrontations, drama, or any of that other fun stuff that happens oh so frequently in american schools. Ever since my first day in school all have been so friendly and kind and I really feel like I have some good friends with me in school. The problem for me is that my friends and classmates are going to graduate this November and start University and the rest of their lives while next year I'm going to stay in the same year in the same school. I'm going to miss them all so much but it's an opportunity for me to meet and become close friends with more and more people.

The teachers here are incredibly goofy. Like I'm not joking here, some of them are simply nuts! Although I can barely understand their classes at time I feel very confident in their teaching abilities. The students here respond to them very positively and their patience is unbelievable. Yet through their crazy antics and their never ending jokes, they are all so lovely and I feel very welcomed and comfortable here in school.

Finaaaally, physics is over now we have a subject I can understand, Biology! Give Vermont a hug for me and have fun in the snow!

So much loooooove!
Marie!