Gracielle Tavares

Gracielle Tavares

03/06/14

ENG 130.12
David Thoreen
February 05, 2014
Me, Gracielle Oliveira Tavares
My name is Gracielle Tavares. I was born in the wonderful country called Brazil. I lived in Salvador – Bahia 3 years ago. I have one sister and she is five years old. She lives with my mother in a small city called Ubatã also in Bahia – Brazil. My mother majored in Education when in college and now she is a teacher. All my life I studied in the public schools of Brazil. I come from a simple family and I see my education as an opportunity to have a better future. I have devoted myself to my studies, and I’ve always had a lot of determination with my challenges. I finished high school when I was seventeen years old; the following year I started studying at the Federal University of Bahia. My minor is Interdisciplinary in Science and
Technology and my major is Electrical Engineer.
In 2011 when I started my minor, I changed myself as I started to live on my way when
I moved from Ubatã to Salvador. I received the opportunity to come to the United States through of the Science Without Borders Program. With the purpose of learning English as a second language and take a few classes in my major. My first challenge was English because I never spoke English before, but in my minor I used some words in English. In technology some words there are only in English particularly in Programming. My contact with English has always been very little but what motivates me to be here is the challenge.
When I arrived in Worcester all things appeared to be part of a film to me. When in
Assumption College I felt afraid because I only knew Silvania who was the only person I knew who spoke Portuguese. I met her one week before traveling to the United States. I moved from one country to another, I changed my language, I left my family, friends and my
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Gracielle Tavares

03/06/14

boyfriend in order to reach my dream of living in America. Here in the United States my life is totally different from my life in Brazil. I worked at my university as a tutor of the subject
Science and Technology at the same time I was working in a research group as well. I needed to help my mother pay my expenses for living away from home. In the United States is a bit different, I only study and I still have the privilege of receiving money because I study. I believe that all these events come from my dedication in my studies and the desire to be able to build a better future for myself and my family. I found in education the opportunity to better the lives of my family members, something I would not be able to do without an education.

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