Foreign exchange students return to Meridian for a visit

By By Georgia E. Frye / staff writer
Dec. 17, 2003
When Evelise Chagas returned home to Brazil after living in Meridian for 10 months, she said she missed drinking Mellow Yellow and eating cream cheese the most.
Chagas, 20, returned to Meridian on Tuesday for a two-month visit three years after she attended Northeast High School as a foreign exchange student. Chagas graduated from Northeast with honors.
Chagas said she missed her host family in Meridian. So, when she had a three-month break from college in Brazil, Chagas decided to return to Meridian for a visit in time for the Christmas holidays.
Shirley Sevier and her husband, Rick, hosted Chagas while she was here. The Seviers, who were at the Meridian Regional Airport to greet Chagas, said they are delighted to see her again.
In Brazil, Chagas is a college student working on a degree in psychology.
Chagas said she also likes to paint and play the acoustic guitar. In fact, she said, she plans to release a compact disc of her singing and playing the guitar; she plans to donate the proceeds to the needy in Brazil.
Chagas' 10-hour plane ride from Brazil to Meridian could have been a long and lonely journey. But that wasn't the case because she met another Brazilian who was headed for the same destination.
Chagas and Larissa Cesar quickly began talking. After they were in the air, Cesar and Chagas learned that they were both former foreign exchange students returning to Meridian for a visit.
Cesar lived in Mississippi two years ago and also attended Northeast High School. She is currently in college in Brazil working on a degree in hotel and restaurant management.
Cesar said she, too, loves American food including Coca-Cola and hamburgers. But she said she doesn't like it that everything is fattening.
There is one thing both said they would love to see while they are in America snow.
Shelia Carpenter, who works for Center for Cultural Interchange, said she became close to the girls when they lived in Meridian. She said hosting a foreign exchange student is a rewarding process.
Carpenter said when Chagas and Cesar lived in Meridian she worked for a different foreign exchange organization that sponsored the students the Program of Academic Exchange.
Carpenter said foreign exchange students usually spend 10 months in America, long enough to complete one school year.
Carpenter said some families believe hosting a foreign exchange student would be too expensive. But she said that is not the case.
Carpenter said the program teaches foreign students what America is really like.