The Animas Exchange
Students
Jenna Brooks
Going
on an exchange is like embarking on an adventure and experiencing a new way of
life. For the exchange students Alex Ventura, Till Schroeter, and Javier Midon,
the adventure is just beginning.
On August 28th
the sophomore school year started and three new exchange students were
introduced into our unique culture here at Animas High School. We have a student from Sweden, Germany, and
Spain, bringing a great mix of cultures to our school.
Our culture is very different
from Spain, Germany and Sweden’s. “I miss the Mediterranean food, I don’t
really like American food,” said Javier, the exchange student from Spain, after
he was asked about some of the things he misses so far. Till, the exchange
student from Germany, talked about how he misses the public transportation in
Germany and the underground trains that enable people to travel easily from
city to city.
Despite these cultural
differences, each exchange student is excited to be here and contribute to
Animas. Going on an exchange is a huge
process that takes at least a year to complete before your actual exchange. You
have to get a Visa and prepare yourself to leave your family and home country. Then you finally get to your destination and
culture shock sets in.
“I thought it would be
bigger. Bigger cars, bigger cities, bigger people.” said Till, after being
asked about some of the expectations he had for the U.S. Alex and Javier both
expected to be put in a big school with cliques, cheerleaders and football
players, like both of them have seen on T.V.
Animas wasn’t what any of them
expected but they are enjoying it thus far. In many European schools, students
and teachers don’t know each other very well but instead, have very formal
relationships. Students must be respectful to their teachers and call them by
their last names. In Spain, Javier was studying 13 subjects in school and
thought school in the U.S would be easy.
“Yes,
the teachers are awesome and so are the subjects.” said Javier when asked if he
liked Animas so far. Alex, the exchange student from Sweden, and Till also said
how much they like the teachers at Animas and that they like being able to call
teachers by their first names.
Despite
culture shock, each exchange student really likes the view Durango has and they
all have found things they like about this new culture and the world they are
discovering.
“My favorite food is KFC and I love
the Blizzards at Dairy Queen.” said Alex when he was asked what his favorite
food was here.
Going on an exchange isn’t just
about what exchange students can take from a place but also about what they can
give back to the country they go to. Each exchange student has a different
perspective and offers a different point of view in certain situations.
“I want to show the Spanish
culture and be a good ambassador for Spain, as well as being a good friend and
person.” said Javier, when asked what he wanted to bring to Animas. Both Till
and Alex spoke about wanting to show people the different cultures that they
are a part of, and about teaching some ways Europeans are different than
Americans.
