Editor’s Note: This story is part of the Global Ties Kalamazoo series published by Knight Life News. From Monday, Feb. 12, to Friday, Feb. 16, related content can be found on our website, Instagram, and Facebook.
On Jan. 24, Knight Life met with special guests from the Global Ties Kzoo program — a group of Brazilian students who were first-time travelers to the United States. During their travels they visited Washington DC, Chicago, and schools of Kalamazoo, one of them being Loy Norrix high school to meet with the student reporters and observe how we run the student newspaper. Unexpectedly, a friendship blossomed from this special encounter.
At a random selection, I was grouped with Ender Ross, the executive web editor, and our new Brazilian buddy, Kaue Derval. As I and other friends like to call him “Bacabal,” Kaue was the first student I met. We immediately connected, sharing personal stories, touring the school, sharing parts of our daily lives and discovering common interests.
Despite our cultural differences — or perhaps because of them – we quickly developed a bond with one another. As a reporter, I’m used to having scripted interactions, but my conversations with Kaue were not. They were quite the opposite: they were genuine.
I found myself more interested and engaged in the conversations than I imagined. It seemed that Kaue and I had talked for the majority of our time, so during lunch and the remainder of our time, I used the opportunity to converse with other Brazilian students and met four more lovely friends: Yazmin, Bruna Souza, Luana Ferreira, and Maria Mendes.
Each of the Youth Ambassadors showed much appreciation and enthusiasm to be here in Kalamazoo. The feelings were mutual, and I was more than appreciative for their visit and willingness to teach me new things about their culture. We shared music during lunch that originated in Brazil called “Reggae.” The first day of their visit was filled with laughter.
The next week would be our second and final day with each other, which was a bit of a bittersweet moment. In the beginning, the day was filled with lots of conversation and new connections. I shared moments with a variety of other students that I didn’t quite get a chance to speak with before.
Later I came back to my first friends, Kaue, Yazmin, and Bruna. After spending some time getting to know Luana and Marie more and becoming more comfortable and open to asking one another questions outside of the topic of just school and their experience here in the US.
After an hour and sharing our very last pizza together, it was time to say our goodbyes and wish my new friends well. I loved every part of the experience. Although it’s sad to see the Global Ties Kzoo Youth Ambassadors leave, I am truly blessed and more than happy to have created the friendships and connections that I did. We exchanged social media info to keep in touch and all plan to see each other again some day when my Portuguese is better, that’s the promise I’ve made to them.
Believe it or not, you are more alike and compatible with strangers and people of different origins than you think. Open up and live a little: you’ll learn that true connections can’t be denied.
