This may or may not have been covered in a previous thread however I have found a couple of things useful to ease the painful process of culture shock.
Buy Vonage OR MagicJack before you leave that way you can call your friends and family in the US without paying outrageous international toll rates here. In some cases it is actually cheaper to call phones in Brazil depending on your calling plan. For me it is FREE up to 1000 minutes (cell phones) and FREE UNLIMITED (landlines)
If you enjoy watching television in English or are going to miss your TV shows you can pay for VPN services that will get you a United States IP address which allows you to watch shows online via. NBC, FOX, etc.
OR you can go a step further and buy a SlingBox which allows you to watch your TV as if you were in the US. You will need a family member or friend willing to let you leech off their cable provider.
Matt-