Syron Bell was kind enough to attend as speaker and share his Rotary Youth Exchange Program experience. Syron recently participated in the program and visited the country of Brazil. While his initial hope was to visit France, other candidates encouraged him to select Brazil instead giving him and more cultural experience while improving his chances of selection. He said he was happy that he did so. He visited the country for six months and learned Portuguese while visiting. His hosts gave him the nickname of 'Synino'.
Sports are popular there, especially Soccer but since that is not his sport, he played beach volleyball and spent time visiting the local clubs. The locals are very active in the party atmosphere and he attended many such parties. It is part of the Brazilian culture. One thing he could not adjust to was the common phonomemnom of street dogs. As it was hard to know if they were friendly or the opposite. Food never seems to be a street persons dilemma there as they planted many Mango trees at which you could simply pick fruit and enjoy. Syron never drove a vehicle in Brazil and advised to always use an Uber, not only from a safety perspective but they knew where they were going. He found the experience very enriching and would return given the opportunity. In fact, he meets with his Portuguese speaking friends in the U.S. often at a Brazilian restaurant in Frankfort, Philadelphia to speak the language.
He showed us his jacket and exchange flare above.