Coewn Condill shares experience with Arthur Rotary after spending nearly a year in Brazil
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By Marty Yeakel
Coewn Condill, son of Mac and Ginny, grandson of Mary Beth Condill and brother to Charley and Kenzie, spent more than 10 months of the past year as a Rotary Exchange student in Brazil. Some of this information was shared in an interview and some is from his presentation to the Arthur Rotary Club at their July 2 meeting.
When asked what inspired or motivated him to want to spend almost a year in another country, Coewn said that it was something he and his dad had discussed for a couple of years. Subsequently Mac talked to the local Rotary Club who put Coewn in touch with Tiffany Henry who is in charge of the Rotary District 6490 exchange student program. Coewn shared that he was interested in learning about a different culture and learning a new language and that he very much wanted to visit the Amazon which is why he put Brazil first on his list of countries of choice. Brazil also has and accepts many exchange students so he felt his chances were good to go there. The country selection came about after he did an interview and got accepted to the program and did receive his first choice of Brazil.
Coewn left for Brazil last August and met with his host family which consisted of his dad, mom and little brother while their daughter was an exchange student in Mexico. His second host family were friends of his first family, members of which were dad, mom, a brother his age, a little sister and an older sister. Coewn returned to the United States in mid-June of this year. Plans are already in the works for one of the families to visit Arthur and the Condills at some point and Coewn hopes to return to Brazil after high school.
Portugese is the language of Brazil and Coewn did not know Portugese when he went but became fairly fluent after only a few months. In fact he began his presentation at the Rotary meeting by introducing himself in Portugese. His dad says he sometimes slips into Portugese when cheering on Brazil on the soccer field and especially when talking with fellow exchange students on the phone. (By the way, he is still rooting for the United States first while cheering for Brazil as well).
The weather was somewhat warmer than here but when it did get colder it was difficult because Brazilians do not have heat in their homes. On those days he said he just wanted to stay in bed and stay warm!
Other topics of conversation included school, food and traveling. Coewn noted that school is a lot different in that it started at 7:30 in the morning but they were often done by 12:30 although sometimes there were classes in the afternoon which were the less important ones. He was not very fond of the early start but did like getting out early. Unlike here the students stayed in the same room all day and the teachers moved between classrooms.
Every day was also a different schedule in that one day they might study math, physics and biology and the next day might be sociology and geography. More varied classes were also offered including philosophy. The school he attended was a private school with 200 students from kindergarten through 12th grade although the last three years of high school were referred to as first, second and third years not sophomore, junior and senior as they would be here.
As for the food which he liked a lot, he said meals usually included more variety with steak, pasta, rice and beans as staples. Lunch was the big meal of the day and in the afternoon they would have coffee and cake. Dinner was often the same but consisted of smaller portions. He did not care for the fact that dinner was often eaten very late at 9 p.m. or later. This made for a short night when school started as early as it did.
One of the main reasons for spending this year abroad was the opportunity to travel and Coewn very much enjoyed the fact that he got to do a lot of that visiting many of the 26 states which comprise the country. He went on some sort of trip just about every month and took lots of trips with fellow exchange students because there is a travel agency that arranges those for the exchange students.
He made friends with students from Mexico, Chile, Taiwan, Colombia, Germany and Denmark to name just a few. He also visited Paraguay and Argentina as both those countries share borders with Brazil. He went to the beach and the capital Brasilia with his host families. He and his friends went camping a lot as well. Other trips included exploring caverns and botanical gardens, an opera house and the Pantanal, the largest wetland in the world. The trip to Rio de Janeiro was one of his favorites next to the trip to the Amazon which was, as mentioned, one of the main reasons for wanting to go to Brazil. In Rio he also got to see the famous Christ the Redeemer statue.
At the Rotary meeting Coewn shared slides and pictures from these trips, of his host families and the friends he made during his year away from home. Those pictures and slides showcased the beauty of the country. He also shared a humorous misconception about the United States which he encountered somewhat often. When others learned he was from the U.S. they often asked if he was from Texas or thought he must live in Texas. When he told them no he is from a small town a few hours from Chicago they wanted to know if Chicago was in Texas!
Coewn will be a junior at ALAH this fall and will graduate in 2028. When asked what he missed most of course he said his family, friends and also mentioned the farm. He’s looking forward to fishing and working at the patch this fall. Since he turned 16 last December the thing he is most looking forward to, after a couple of weeks driving with the ALAH driving instructor, is getting his license soon. He plans to be involved in baseball, scholastic bowl and FFA during his last two years at ALAH. When asked if he had plans after high school he shared that he might do something with wildlife biology and maybe agriculture.
Rotary members shared that there will be an exchange student at ALAH this fall, a girl from Italy. So the tradition of having an exchange student at our high school will continue
Coewn ended his talk at Rotary by thanking members for their sponsorship and expressed that he could not have had this experience without their help and support.