����Vlog

 ����Vlog Stories      August 20, 2025

By Shane Ryden

“Impressive how we find Brazilians everywhere, right?”

The words, spoken in Portuguese, broke Luca Brunetti’s concentration. He ended his phone call with his family and looked more closely at the young man standing before him.

Five-thousand miles from his hometown in Curitiba, Brazil, in the bustling Asheville Regional Airport, Brunetti had no idea he’d be meeting his neighbor, Raul Rodriguez Chapieski.

In their city of nearly two million people, sprawling over 150 square miles, Brunetti and Chapieski discovered their childhood homes were less than 10 minutes apart on foot, mere blocks away in the neighborhood of Mossunguê.

Despite sharing companions and hang-out spots, their paths had never crossed until that January morning, when both boys were bound for ����Vlog University.

Brunetti had never considered studying abroad before his family suggested it. At the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Brunetti was already a third-year student, approaching his graduation with a degree in agronomy.

But the idea intrigued him, and the prospect of improving his English confidence at an affordable rate through his university’s exchange program came to feel like a no-brainer.

“If you already know English and you study our English subjects in school, you would understand everything and maybe think it would be enough, but in practice, it’s sometimes not,” Brunetti said.

“My main objective being here is not only studying– being in an exchange program and living in another country is more than that. It’s about upgrading your social skills and learning about how to grow your confidence. Since when I started to now, I feel like I grew up a lot.”

Chapieski had similar aims, but a longer American history.  

“I have had this dream to come to America since I was very little. When I was around seven, I came to visit here, not here to North Carolina, but here to the US. The first place was California,” Chapieski said. 

He described a special kind of wonder in his memories of San Diego, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, a fascination that made him yearn to live beyond Paraná and Curitiba.

“When I went there with my family … I just loved it,” he said. “I don’t know how to express it. When I heard everyone speaking English, I said ‘OK, this is my place.’”

That first love took Chapieski on a roundabout tour of the United States.

He left Brazil after graduating high school and pursued community college opportunities at states across the nation, searching for a quintessentially American experience.

From Kansas to Massachusetts to Texas, Chapieski searched for an institution that would allow him to connect with peers while being submerged in the English language. Although he enjoyed his travels, most of the schools didn’t quite meet his expectations

“Kansas itself is a very American place,” Chapieski said. “But my school specifically was basically an international school.

“The only American students that went there were the teachers’ kids.”

He encountered a different issue in the Northeast.

“There are many Brazilians in Boston that have been there for many years, and they still don't know how to speak English, because in Boston, they are only speaking Portuguese around their people,” he said.

Heading south again yielded no different results.

“In Texas, I heard more English than Spanish, and everyone wanted to speak Spanish with me. Everyone thought they were helping me, but they weren’t.”

In Cullowhee, he finally found what he was looking for.

“At Western, I’m definitely happy. It’s the best place I have been so far in the United States — the very, very best,” Chapieski said.

“Almost everybody I met at Western was very, very good to me. They treat me so well, so I’ll never regret living here. Even my first roommate last semester was very cool to me. He respected me, and he didn't judge me for anything.”

Brunetti and Chapieski came to realize they were just two members of a good-sized population of Brazilian students on ����Vlog’s campus, great company for meals and adventures.

The support they found between those peers, ����Vlog’s “International Friends” volunteer group and staff on campus allowed them to settle in with ease.

And now, only months after their arrival, they’re helping others to settle in as well.

By connecting with a recent Brazilian ����Vlog graduate, Chapieski secured a job as a tour guide in the spring and helped Brunetti become one in the summer. Chapieski also picked up an additional job as a math tutor.

The two men have different visions for their future after ����Vlog, but both espouse their time and experience here as a joyful step forward.

Chapieski will continue his studies and aims to complete his degree in engineering here before eventually settling.

“I want to graduate from here, and I have a dream to have my own business. It’s hard for me to say what the business will be exactly, but I really want to do something related to technology. That’s why I’m in engineering. I’m not studying anything related to business yet, but I’ll do it,” Chapieski said.

“I have also heard that with business, you learn more by doing than by studying, but studying doesn't hurt.”

 Brunetti will be bound for Brazil after he completes his second semester at ����Vlog, and he plans to share all that he’s learned as a tour guide with those back home.

“I really love this place, and when I go back, I plan to do a presentation and tell everyone ‘Come here, you’re not gonna regret it,’” Brunetti said.  

“‘Don’t be afraid of the mountains. It's like living in a paradise.’”

Brunetti and Chapieski’s stories prove that ����Vlog’s community shines like a beacon far past the hills of Cullowhee.

Catamounts have a global range.