- So my name is Marcia Scarpin and I'm from Brazil.

So I grew up in a very small city in Brazil called Arapongas.

Arapongas is a city in Parana state in Brazil.

My whole life I have been studying public schools.

I was applied for PhD in Sao Paulo at Fundacao Getulio Vargas.

And Fundacao Getulio Vargas, it's the best business school in America Latina, in Latin America.

In my third year, I have opportunity to come to United States for the first time in my life for a conference.

And after that I have opportunity to be here for seven month in my PhD because my program had a partnership with Indiana University.

So I live in Indiana University for like six month.

I stay two month more to travel some in some states here in United States and come back to Brazil.

And when I have this opportunity to live here United States, I have this opportunity to see how life, it's easy here in the United States when you compare it to Brazil.

You have everything easy for food, for a car, for a gas station, and less bureaucracy than Brazil.

So when I come back to Brazil, I was married at time and I told George and say, "Jorge, I want to live in the United States."

George was very surprised and he told, "Okay, Marcia, how?"

- Yeah, I'm Jorge Scarpin I was a, a faculty member, an accounting faculty in my home country, Brazil for some time.

So my college there, it was a public one and they were facing some budget cuts and so on.

And then, okay, let's try and we had kind of specific area that we wanna go and it was around Midwest.

And then Concordia invited me to come.

Campus visit was in November of 2016.

And we arrived here in August 2017.

And then some years later, my wife start teaching here as well at Concordia in 2023.

So it's her second year now.

My first winter here was a huge challenge to deal with, not only the snow, but how first, how to buy proper apparel for the cold.

So, okay, there are tons of jackets and for me that a winter is around 40 degrees.

All of them were the same.

And then they explain me, no, this is for a, this is a light jacket, this is a heavy jacket.

So I purchase a lot of wrong jackets.

- I like snow.

Like I never see snow before to live here, you know, and I like it, you know, everything white, it's beautiful, but when you have winds and snow in your face, this is hurt you, you know, because when there is snow, it start like depend October or November, oh you expected new season.

So the winter and you have Christmas and holidays and so on.

However, when you go to the like final February or March, April, May, and you still have snow and you still have ice in your garden, say, oh my goodness.

But even so, I do appreciate the sky and the sun because we have a beautiful days here.

I think I was very proud for myself.

I have this courage to move to Brazil to United States.

Also, I'm very proud to offer for my daughter possibilities.

You know, she will have possibility, she can do whatever she wants.

And I'm very proud about that.

And if it's very interesting because Gabby, my daughter, she born here and she, is truly Minnesotan.

Like truly, she loves cold, she loves snow, she loves skating.

But every year we go to Brazil because I want, make sure Gabby knows she has a Brazilian family.

In our home we just speak in Portuguese with her, just in Portuguese.

And I think this is important for her, you know, this is important for her to know her heritage.

So when you ask her, Gabby, you are America or you are Brazilian, and she our answer us, "I am American-Brazilian", you know, and I think this is important for her and for me today, this is my home, you know, and this is so important, have home.

So if you know, if you have any people to think about to move to United States or move to this area, I think this area, it's very, very good place to start.

- One thing that I can tell is that sometimes locals, they see immigrants as a bunch of similar people.

We are very different from one another, just like a local people.

They are very different from one another, especially on their background of coming here.

A lot of people, they come here because they don't have anywhere to go or that is my last chance.

The worst thing for them is that they have nowhere to come back if they need to.

And then there are other immigrants like me, I came here, planned to come here.

If I need to go back to my home country for family reasons or for anything, I can go back there.

I will have a life there.

So that is, we are very diverse on who we are and especially what do we want here.

- [Narrator] Funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4th, 2008, and by the members of Prairie Public.