My name is Veronica Jimenez and I am currently a sophomore here at Penn State. I am an Agribusiness Management major with plans to minor in Economics and International Business and Studies. If there is one thing to know about me above anything else is that I LOVE to travel and wish I could do more of it each and every year.

I have chosen to study in Sao Paulo, Brazil because I wanted a non-traditional location to do my studies in rather than Europe. Not that there is anything wrong with Europe. On the contrary, I have been there twice as a tourist and absolutely loved it, but for studying abroad, I felt it neccessary to to go outside my comfort zone and explore a country that I would have never thought of before. Besides this, I wanted to travel to a contry in which I had to learn a new language. Portuguese, as I have come to realize, is a very romantic language, but it is also familiar to Spanish, a language I speak fluently, therefore I tend to have a bias towards the language since all it is is Spanish with added French and Italian sounds. I am sure most Brazilians will argue the opposite of my thoughts on their language and tell me that no, Spanish is the language that is a messed up version of Portuguese. Either way, I am glad to learn and know both.

As I sit here in Cedar Building, I cannot help but daydream of my future and upcoming days in Sao Paulo. Especially today, when the temperature is below freezing and I have no motivation to get out of the four walls of my dorm. It’s hard to believe that I am less than 2 months away. I will finally see all of the paperwork, essays for scholarships and money spent on visas, postage, and more paperwork be paid off by my time in Sao Paulo (hopefully). Until then, I keep on daydreaming.

Location: Cedar Building, University Park