Gelila Reta's experience at PUC-Parana

"Where do I even begin...in college, you will probably hear that you have GOT to study abroad, but I never really understood the extent of what everyone was saying until I went ahead and did it myself. I studied abroad in Fall 2019 at PUC in Curitiba, Brazil, and stayed there for 6 months. When I first got to Brazil I was excited by how different everything was from the language to how people greeted each other. Classes were a bit different because they could be 3 hours long and last until 9:45 pm. The faculty were always so accommodating and kind to us when we did not understand what was happening in class or when we were a part of group presentations. The students in our classes were as intrigued with us as we were with them. They would ask us questions and help us when we were stuck. One thing I did not expect was how close I was going to get to the other exchange students from different countries. The group that went from Tech became such good friends with Italian, French, South American, and German people, that we ended up doing multiple trips with them. It was definitely a challenge not speaking any Portuguese before I got there, but because I love learning languages, it was an equally exciting process.

Brazilian culture is so wonderful because it is so warm and direct that I felt right at home (coming from an Ethiopian household). Brazilian food is also amazing because I love steak and they do steak so well. There is a thing called a churrascaria where you are served endless meat and it is glorious. We were also able to travel to Peru and Bolivia in the last month of our exchange which is great because we got to see amazing sites like Machu Pichu and Salar de Uyuni. We did a bunch of traveling in Brazil with a PUC Buddy program and had planned a couple of trips to Rio, Sao Paulo, and Salvador with our exchange friends. Overall, my study abroad experience felt like I was living in a movie every day and I am so grateful to have put myself out there and really make the most of it. I will say prepare for the financial cost of living abroad for a long period of time and make sure to budget for fun stuff, but in the end, it was all worth it and I strongly encourage you to study abroad during your time in college. It is such an elevated experience compared to traveling for leisure."

- Gelila Reta, Class of 2019