Cześć, tu Karolina Jaros z 2 A. Od 1 września mamy zaszczyt gościć w naszej szkole obywatelkę Stanów Zjednoczonych i Brazylii, które chodzą obecnie do klasy 2 D. Oto krótki wywiad, który przeprowadziłam z dziewczętami. Mam nadzieję, że dowiedzieliście się kilku ciekawostek ;)

1. Hi, Alyse and Aline! Introduce yourself and tell where you exactly come from.

Alyse: Hi Karolina! My name is Alyse Conn-Powers and I'm from Bloomington, Indiana, USA.

Aline: I?m Aline, an exchange student from Brazil and I live in Rio de Janeiro state.

1. How long was your journey to Poland?

Alyse: My flights to Poland took about 17 hours. When you add the travel to and from the airport, I was en route for about 24 hours. It was horrible.

Aline: I took 3 planes to come here. The first from Rio de Janeiro to S?o Paulo ( about 1 hour); the second from S?o Paulo to Munique (11 hours) and the last from Munique to Warsaw (about 11 hour). And my host family came to Warsaw to take me, so I took more 4 hours by car to arrive in Bydgoszcz.

1. Why Poland was your choice?

Alyse:  I kind of stumbled into Poland. To be honest my first choice was South Africa. Pretty different result than what I expected! I really like it here though, Poland is nice. :)

Aline: Actually I didn?t choose, because I didn?t have choice. I?m 18 and almost all the countries don?t accept. But I?m happy because I would like to come to Europe, so it?s ok.

1. First impression after leaving your plane?

Alyse: My first impression was pretty good. The guy who sat next to me on the plane helped me find my way around the airport and helped me with my luggage which was nice. The drive home was very dreary and rainy. We stopped at McDonald's which was hilarious; it was very nice [and VERY clean] compared to the McDonald's in the US. The only negative thoughts I had when I got here were about the driving. I almost had a heart attack on the way home. I still think the driving here is absolutely terrifying.

Aline: The view was perfect! Warsaw is wonderful. Poland has many beautiful cities.

1. Tell us something about your culture and to what extent Polish one is different from yours.

Alyse: Everything here is very formal, which is different from the US. Here you use Pan/Pani but in the US we don't use it very much. In my school we use the teachers first name rather than calling them Mr. or Ms. as a sign of mutual respect. That's probably been the biggest cultural difference.

Aline: I can imagine that people when think about my country all the time remember samba, carnival, beach, parties and a lot of sun. But Brazil has much more to offer to foreigners. It?s a great country and each state has a different culture and customs. In the south you can find people descendents from German and Poland as in other parts you find people descendents from Japan, China, Italian? so we have a mix of all of them.

1. What was your first word said in Polish?

Alyse: The first word I learned in Polish isn't very polite and starts with a K if you can guess what that is haha. There was a Polish girl living in Bloomington last year and when she found I was coming here the first thing she said was, "Well you're going to Poland! You have to know the important words!"

Aline: I said ?dzień dobry?, because a friend in Brazil who was an exchange student here in Poland teached me some basic words.

1. Favorite place in Bydgoszcz so far?

Alyse: My favorite place in Bydgoszcz is probably the city centrum. I love the buildings; They're all so charming.

Aline: I love Stary Rynek and some parks which I don`t know the name?

1. The most confusing situation you?ve been in since coming to Poland.

Alyse: The first few weeks I was here I didn't speak ANY Polish so buying things was really difficult. I went to buy a soda one day from a store but they were all kept behind the counter and I didn't know how to ask for them. Instead I had to buy a 2 liter of Fanta because it was the ONLY drink that I could grab myself and not need the shopkeepers help. I had to walk around all day drinking from it. It was ridiculous and embarrassing.

Aline: A man in the bus asking me about the ticket in polish and I couldn`t understand any word. I only said: Nie móvię po polsku. And he was trying to find a common language to speak with me.

1. What?s your favorite Polish dish?

Alyse: Naleśniki. Oh my god, they are so delicious.

Aline:  I love pierogi!

1. Do you think that student exchange is only for the brave ones?

Alyse: More or less. It's really rough and you have to be able to take what life throws at you. Being able to adapt is more important than being brave.

Aline: I think people need to be really strong, because it?s not easy change completely the life and go to different country, culture, people and far from all the family during one year.

1. Thanks for the conversation girls!

Alyse: I believe you mean "dziękuję". Nie ma za co!

Aline: Thanks ;)