Giovanna Schmeil, a sophomore at Fossil Ridge High School, recently moved to Colorado from São Paulo, Brazil. Living in Colorado is a new experience for Giovanna and her family. The culture, environment, and people are all very different then what she has grown up around her whole life. Before moving to the US, she had lived in Brazil since she was born.
The school systems and programs are very different in Colorado and in Brazil. One of the main differences is that in Brazil the students can’t choose their classes. “At my school, we don’t have sports or music classes. We also have to wear uniform and we can’t get out of the school until all classes end” said Schmeil. The classrooms in their schools also run differently as well. Throughout the day, the students don’t change classrooms for different subjects but instead, the teachers go to their classrooms and teach different subjects to the classroom as a whole.
In São Paulo, Giovanna started taking English classes at eight years old. In schools there, students have classes each week that teach them to speak English. Giovanna took classes twice a week and went to an English school after school. She is bilingual and speaks Portuguese and English every day.
One of her favorite parts about Fossil is that there are so many different classes in different rooms with different teachers. “I also love all the clubs the school has and that everybody can find one that fits yourself” said Giovanna. So far her favorite class at fossil is Diversity Leadership. “I like this class because I like how everybody there tries to make our school a better place and how they try to make everyone feel better” said Giovanna.
Volleyball and Handball are two of Giovanna’s favorite sports. In Brazil she played handball for one year and volleyball for two years. Now that she is here and goes to Fossil, Giovanna had been thinking about trying out to play for the volleyball team at Fossil next year. “I also wants to try a new sport that’s different than what I’ve played before” said Schmeil.
Some of Giovanna’s biggest interests are traveling to different places. She loves to travel to different places and learn a little about all kinds of cultures. When she travels she loves to go with her family and try new things in each new place. Living in Colorado has been a little like an adventure for the Schmeil’s because the culture in Fort Collins and São Paulo is very different.
Giovanna has noticed many differences as they have lived in Colorado since the end of December. One of the first things Giovanna has noticed is how different the weather is in Colorado then in São Paulo. “In Brazil we never get snow not even when it is winter” said Schmeil.
Another big difference she has noticed is the size of both places. Compared to São Paulo, Fort Collins is a relatively small place to live. “I used to live in the biggest city in Brazil, with over 11 million people living there. The whole state of Colorado has over 5 million people, whereas, Fort Collins, has only over 150 thousand people. That is a huge difference. So, in Sao Paulo there is a lot of traffic, lots of buildings and skyscrapers, life has a much faster pace” said Schmeil.
Living in Colorado is also a very different climate then Brazil. While they have lived here, Giovanna has been able to experience the mountains and nature that is very different from Brazil. “What I like about Colorado is that here there is wonderful landscapes with the mountains and the tree and here are a lot of things that you can do in the nature like hikes or biking” said Schmeil.
One of the strangest things that Giovanna will take a while to get used to living here is how people greet each other in the US. People here are still friendly but in a different way than in Brazil. “In Brazil usually when you meet someone you kiss the person on cheek or you even hug them, but here usually people just say “Hey” or shake hands. It is also strange that there our main meal is the lunch and not the dinner and we usually have dinner at 8 pm but here everybody has dinner way earlier” said Schmeil.
