I had never thought about moving to the United States until my sophomore year of high school. You should know, first off, that our high school system works differently (a subject I will save for another article.) I have been playing volleyball since I was twelve years old, and one day I received a message from an agency, called Daquiprafora, asking if I ever considered playing volleyball at the college level in the United States.

At first, I thought it was a crazy idea to leave all my family and friends behind to study in another country. I mentioned the idea to my parents and both of them asked how much that would cost, and why would I want to move away, almost like saying no. It seemed too soon to think about such a big chance in my life, but I kept the possibility in the back of my head. In the middle of my junior year, a friend and teammate of mine decided to follow those steps. That encouraged me to bring back the idea to my parents. They were still skeptical about it, but this time, they took the idea a little more seriously. By that time, I had been saving money to buy a car when I turn 18 - Brazilian driving age - so I had the money to really consider such idea. After a few months of planning back and forth with the agency and my parents, it became real. I made a video of myself playing, so American coaches could see my volleyball skills and possibly offer me scholarships. (Fun fact: as an international student, you are not allowed to receive any kind of federal loans, which means that you have to pay the costs of attending the university in full.)

That is why scholarships were my primary goal because without them I would not be able to come at all. My second step was to take the aptitude tests to apply to an American college. The required tests are the SAT and the TOEFL tests. During my senior year of high school, I took the SAT for the first time. At that time, I had decided I would play one last season for my volleyball club during the year after high school graduation, which gave me another year to prepare for the TOEFL test and possibly retake the SAT. The higher my grades, the higher my chances to get academic scholarships as well. I was told that the minimum scores I should take to be considered for the financial aid were 900 on the SAT and 80 on the TOEFL. I got 1150 and 94 respectively.

Everything was falling into place, my life was about to change tremendously. The agency contacted several schools that would fit my needs and that was when the waiting part began. On December 5th of 2013, I received an email from the assistant coach of Siena Heights University’s volleyball team. I remember the feeling like it was yesterday, the feeling that went through my body and the constant voice in my mind saying “it’s happening.” After that, I received a few more responses from other universities, but Siena ended up being my final choice. I got my student visa and my plane ticket for August 15th of 2014. I left friends and family behind to pursue a new life of experiences.

I am extremely thankful for all the help they gave to me along the way, without the support this dream would not be possible. So, what happened after the flight that changed my life? I will have to save that the next article. However, now you know how this Brazilian ended up in Adrian, Michigan.