Together we watched some

Cecoia students preform their first guitar

recital, dance, and show off their soccer

skills. Half of our group went to the front

to learn to dance while the other half

stayed in the back of the school to watch

and play soccer. We watched the

Cecoia kids challenge some of our

students to a soccer match. It was fun to

see how good the kids were at

soccer. I had so much

fun playing with the kids.

Cecoia reminds me of

a school near my

house. I want to go work

with those kids now too.

My name is Heidi and I go to

Saint Francis High School, a Holy Cross

school in California, United States. I got

to come to Brazil for the first time in an

immersion program through my school.

It was a struggle as our flights were

cancelled and delayed, but I was so

excited to finally arrive in Brazil. My

group and I went to Cecoia the first

morning we were here. We were all very

tired, but the children helped wake us

up. They had so much energy and we

fed off of it, making the day

extraordinary. Most of the kids did not

speak English, and we did not speak

Portugese, so some students from Notre

Dame came to help translate and play

with the kids. In the afternoon we had a

delicious lunch and met some more

students of Notre Dame. I am so happy I

met all of these people because they

were fun to talk to and they taught me so

much about Brazil.

On Staurday we went to Festa

Junina. It was fun learning about the

culture of Brazil through the dances

and food. In the evening, we held

candles and prayed. I looked behind

me and the people sitting and holding

candles looked amazing and reminded

me to be thankful for what I have.

Then we prayed and watched the

bonfire and fireworks. The fireworks

were so beautiful and I could feel

the “boom”s and the music throughout

my body

All of the students

at Notre Dame have been

so nice and helpful to us.

Thank you so much!

Our second day in Brazil, we

went to Notre Dame. When we first

drove in it was so beautiful and our

whole group was in awe. It is very cool

to see´another Holy Cross school. Our

two schools share this trait but we

are so different. We got a tour of the

school and watched a musical

performance. I was so excited to hear

them start off with Holiday by Green

Day. We listened to three songs, then

one of our group mates also

performed. The other students knew

the same song and played with him.