Welcome new friends from Germany!

We are delighted to welcome a group of visiting students and teachers from Neuss, Germany. This is the first time that this school, Gymnasium Marienberg, has visited us in Dallas. On Sunday evening (just after  our friends from Brazil departed), we found ourselves at DFW once again - this time full of anticipation with some very cheerful host families and students. This visit will be short, only 8 days, but it is sure to be eventful and very special!

Our last days together - Farewell Brazilian friends!

Our last days with our dear friends from Brazil passed entirely too quickly.  We made the most of those last special moments by volunteering together at the North Texas Food Bank, visiting more classes at UA and just laughing and learning at every opportunity.

With UA's Journalism Class

After our hard work at the North Texas Food Bank (NTFB)

Laughing while making boxes for food at the NTFB

Unfortunately, Sunday morning came and it was time to go to the airport, to say farewell and to wish our friends a wonderful trip to New York. It was especially difficult to leave the host families! We are still missing the warmth, the charm and the joyful energy of our Brazilian sister school - we hope to see each of you again very soon! You are missed! 

Brazilian Ursuline teachers

It's always interesting to talk about what our students are doing on our exchanges. But what do the teacher chaperones do while the students are with host families or in classes? Below are some highlights of the activities of our Brazilian teachers while in Dallas.

 

Chocolate Cooking class at Sur La Table

Chocolate is a great passion of Brazilians and Americans!

 

Making new friends and reuniting with old friends!

Pumpkins - A true reflection of Fall in the USA!

Sharing information about Athletic Programs

 

Sr. Helenice talks to the Sophomores about her life as an Ursuline Sister in Brazil

Of course we visited the State Fair of Texas!

 

A great effort but we didn't win a prize - Rats!

Big fun with Big Tex

 

Checking out vehicle possibilities for Colegio Santa Ursula

 

New friends and new adventures

Teachers enjoy learning in UA classes with their students !  

 



Learning all about Brazil !

Today was a spectacular day at UA ! Our Brazilian friends taught us about Brazil and about their school, Colegio Santa Ursula. First, Rafael and Maria Livia taught a Portuguese lesson to one of our French classes. Later in the day, Sr. Helenice met with the juniors and showed them a video of Colegio Santa Ursula where she is Principal. She also told the students about her life and her decision to become an Ursuline Sister. Listening to Sr. Helenice was so interesting and enjoyable - we wished that we had more time to spend together! 

During the last period of the day, the Brazilian students gave a fabulous presentation in the KIVA where they shared a video that they made just for showing our students at UA Dallas their city and their school. It was great! They also taught us a little about soccer, Carnival, the Samba and many more Brazilian traditions. We were very impressed by the singing and dancing skills of our new friends! And, of course, we are ready and very eager to go to Brazil! 

  

Brazilians experience UA life!

Today began our second week with our Brazilian guests. They have had many adventures already (including "boot scootin" at Billy Bob's Texas) but this week will hopefully be even more exciting than the last. We wanted our guests to experience a variety of classes on our campus so today they joined a PE class for yoga and one of the most popular art classes, Fused Glass. 

 

Later in the day, some of the students met with representatives from one of our educational partners, GeoWhiz, an online virtual platform which teaches young people about countries and cultures. Our guests provided feedback to GeoWhiz about their impressions of the platform - it was really fun to give input and even more fun when our guest, Thais, was able to solve one of the online puzzles that no other student tester has been able to solve! Of course, our Brazilian guests are not only fun, they are really intelligent as well!

Our Monday ended with a special celebration for our Brazil delegation - a bowling party! They were joined by some of their UA host sisters as well as some of the members of the GAGA (Girls Assisting Global Awareness) club. Today was also Ms. Ross' birthday so there was much to celebrate. All in all, it was a wonderful beginning to our second week together!

 

 

Brazilians enjoy Big learning in Big D!

After our guests recovered from their long journey and enjoyed a good night's sleep, it was time to introduce them to some important Dallas highlights. Their "Dallas Day" was filled with activity and lots of historical highlights. And lunch at Sonny Bryan's Barbecue (a Texas classic!) was pretty fabulous as well!

 



The flag room at Dallas City Hall

The group stops for a photo after their official welcome to the City of Dallas

Taking the seats of our Dallas City Officials !

The 6th floor museum - learning about President Kennedy, his assassination and legacy

An Elvis impersonator! A uniquely American experience!

Welcome Brazilian friends!



What joy we experienced today at Ursuline! Our friends from our sister school in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil arrived early this morning and spent their first day in Dallas with us. The group was received at Ursuline with a cheerful breakfast reception where the Brazilian students met their Ursuline host sisters for the first time. There was so much excitement in the room and we were especially happy that the arrival of Sr. Helenice (the principal at Colegio Santa Ursula) coincided with a visit from several of our Ursuline sisters from around the USA. This happy coincidence meant that several old friends were able to reunite the moment our friends landed! Gifts, lots of laughs and hugs were exchanged at this first joyful meeting!

 

Our guests took a tour of the school, attended a photo class and enjoyed their first UA lunch. By afternoon, everyone was ready for a little rest as our guests were very tired after their all-night flight. Tomorrow our guests will be with us again and will go on a tour of downtown Dallas. We are so delighted to have this group with us - Welcome to Texas!!!