Infinity

I miss the sunsets

            I don’t know how something so simple, brief, and unexpected can make me feel so fine, and at the same time, so sad. Sad for not knowing what will come next, sad for not knowing if it will ever be this extraordinary again, if I will ever see these friends again, my best friends, that were randomly given to me, but made unique and special in such a short period of time.

These were the best 17 days of my life, each day I would wake up, after not that many hours of sleep, just to realize how happy I was, how completed I felt.

I miss everyone already, I miss hanging out with Philipp the whole day, and having Kristina Cipelli sleeping with us, showering with us, just being there with us. I miss the Latinas Sofia, Dama and Nikki; that always made me feel so proud for being South American. I miss the Brazilian girls Ana, Luisa and Marina, to whom I’d always look after. The guys Roberto, Devon and Quentin, and how different they were from each other, but ended up making a great trio. I miss Kristina Zimblyte, and how adorable she was, at all times, no matter what. I miss Debbie, our Lonely Wolf and Robin, with his bad mood throughout the entire trip.

I miss all the noise, all the txt messages, all the planning, the heat, the journals, the bad food, everybody coming and going from our room, all the music, all the different languages that you could always hear on the background.

I miss the sunsets, the sleepless nights and the wake up calls and the one sunrise we once saw, I miss the hookah, I miss the sand and the ocean, and even the curfew time and breaking it as well.

And now, that’s over. I don’t understand why, but I feel empty, emptier than when I first got on that bus. Right now I don’t look forward to anything anymore, whatever happens happened, it feels like that was the time of my life, and now it’s behind me. Not just those 17 days, but my whole year as an exchange student now is behind me, and there is nothing I can do, it was an amazing year that had come to an end.

 “I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity.”

- Simone de Beauvoir

I knew it wouldn’t last forever, I can’t make that happen. But I’ll never forget them, they will always be in my heart, and on my skin, reminding me how happy I was, how lucky I felt, and how proud I am for being who I am today.

• Marcos Carvalho, July, 13th 2010

For me it means much more than that

Hi, I’m Marcos Carvalho, I’m an Exchange Student from Brazil and I wanna share with you a little bit of what I learned here, my mom always told me that everything you learn, and live, can never be taken away, that is yours, and I have been in the US for a while now, and all I’ve learned here is priceless, and it is thanks to Rotary that I have the opportunity to come here and experience all this.

The Exchange Student Program allows a person to live in a foreign country, study in a different school, and learn a new language. 

For me it means much more than that, first of all it is giving up on your comfort zone, leaving behind everything you knew and throw yourself into the world, seeing it through new eyes, new perspectives. It is living in a different culture with new habits, languages and sometimes even values. It is making a new family and new friends, which will be there for the rest of your life, learning and growing with you. it is doing things you haven’t done before, would never do before, discovering and experiencing yourself, paying attention to everything, all the simple things, it all matters.

But the most important part is understanding that it doesn’t matter, It shouldn’t matter, where you are from, what your religion or skin color are, no one is better than the other, we are all equals in the eye of god.

When I left home I had one thing in mind: “This is gonna be the best year of my life!”

And it has been so far, and for that I’m thankful for the Rotary Youth Exchange Program, that gave me this unique opportunity, for my host families that welcomed me, for the Rotex that is always there for us, and for everybody else that helped to make this dream come true.

Thank you.

Marcos Carvalho, May, 14^th 2010

What can’t I forget?

I’ll never forget anyway:

• Linda’s creepy laugh after she would give us a message on the microphone, and forget to turn it off.
• Philipp, Kristina, Sofia and Marcos: The Elite Elite
• The real meaning of buying
• Everyday I’d put lotion on the girls tattoos, always looking after them
• How lucky I was to find Philipp and bring him to the group
• Every night we went out of our rooms, skipping curfews
• The Infinity Cup from New York
• The brazilians and the other latinos
• Philipp and I making fun of Becky and Linda all the time
• The back of the bus, the fun part, and the not so fun front of it.
• Skinny Dipping in Jacksonville, Florida
• Getting drunk in Chicago, Illinois
• Showering with Kristina and Philipp
• Hookahs, and almost getting caught with them in the Hotel’s roof, in Washington
• All the people I kissed