A year in Brazil changes Dryden student's outlook on life
Posted by John Borst
on Nov 08, 2013
Rotary's long term student exchange program is one of its most exciting endeavours. Each year one student from elsewhere in the world comes and lives for one year in Dryden. In return one Dryden student lives in a foreign country. Countries involved over the past five years have been Japan, Spain, Brazil, France, Finland and Denmark.
In 2012-13 Drydenite, Tyler Wood spent a year in Vargem Grande Do Sul, Brazil, a city of about 40,000 two hours north of Sao Paulo.
On a visit to Dryden Rotary, Tyler shared how he lived with only two host families and how he got really close to his second family. He described how he went to school from 7:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and stayed in same classroom each day and how it was the teachers who moved. Afternoon, he said, "Was time for a nap."
Tyler took a number of trips while in Brazil. One was a trip to the beaches of theNorth East coast of Brazil, a trip he described as "Just amazing!" His second trip was a 5 day trip down the Amazon where he slept in hammocks in the open air on the boat. That is where he got the piranha fish he circulated. Wood shared how he visited on a number of occasions with Gustavo, a Brazilian student who lived in Dryden in 2011-12, as he was only about 2 hours away.
Unexpectedly he said that coming back home was a real culture shock coming. As a result he is now re-evaluating his future and is now thinking of doing something in the area of international relations.
Tyler thanked Rotary for "the amazing experience."