Sibley
Sibley
School Year: 2025 - 2026
Outbound to Brazil
September
"This was a pretty calm month overall. I got introduced to this new food called Pastel, which can be savoury or sweet, and it's been my go-to snack ever since! I ate my first Brazilian-style hot dog with mashed potatoes, corn, and crispy little french fries on top! Very different from the hot dogs with ketchup and pickles that I'm used to, but it was still very delicious.
I joined photography and ceramics classes to keep me busy after school, 3 days a week. I also started joining clubs in my school, like Model UN and Student Council.
Throughout the month, I would hang out with my friends from school at the mall or help them decorate for the upcoming school dance that was at the end of the month.
I went to Parque de Independência (Independence park, big yellow building and fountain), a very big and extravagant park.
I also joined some Arduino classes and learned how to code a little bit! Then at the end of the month, I had a sleepover with my friends and went to my school's spring formal!"
October
"This month was all over the place! In the first week, I got a private tour of the Engineering University, where the Model UN for my school is held. I got to see lots of crazy lab equipment that I've only ever heard of in my science classes in high school. I also got to learn a little bit about the history of the school I'm attending while I am here. Then my host family taught me how to make pastel with meat and cheese filling. It was delicious as always!
I made some chocolate zucchini cake for my friend's birthday that we celebrated at school, everyone loved it and was shocked by the main ingredient.
I was invited to a Rotary Churrasco (BBQ), very delicious, as the steak is awesome here!
During this month, there was the National Day of Children, so I went to Parque de Independência (the same park as September) with my host family and my host cousins. We spent the whole day here and had a huge picnic. Nearby, there was this colourful lettering exhibition that I went to see with my host mom. It was very cool as the painted signs were all old school, and there was a very well-painted old car.
Later on in the month, I went out with my exchange student friends to see this huge cathedral (catedral de sé) that was near a street called Liberdade, which is all Japanese and Korean food. Very cool place with lots of good sushi. Here we also took some photos with the local police for giggles.
Then I went to a nearby railroad town with my photography class as the visuals are amazing. The steam/fog covers the top of the surrounding mountains and makes it possible to take some really cool photos.
Then at the end of the month, my rotary had our Halloween party where we had two sets of Alvin and the Chipmunk costumes (my friends and I won the competition) and we had a little walkathon for the END POLIO NOW campaign my district is holding."
November
"Started off this month with my districts' nations fair! I represented Canada at this fair as there was already an exchange student representing the US. I made somehwat successful nanaimo bars which everyone loved, a lot of people asked me for the recipe.I talked to a lot of future exchange students for the 2026-2027 year and a surprising amount said they wanted to go to Canada or the US to experience the wildlife and snow.
During the first week I went to a Dia de los Muertos festival and ate some good Mexican food. I also went to the center of São Paulo with some friends from school and went to a really famous art museum called MASP, where I saw Claude Monet, van Gogh, and Picasso works. We also went to the top of a skyscraper and got to see the city from above. Later on I went to see an immersive van gogh art exhibition and I also made beaver tails for my hosts moms birthday.
Then, I went on my first Belo Brasil trip (exchange student trip) to the Pantanal and Bonito, pretty much like a wilderness retreat. I got to see my friend from my sponsor district, Ben, and it was awesome doing the trip together. First, we took a 16 hours bus ride to the Pantanal from Sao Paulo. We stayed in the Pantanal for 2 nights. While we where there we saw macaws, capybaras, tucans, snakes, rode horses, and see lots of cows and sheep. After, we took a bus to Bonito, another city, were we went snorkling, waterfall hiking, white water rafting, held snakes, went into a grotto, and visited a school where we gave presents to the children. This trip was only 11 days but it was so cool, and I got to do a lot of things for the first time. I met so many other cool exchange students from around the world. Now, I can't wait for my next trip to the Northeast of Brasil that is 30 days long! I'll start my trip January 06 and I return February 4th! I plan on hosting a Superbowl party for my host family and friends when I get back.
When I got back from my Pantanal trip, I switched host families and my new host family took me to the beach! My first time at the beach since I got here 4 months ago."
January
"For basically all of January I was on the Rotary “Dreamtrip” through the Northeast of Brazil. Below is the list of cities we went to throughout the 30 days ...
Jericoacoara & Fortaleza (sand dunes and beaches)
Natal – Pipa (beaches)
Recife (Galinhas)
Maceio (beaches)
Salvador (where they filmed Michael Jackson’s They Don’t Care about Us and the hot point for traditional Brazilian dance of Capoeira)
Itacare (beautiful beaches)
Porto Seguro (first landing of Portuguese settlers in Brazil)
Rio de Janeiro ( Christ the Redeemer, Copacabana beach, Sugarloaf mountain, Maracanã soccer stadium, Museum of tomorrow)
I had an amazing time on this trip, and I got to make some really awesome friends from all around Brazil and the world. I even got to watch some Super Bowl playoff games with my friend from Minnesota, whom I met on this trip! I really enjoyed this trip because I finally got to experience Brazilian beaches, which I do not have here in São Paulo, and that was really nice. After a month-long beach trip, I am more than satisfied with beaches for a while!"
February
"After coming back from my trip I took some time to relax from a very eventful month. I hung out with my friends who I hadn’t seen for a while. I went out to try hotpot for the first time with friends. My best friend from Canada, Ben, also came to visit me in São Paulo for a week and we went and toured most of São Paulo. We visited two famous museums here, one of science and innovation and the other of history. I got to see a really old John deer tractor which I though was very cool... hope everyone back home in Bemidji is having a nice time, I do really actually miss the snow and cold weather surprisingly. At the end of march I’ll be travelling to the amazon for a week long expedition through the rainforest. I’ll update you guys next after that!"