Pedro Patriota is an international student from Brazil who is very comfortably living among us here in small town U. S. A. A 16-year-old senior attending Parish Hill, Pedro comes to Hampton through the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE). His journey to our little hamlet was an arduous two day “adventure”, and he was initially a little nervous about his future here – not sure of what he would encounter. Hampton is, after all, a continent away from home.

Pedro came to the states on the recommendation of his Brazilian School Director. “My director always encouraged me to do more and be better,” Pedro says, adding that he always wanted to study abroad, and admitting, with a smile, that he always wanted to visit America. Connecticut was “a totally random choice on which place was best for me.”

It took time to get used to the quiet of Hampton. He comes from Recife, Brazil, a community inhabited by “only 1.55 million people,” he explains. He was expecting what he had left behind – traffic, sirens, and people on the go at all hours of the day and night. Instead he found this “nice place. People I have met are friendly. That’s why I like this place and its people.”

The feeling is mutual. Local CIEE coordinator Kerri Felice Murray, who has been placing exchange students in the area for over seven years, says she loves seeing the impact a student has on their host family, school and community. “Hosting is something you did not know you were missing,” she says.

Pedro’s host parents, Bruce Spaman and Andrea Kaye, can’t say enough about Pedro and the experience. “He’s a joy,” says Bruce. “He has filled an interesting niche in our lives”.

Andrea concurs. “Pedro is an amazing young man—smart, respectful and helpful—yes, look out world this kid is going places!”

Pedro has found the students at Parish Hill “to be very nice. They like to help me.” Along with the many friends he’s made at school, Pedro did get to know some of the older generation when he helped us with the Seniors Annual Super Bowl Grinder Sale.

Along with the people he’s met, Pedro likes “that there are four seasons here. In Brazil it’s always hot and humid. It’s great to see leaves change color,” he says, “to feel the cold, and the snow.” This winter Pedro had the opportunity to roll his first snow ball, make a snow angel, go sledding and snowshoeing. Most of this was accomplished on a trip to Vermont with his host family. Though the coronavirus has prevented plans to see Boston and New York City, he has traveled to Hartford and New Haven, where he had the opportunity to visit the campus of Yale University. The t-shirt he purchased there he proudly wore during this interview.

Pedro has plans to continue his studies after graduation. If it’s possible to attend school here in America, he has three that he’s interested in attending – Yale, MIT, and UCLA. He hopes to study bio-medical engineering or computer science. It’s not surprising that his favorite subjects are math and physics.

School has been an adjustment. The academic day is longer in America. Here he takes a bus to school and has to prepare himself for the frosty cold winter mornings. In Brazil, his school day is done at one o’clock. For lunchtime in Brazil he could leave his campus. Here he eats in the cafeteria. Other differences: “Here there are lockers. And in Brazil, we call our teachers by their first names. I learned that that is not done in America.”

Though he is fluent in Portuguese, his native language, he also speaks some Spanish and, of course, English. His English skills are improving daily. “Each day I get more comfortable with my English,” he says. “The English I learned in Brazil helped prepare me for what I had to learn to speak, or to write, here.” He readily admits that writing assignments are difficult. And idioms mean something entirely different than what they are.

The biggest adjustment, however, has been the weather. In Brazil, the climate is always the same, “Sunny and humid and hot,” he says, “and it’s even hotter on the Amazon.” There are three things that Brazil has plenty of — trees, water and sun. “I don’t agree with my president, allowing clear-cutting of the jungle, and fires to burn for the purpose of clear cutting,” he asserts.

What has he missed most? His family, whom he video-chats with twice a week. We’re all experiencing “distancing”, and it means we’re staying a little more than an arm’s length away from neighbors, and strangers at stores, that we’re more cautious about all of our interactions, sometimes even with family members, especially when those family members are elderly. Imagine when the “distancing” is over 4000 miles away.

We hope for all of our sakes that life returns to normal quickly, and that Pedro can experience an American graduation. And I hope that Hamptonites have an opportunity to meet him. It’s quite a pleasure. You’ll be greeted with a magnetic smile, and maybe – hopefully, possibly – a handshake.

Juan Arriola

 For information on CIEE, email kfelicem@gmail.com.