From the Swiss Alpine Mountains, to the historic city of Boston, to the beaches of Santa Barbara: Adilson Gomes has slowly made his way from the East to the West in his journey to refine his English language skills!
Initially, Adilson began his studies at ELC Boston. He completed the remainder of his studies in the Cambridge Advanced Certificate Program at ELC Santa Barbara. We interviewed Adilson to learn more about his goals, his experience with “culture shock”, and time at both ELC Boston and ELC Santa Barbara.
When I was planning my trip to the USA, I decided to spend a total of four months here. However, I didn’t want to stay in the same city. I was looking for a language school that was located on the East and West Coasts because I wanted to travel around and see different places. So, going to ELC was the perfect opportunity to visit both coasts.
I really wanted to visit California, but I didn’t know which city. I had another city I was debating between, but Santa Barbara was my final choice. Not only is the city itself beautiful, but there are a lot of options gorgeous trips surrounding the area. Santa Barbara is the perfectly located if you want to visit the cities in California. Especially for me, I wanted to see different places and I was able to visit Los Angeles, Los Vegas Baby!, San Francisco, and many other overwhelmingly beautiful places.
I don’t know, my whole trip in the US was absolutely amazing. I cannot describe it! I had one of the best times in my life and I think I’m going to tell my grandchildren about it because it was so cool.
Boston was great because you have so many things to do there. It was great to visit the world famous Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts. Also worth mentioning is kayaking on the Charles River. It was amazing. You have such a beautiful view outside of ELC Boston – its perfect!
Santa Barbara was an experience that I consider to be one of the best parts of my life. I had so much fun surfing at Santa Claus Beach with my classmates and the teacher Matt. From surfing to the Color Run, to jumping in crystal clear lakes, to climbing the Red Rocks, it was always a good time.
I would recommend ELC to foreign students. You have so many opportunities to meet people from different countries and cultures!
The culture shock wasn’t as bad as I had expected. I had no problems dealing with the American lifestyle. I enjoy it, really. But, of course I had some moments that I thought, “Oh my god, what is this?” or “Why is that?”
I admit, I experienced culture shock when I came back to Switzerland from the USA.
Now with the knowledge that I acquire in English, I hope that I’ll find a job in the tourism industry and next year I will start to study Tourism.
Of course, my favorite ELC staff was/is Jasmine Afshar and Cara Rascal!! 😉
We’re really going to miss Adilson’s positive attitude and his laughter at both ELC Boston and Santa Barbara. We wish him the best of luck in his future goals and hope to work with him once he builds his career in tourism!
