Rotary Youth Exchange in São Paulo area, Brazil

Hi there!

When I was 18 years old, just after graduating high school (VWO in the Netherlands), I decided to do a Rotary Youth Exchange of 12 months in a small town called Adamantina in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. My one year experience included learning a new language, Brazilian Portuguese, attending high school and University and living with 3 host families. Also, I have traveled the whole country and got to know several cultures within Brazil. I came to understand more about the world that I would call a global village and broadened my horizon by making friends with the Brazilians and other exchange students from all over the globe. I have given lots of presentations, in Portuguese, about the Netherlands with the aim to increase awareness about the Netherlands among Brazilian students. I regarded these activities as mutual beneficial: sharing knowledge and experiences about my own country and becoming more fluent in Portuguese (Now I am a B2 speaker).

Rotary provided me with a great opportunity to get to know a new country and to expand my knowledge about this modern world at such a young age!

When I returned to the Netherlands I started studying International Business Communication at Radboud University in Nijmegen. Currently I am in my third bachelor year and this will be partly spend at Newcastle University (first semester, september-january). So excited to study and live in Newcastle! :)

Well, just a cultural experience I wanted to share on this website.

Good luck everyone with your studies!

Stan Eshuis