Our student, Nathália, arrived on Saturday. We went and picked her up at the airport with no problems at all. She arrived tired from a long trip, but she was happy to see us and be in the U.S.

“Everything is so different here from my country, everything is so beautiful.”

We stopped on the way home for lunch, but she wasn’t too hungry- a mixture of excitement and exhaustion, I’m sure. She slept in the car on the way home, and we helped her in with her bags and had her call her parents. We showed her around the house and gave her some time to settle into her room.

We went to our niece’s birthday party that evening for a short while. Even though she was tired, she wanted to come and meet Harlie.

On Sunday, after a good night’s sleep, we had a big breakfast and showed her around our town. We showed her the school, the post office, shopping locations, movie theaters, etc. We even stopped at the mall to walk around for a little bit. In the afternoon, we watched a Harry Potter movie (with English subtitles, she thought this would help her to understand).

Later that evening a girl who attends the High School here, who Nathália met on Facebook before she arrived, came and visited for a while. Another girl from school was having a bonfire and they asked if Nathália could go and meet some of the other kids from the school she met on Facebook. Already she has met a group of students from school and was invited to go shopping and to Friday night’s football game. She’s very happy to have met some people already and thinks school will be easier now.

Everything is going well. Her friends and family have called to check in on her and she tells those who can speak English that she must speak English- no Portuguese. The phone calls have been brief, and she says, “They worry about me, but I tell them they cannot call so much. It’s not good for me, for my English.”

She is handling everything very well, and we’re so happy that she’s already met some of her peers and is beginning to feel comfortable here.

My husband, Billy, and I are hosting Nathália, a student from Brazil for the CCI Academic Semester program.

We are very excited about the program, and so is Nathália.

We began our experience by searching for good organizations to host students through. CCI was at the top of the list. We were impressed by what they had to offer. We shared a little about ourselves and were soon matched up with a few students to choose from. After we chose Nathália, we started the interview process. Our Representative contacted the school district we live in and secured permission for an exchange student to attend school there in the fall. We then sat down for our host family interview and completed a background check.

Before we knew it we received our first email message from Nathália. We have been corresponding regularly and have even spoken on the phone. We’re excited that we are able to have this contact with her, because we feel having this time to communicate before her arrival has already helped build a strong family connection. We have communicated with her family and friends as well, who are all very excited for Nathália.

We have exchanged multiple photographs and emails, and learn more about each other every day. We talk about school, holidays and cultural differences, as well as likes and dislikes.

Now we anxiously await confirmation of her arrival date.