Gutknecht holds a sloth during his adventure in the middle of the Amazon.
(submitted photo)

Andrew Gutknecht, 18, only spent nine months in Salvador, Brazil — his first trip outside of the U.S. But anyone who talks to the Columbia resident about his experience would believe he spent years in the South American country.

Now fluent in the language, Gutknecht enjoys sprinkling a Portuguese sentence or two into any conversation. This language came into his arsenal mainly because of the families that hosted him — all three of whom he spoke of with a lot of gratitude.

“The first family spoke a lot of English, which was good in a way, even though it didn’t challenge me,” Gutknecht told the Republic-Times. “By the time I got to my second host family, they only spoke Portuguese.”

Before Brazil, Gutknecht dabbled in German — never mastering the language — and noted that it only minimally helped him in learning Portuguese.

“Did it help me in Brazil?,” he said. “No, not really. It did in the sense that it taught me about declensions and how nouns have cases and can sometimes be feminine or masculine, but other than that, they are two completely different languages.”

Gutknecht holds up a child on his shoulder during Christmas time in an impoverished area of Salvador. (submitted photo)

Along with tackling the language barrier, Gutknecht fell in love with every part of the country that he experienced, though he didn’t know about the program until he went to the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards and saw a presentation.

“Right after, I called my dad and said, ‘Thanks for sending me to RYLA, and don’t be mad, but I may not want to go to college,’” he said. “I applied for the program but also applied for colleges, so if I didn’t get into the program, I would just go to college right away.”

Gutknecht’s dad, Tim, responded well to the news, knowing full well what that would mean for his son.

“I have been around in Rotary long enough to know the benefits,” he told the Republic-Times. “I have to admit I cried at the airport, but this would have been a lot harder before the internet.”

Gutknecht said goodbye to family and friends in September 2015 and returned June 28. Though the program consists of a year-long adventure, Gutknecht only lived in Brazil nine months because of a delay in getting his visa.

“That’s the only part of the trip that I wish was different,” he said.

The Central States Rotary Youth Exchange Program affords 16 to 18 year old students in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Canada, North Dakota and Minnesota the opportunity to live in another country as student exchange ambassadors for one year while continuing their schooling. More information is at csrye.org.

The program involved an application process where Gutknecht ranked the countries he wanted to travel to in order of preference. Though he ended up in Brazil, he listed a different country as his top choice.

“I actually wanted to go to Germany or Austria because I had studied German, so I thought that was where they would send me,” he said. “This turned out to be the best fit for me, though.”

Even so, Gutknecht would have times where homesickness would hit him.

“There were different periods of that, but (the time away from home) is not nearly as long it seems,” he said.

To help avoid homesickness, Gutknecht would Skype consistently with his parents.

“The strangest thing that happened one time when we Skyped was when I met one of his host families,” Tim said. “The family couldn’t speak any English, so Andrew had to translate for me, and when he talked to me, he didn’t move or anything, but I would see him turn to the family and use all of these gestures. It was just strange to see my son translating for me.”

Choosing his favorite part of the trip seemed a near impossible task for Gutknecht, who said if he had to pick, his favorite experience was an excursion through the Amazon in June. The student ambassador slept on a riverboat on the Amazon River for five days in a row.

In addition, he swam with Amazon River dolphins, also known as pink river dolphins, held a baby sloth — which he described as “warm and fuzzy,” fished for piranha and saw hundreds of Caiman, which are like a smaller type of crocodile.

“The boat guide went to where the mini crocodiles were and reached down and grabbed one out of the water,” Gutknecht said. He added, laughingly, “It bit him on the hand, and he started shouting expletives.”

For his academics, Gutknecht attended high school in Salvador, continuing his studies as he would have in the U.S. The challenge in learning at first was in understanding the language.

“They talk very quickly, but they were gracious and would slow down to help me understand,” he said.

He also volunteered in the English program and helped with teaching math at the school. Rotary homework included giving monthly updates on the trip, which are posted on the Columbia Rotary Club Facebook page.

Tim found his son’s report about the impeachment of Brazil’s former president most interesting. In that May write-up, Gutknecht shared how Dilma Rousseff is only a small piece of the corruption puzzle in the country’s politics that could include as much as 60 percent of congress.

“It was strange to watch them invoke such high ideals in condemnation of Dilma, when the majority of them are just as guilty,” he stated in his writing.

However, Gutknecht’s learning experience extended far beyond any classroom, as he also served in a poverty-stricken community — which taught him a lot about the lower class in Brazil — in Salvador at Christmas time. Gutknecht and others put on Santa’s hats, delivering cake and presents to the children there.

“Any time that I get to do service like that, it’s a great experience,” he said.

That is one of a laundry list of experiences that make him want to go back to the country as soon as possible, along with his connection to the people.

“Brazil is more open and there are strong family ties,” he said. “They’re all about relationships, and when I first came there, I was introverted, but they really got me out of my shell.”

Additionally, he feels inspired to turn more people on to the program.

“I think there was only one other person from the school doing (the exchange program) at the same time as me,” Gutknecht said. “That’s something where I want to get more people involved.”

And what would he tell those considering the program?

“Do it, because it’s a great time for discovering yourself,” he said. “It was the most amazing year ever.”