Today we welcomed Vera Paunova, from Bulgary, in Curititba. Before arriving, she spent three weeks as a volunteer at Jaguar reserve, a nonprofit group with conservationist purposes, safeguarding the future of different animal populations, including mammals, birds and reptiles. Now she is going to be a volunteer English teacher at the  Youth Development Center.

Be: Why did you choose to come to Brazil for an exchange program?

Because I’d done a similar program in Brazil before and it was one of the best experiences in my life. Since I speak a bit of Portuguese and understanding the local language always helps, I decided to try a different program in a different part of Brazil.

Be: What is the main reason you choose to go on exchange?

I like to travel in order to see not so much places (even though I love seeing a bit of all the beautiful places we have on earth), but in order to meet new people and experience other ways of living and seeing the world. I also think that if a person can do some things useful and help someone, even a little bit, they should, so I prefer to travel in order to do things that help people even if a bit and also change myself.

Be: What are your goals with this experience? If we met at the end of your stay, which achievements would you like to tell your friends you had.

My goal is to help a little bit the people I can help. I don’t really think of this as an “achievement” on my part; rather as a learning experience, more for myself, than the people I’ll be teaching.