Far far away
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November 23, 2009 • Janine Lehmann, Guest Contributor
Filed under 2009-2010
If you hear the word “foreign exchange student” you probably don’t think a lot about it. Possibly for you it is just a person from another country. But behind this phrase and this person is so much more than could ever imagine
“Usually, if somebody asks you if you are an exchange student and you say, ‘yes,’ the person asks you: ‘Where are you from?’ After your answer, the person normally says with politeness: ‘Oh, cool.’ That’s it. A lot of conversation works like this,” says Mai Pandera*, a 16 year-old, foreign exchange student from Thailand, “In general other people have no idea what it means to be an exchange student.”
According to Csiet.com, studies from last year show that about 27,950 students came from other countries to the United States of America for their exchange year. Most students were from Germany, Brazil, China, South Korea and Thailand. Only 2,020 went from the United States to other countries. Most of them went to nations like Italy, Germany, France, Japan and Argentina. States like Texas, Michigan, California and Minnesota received the most students. Alaska–which took 150 students–is number
44 on the list compared with other states receiving exchange students. The states sending the most students were: California, New York, Ohio and Washington. Only 31 students went out from Alaska, leaving the state ranked 21st among the other states.
“If you think that we exchange students just travel to another country, have lots of fun there and then go back home and everything is just perfect then you really should change your thoughts about this,” says Pandera, “Have you ever thought about the whole year [required] for all the preparations before you can travel to the new country? Or that you are going to be in a family you never saw before, a culture you never could imagine, and that you are just in a place where nobody seems to see you? Or that your whole family is somewhere at another end of the world and all your friends just don’t exist in your new life? Or that you just feel that you’re nobody? ” asks Pandera with shiny eyes.
Chugiak High School currently has 12 exchange students for the 2009-2010 school year, according to a school counselor.
“It was very exciting to meet these other exchange students. I heard stories I couldn’t visualize. It is amazing to take note of all their different cultures,” Pandera says.
It is a very long process until you can travel to your host country. After the decision to do an exchange year, you have to go to interviews with the organization you chose. There are lots of different organizations. If they decided to take you into their program the huge work starts. There is a lot of paper work to do. You need to go to many different kinds of doctors and to the American Embassies for your visa too. You have to do many more interviews, go to meetings, get recommendations from the teachers and so on. Finally, when a host family chooses you, you can start to have contact with them. After all the final work you are ready to say goodbye and get on your airplane.
Mai told a little about her process: “It was a lot of work to do. All these questions and all the paper work was just boring. The moment when I got a phone call from my organization, that they found a host family for me was just indescribable. I felt amazing. I started to be so excited the whole time. When the moment I had to leave came nearer I felt sad, confused and was the whole time somewhere else with my thoughts. I had so many questions. My heart felt broken when I had to say goodbye to all my friends and my family. It was not easy for me”.
The students have to go to school and get good grades in their host country. If they don’t take the school serious and get bad grades, the organizations can send them home at any time.
“I had to sign many rules. Some of these rules were: Good school work, no alcohol, no drugs, no smoking and no sexual acts,” says Pandera.
Most foreign exchange student have a culture shock after their first days in the new country. Every country has a different culture, especially the United States of America, which has a completely different “way of life” than many other nations.
“There are a lot of challenges. It can be so excited so see all these different things. To live in a different world and to have all these experiences is priceless. I saw already so many things I never could imagine. But it is not always as easy as it seems to be. I think some people have no idea what we can feel. Sometimes you feel like a ghost. You are there, but nobody is noticing you. It makes you feel alone and sad…far far away,” adds Pandera
*name changed at student’s request
