If Matheus Bortolin was home, it would be the middle of summer, though the weather might be rain it would be over 30 degrees Celsius. Right now, he’s surrounded by snow and enjoying his first Canadian winter.
The 18 year old has come to Yorkton from Rio Claro, Brazil, a small city of around 200,000 people two hours outside of Sao Paulo. He’s here as part of Rotary International’s exchange student program, taking classes at Sacred Heart High School for the year. Sacred Heart student Colby Sherring is in France right now.
Bortolin has wanted to take a year as an exchange student since he was 11, after a cousin spent a month in the USA. Hearing the stories, he knew he wanted to travel abroad, even as the place and the reasons changed the desire to go remained a constant. Before he had to make up his mind, he decided to come to Canada.
“I don’t even know how to describe it, I’m having a lot of fun... In my city in Brazil, we don’t get less than 10 degrees above zero, so I have never seen snow in my life. Coming here, it’s -40C, I’m learning how to skate, how to snowboard, how to ski. I’m meeting all these people, not just Canadians but I know other exchange students from ten different countries.”
Six months after arriving, Bortolin admits to some initial trepidation, but that soon faded.
“When I first discovered I was coming to Yorkton - because I just choose the country, I don’t choose the city - when I first discovered I was coming here I was pretty scared because from what I’m used to it was a really small city. But now that I’m here I really like it. It’s not that small, especially here in Canada you have smaller cities and a smaller population. It’s nice because, especially going to school, many people know me. I feel like in a bigger city - and I have friends in bigger cities in foreign exchange - people don’t care about them because there’s so many people there that it’s just one more... I kind of feel special, I’m the only one!”
It’s very different in Yorkton than it is in Brazil, and even things Canadians take for granted were new adventures for Bortolin.
“Just going to the grocery store is a new experience.”
Bortolin recommends students try an exchange, because it’s already memorable. He hopes to attend a Canadian university in the future now, and he’s met many people, whether other students in Yorkton or other exchange students.
“There is a quote, an exchange is not a year in your life but a life in a year. You’ll just learn so much and go through so much.”
The process of being an exchange student is more difficult in Brazil than in Canada. Canadian kids merely have to apply for an exchange before November to go on exchange before July of the next year. Applicants then select their top five countries, and they try to get them to one of their top choices.
“In Brazil, there are so many people who want to go on this exchange that we have to write exams and go through interviews... The best ones from all of this stuff, this person is the first to choose, then the second chooses and the third chooses. In the end, there are, I would say, 80 people or more who can’t go on exchange because there are not enough. I think Canadian kids should take this opportunity because there would be a place for them.”
For many exchange students, they might not know the language in the country where they don’t know the language. Bortolin says don’t worry, as none of the exchange students in Brazil knew Portuguese before arriving there, and English is a pretty common language around the world.
“In Brazil, most of the teenagers will speak English, and the host families, if they work in some companies where they need English.”
In this district, which contains Saskatchewan, Manitoba and northern Ontario, there are about 17 exchange students, while where Bortolin is from he estimates there to be about 120 students. Bortolin notes that Ray Bailey, with Rotary in Yorkton, wants to see an exchange student in both high schools every year.
