"Together, Pizza Hut and the ice skating rink were like an American snow globe in the middle of tropical Rio de Janeiro."

First Lady of the Mall

Episode 7: Pizza

"But in that moment, it was just me, Carlos, and Leonardo DiCaprio in the dark."

Episode 6: First Lady of the Mall

"Suddenly, a little after a year of our arrival, we found ourselves in a country that had been invaded — with a real potential for a war."

Episode 5: I Saw the Signs

"Now, I finally did feel and look like the new girl in school, just like in the movies. I definitely looked like Alicia Silverstone from Clueless — but a Brazilian version, of course."

Episode 4: Welcome to Mayfair High School

"I lived in an America that I wasn't expecting: an English as Second Language America."

Episode 3: Welcome to Artesia High School

"When I look back at my first day of high school in America, I cannot not think of my Garfield t-shirt."

Episode 2: Garfield T-Shirt

"White, machine-made fog appeared for a few seconds; but as the fog cleared out, a tall, blonde, blue-eyed woman descended onto Earth — in a spaceship."

Episode 1: White Fog

In telling her story of immigration from Brazil to the United States at the age of 15, Bruna Massadas recreates an adolescent world overwhelmed by Americanized fantasies: the kind ruled by blond-haired, blue-eyed beauties; the kind filled with laugh tracks, dramatic closeups, and the inevitable happy ending. But she also depicts the actual America she soon encountered: high school halls crowded with immigrants and teenage hormones; nights plagued by typical worries over fashion and boyfriends, but complicated with anxieties over language and cultural assimilation.

First Lady of the Mall

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