Beatriz arrives in Brighton

Hi,

It’s me again, how have you been? It is been almost a month since my letter, hope you missed me. The last few days before the trip were horrible, so many things for me to sort it out, the suitcases, last minute paperwork, the anxiety, but everything turned out just fine, as you can see. This is a picture of me and my mom at the airport, at this time I was a mixture of feelings. I was so happy and at the same sad because I was going to leave them, they were amazing supporting me and helping me not to let these bad feelings get in the way of the good ones.

For me the worst was the last day, the hours didn’t pass accordingly to the normal pace time is supposed to pass, the “goodbyes”, the “see you soons”. It’s a mixture of feelings, the wanting to go and live the new experiences, the wanting to stay with everyone you care about and know that you will miss the instant you pass through the boarding gates, but the second the plane took off, every single one of the bad feelings went away.

If you think that everything is only roses, mate, you couldn’t be more wrong, because once you pass the boarding agents and put your suitcases in the car, you have another thing to worry about, how is the family going to be like, are they going to be nice, are they going to restrict, are they going to be this or that, oh I was so nervous, but once again, I got lucky and everything turned out just fine, more than fine I would say, they are amazing, I think I only felt like an intruder for the first two seconds.

My host mum welcomed me with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, exactly the same way, us Brazilians greet ourselves, she was amazing making sure I wasn’t hungry and inviting me to sit in the living room with them. She makes a toast with cheese and tomato, that boy, it’s amazing.

When I entered the living room there it was this enormous dog, with his white and long hair greeting me with jumps and his tail wagging, oh I was so happy they had a dog, because I didn’t know how it was to live without a dog since I was 6 years old.

The dog is amazing, he is super well behaved, most of the time at least, I went for a walk with him and my host dad the second day, not just for the fun of it, but for him to show the way I had to take to go to school, it’s a ten minutes walk, quite easy.

That day we could see this beautiful sunset, that is not that rare around here because of the season and the house I’m staying in it’s up on the hills of the city, and some days we can be blessed with beautiful scenes like that, the sky becomes all orange and pink, and you see it clearly from up here, because the houses don’t prevent the sight.

The first day I went to school wasn’t to have classes, it was more a presentation for the international students to know, the rules, the school, the city and it was about it the entire day.

The next day we went to the i360, it’s a sort of elevator, near the see, were you can see all the city of Brighton from up there, we were really lucky that the day was sunny and had no clouds what so ever.

I couldn’t get a good picture though, because of the reflection in the glass. I can only imagine what the view of the sunset up there must be like, maybe some day I will be able to see it.

I’ve been going to school since the 11^th, what can I say, It’s not that hard, but there is a lot of stuff to do. It’s quite different from Brazil I only have 3 subjects, and the timetable has big breaks that allows me to even go home if I don’t fancy staying in school waiting for the next class.

Brighton has a big pier, with an amusement park at the end of it, at night it’s a beautiful place to take pictures because the lights are turned on and it contrasts with the black sky, I don’t know why I didn’t do that, but that is alright I will have the next 9 months to do it.

I’ve been going out a lot, a lot more than I did at home at least, I had to go buy some stuff in town and it is quite a walk, so I had to take the bus, and that was a thing a have never done on my own before, but after the first time it’s easy.

Well, I think that is all I have to talk about, as I’m probably forgetting something I will have to write to you again soon, hope you don’t mind.

Warm regards

Beatriz