Carlyle Howard (left) gets ready for her trip to Brazil with help from best friend Kristina Anwyll.

By Judi Hasson, Special to The McLean Ear

MCLEAN, VA – McLean resident Carlyle Howard is a high school junior with a different kind of game plan. She’s packing her bags to spend her school year in Brazil, leaving behind McLean High School for an adventure that will be hard to beat.

Carlyle, 16, leaves this month  for Bagé, Brazil, where she will be living with a family and attending a private Catholic high school, taking math and physics classes in Portuguese and English and American history courses online.

She was selected by the McLean Rotary Club for a program sponsored by Rotary International which places 8,000-10,000 high school students in communities around the world every year in a program that is making connections to the next generation.

Carlyle, who is fluent in Spanish, knew little Portuguese until she started studying the language in a Rosetta Stone course and watching Brazilian soap operas on TV. She arrives in Brazil at the end of their winter, has to get used to their summer in January and a different way of life that includes lunch, the biggest meal of the day, and a smaller meal at dinner at 10 pm.

Carlyle Howard (left) starts on her suitcase with best friend Kristina Anwyll.

“People in Brazil are extremely friendly. They don’t judge people. I already have many friend requests from Brazil,” she said.

With the help of email and Facebook, she’s already connected with many new friends in Bagé. And she’ll use these social networking tools to stay in touch with her McLean friends, too.

Carlyle is ready for the cultural differences and eager to adapt.

“I’m sure there are a lot of things accepted here that aren’t there,” she said.

Rotary International imposes the “4 D’s” on their exchange students – “No Driving, No Drinking, No Drugs, No Disfigurement” (meaning tattoos) – all rules that Carlyle and her parents appreciate.

“It will be hard not having her around, but this is such a wonderful opportunity for her,” said her mother, Mason Bryant Howard. “It will give her a different perspective of the world, and who knows where Brazil will be in 10 years.”

Mason gives credit for making this happen to Dr. Deborah Jackson, McLean High School principal, who helped Carlyle through the application process. Dr. Jackson is the chair of  Rotary’s Program Committee and a leading member of McLean Rotary.

Bagé, in the southern part of Brazil, is an agriculture center with 122,000 residents that is close to Uruguay and Argentina, both countries that Carlyle plans to visit.

When she returns to McLean High School for her senior year in 2011, Carlyle will jump right into applying to colleges. She’s not at all worried about spending a year away from her buddies and school.

But she said, “They say you have more culture shock coming back.”

She’ll have a great experience to remember, too, another language under her belt and the skills to move in global circles.

Carlyle will be writing a blog for The McLean Ear. Look for it every month.

Judi Hasson is a freelance writer  who formerly worked as a reporter for USA TODAY. She is a long-time McLean resident..