On An Experience Of A Life Time

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On My Experience of a Life Time
On a Sunday afternoon, last January, I was enjoying the Super Bowl with my family. While watching the game, something made me remember of the times I used to watch soccer games with my host parents. My brother shouting with a glee as his team scored a goal and my father clapping, reminded me of the days in Brazil where the football craze and support for their national teams pushed emotions to a fever-pitch. That afternoon get-together with my family brought back all my memories as an exchange student to Brazil. I had been sent to Brazil as an exchange student. An exchange student is a student from one country received into an institution in another country to learn about the culture and the tradition of that country. On a personal level, these programs teach relationship skills, build a positive attitude towards life, and raise confidence during difficult times. Before I was sent to Brazil, I was a very different person- Different in the sense of personality as well as in my outlook towards life. I was an extrovert and a timid kind of person. Until then I never knew how challenging life could be.
My mother always encouraged me to learn different activities but I was never interested in learning new things. They encouraged me to learn the folk dance and music of India, in which I was never interested. My dad wanted me to see the world and understand that there are different cultures other than where I was brought up. He wanted me to understand that cultures could be extremely different from the place to place. They might be friendly or they might not be and some practices might seem outrageous to me, while some might make me wish that I were born in that culture. All these experiences add up to make you a more complete individual. He thought that sending me to Brazil was a wonderful opportunity, which could push me to get out of the cocoon that I had built around m...