A Letter from Beatriz...

Hello dear friend,

How are you? Hope you are doing well. I have been feeling a bit strange lately, maybe it’s because I have received the information about my host family, what has made it all seem so real for the first time.

Don’t get me wrong, I have know it’s real as soon as I received the acceptation letter months ago, but today a month, give or take, before the trip itself, the penny has finally dropped.

Oh, how silly I am, I have forgotten to introduce myself….

Hi, I am Beatriz, I am 16 and Brazilian. I am the girl in the left with the sunglasses. In a month or so I will be on a plane to England, I am quite excited about it, but a little nervous too.

I think it’s normal to be nervous since it’s a big thing.

To be going to live for a year in another country, away from my family is not an easy decision to make, but it is a good one. For me, it means to get out of my comfort and learn new things that will help me grow as a person.

This is a photo of a trip I took two years ago with school, almost all of my friends are in this picture. Can you see the two people in the middle laughing? It’s me and my best friend, I don’t remember why we were laughing but it look as if we were having a great time, I will miss him a lot.

Obvious I will miss all the friends I have here, my family and more than anyone, I will miss my dog. We call her Mel which means honey in Portuguese. But I think among all the slightly bad things and feelings there is a small price to pay for all the new things I will live there, all the new experiences, the new people I will meet, all the new friends I will make.

This is the only photo I have found of me in a dobok, and the dog I am playing with is Mel. She was a puppy when this picture was taken, she is much bigger now. Maybe sometime I will send you a picture of how she is nowadays.

Anyway, I wanted to say that one thing that has been helping me to cope with  the anxiety is to do sports. Since I was a kid I have loved to do sports. I had tennis lessons, I played football with my friends at school and until today I love to exercise. To go to the gym and having Tae Kwon Do classes has been helping me a lot, so if you need some advice on how to cope with the anxiety of a trip, find something that you love to do, and do it, every day if you can, it will help you to keep your mind out of it.

So this is my family, in Rome, Italy. Once a year we travel together, me, my parents, my uncle and aunt, my cousin and his girlfriend, not all of them are in this photo though.

I will miss this, sort of a ritual we have because it is always so much fun, and funny to travel with all of them.

I am looking forward to next month, I have never travelled alone, except with school friends but it doesn’t count.  As I said before, I am nervous, but also excited  because having the opportunity to study abroad is amazing.

This is a photo of me and my mom in Italy, I can’t remember where exactly.

I love to travel. My parents and I have been travelling a lot since my mom has lost her fear of planes. In those trips I have learned more about other cultures, I have had unique and wonderful new experiences. And they have made me want to experience it all in a more immersive way. And I can’t think of a better way to do that than studying  and living abroad.

Since I was 13 to 14 years old I have wanted to study in a different city, and live with my aunt in São Paulo, but I couldn’t. So to be able to study in England has always been a dream and to see this dream about to come true and so close to happen is a strange feeling.

Next time I come here to contact you, I will probably be already in Brighton. And then, I will let you know  how I will be dealing with my new life, new family, new school and new friends. I will be able to tell you what is really happening,  what I will have experienced so far, and not only about what I think it will be.

Write soon,

Beatriz