Getting ready to head home

Shannon LeClair

Times Reporter

 

At this time of year many people flee the cold weather and head to warmer areas before the snow hits, if they can. While it’s uncommon for people to intentionally deal with the cold, one student from Brazil has decided to do just that. 

“I wanted (to come to) a small town because I live in a big city in Brazil, so I wanted something different,” said Brenda Escudero of her decision to come to Strathmore. From research she knew that Strathmore was near Calgary, but she thought that Calgary might be too big. Escudero has been here for four months and will be returning home to Brazil at the end of the month. 

Travelling around the world to go to a foreign country for school can be a big decision, and for the Grade 11 student it took some thought and research.

“I was kind of tired of everything and I always wanted to do it, (so) I started looking for it. I always thought it would be too expensive, but then when I started looking (into) it, I realized that it was not that bad,” said Escudero. 

Through the travel agency Experimento, she was able to research places to study abroad. Experimento’s focus is on helping people find ways to work or study abroad, and its high school experiment program has been operating in Brazil for over 45 years.   

“They make programs that can last different periods of times, such as six months, one month, one year and you can go for high school or just to improve your English in a course,” said Escudero. 

Determining where she wanted to go was the easy part. Convincing her mother to let her leave for four months was the tough part. Escudero said it was really hard for her mom to let her go and that she can’t wait to head home and see her family at the end of the month. She has had a chance to travel to Banff and other parts of Alberta, but due to the program and guidelines she is not able to travel other parts of the country.  

The education system may be a little different here, but Escudero has been adjusting well and said she made a lot of friends quickly. 

“I think I like it the way it is here. My school is really restricted and here I think you have more freedom to choose things and I think it’s better for you,” said Escudero. 

Though she is heading home in a few short weeks, Escudero is sure she will be back. She has been considering going to college here in Canada to study journalism, though she is not sure where she would like to go.