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S1 E14 - Foreign Exchange Students · Inside the OSD

• 0:00
  SPEAKER1: We are fortunate to have foreign exchange students at Oregon High School.
• 0:04
  While these students join us to gain new culturally enriching experiences, they provide just as much enrichment and learning to our school community.
• 0:13
  Now that they've been here for a while, we're excited to meet up with them and to learn about their experiences and how their year has been going.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
• 0:28
  Here is your host.
• 0:29
  Lifelong educator, and our superintendent, Dr.
• 0:32
  Leslie Bergstrom.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER3: Thank you so much for joining me today.
• 0:39
  This is an important episode and I know our listeners are eager to hear about your experiences here at Oregon High School.
• 0:45
  So let's start with some introductions.
• 0:47
  I'd like you to share your name and your home country and your year at school, and you could either talk about your -- the year in school that you are here in
• 0:56
  Oregon or at home, because I know it's very different.
• 1:00
  Some of you could be seniors at home, but juniors here or -- and lots of different situations.
• 1:06
  So you can answer that question however you would like.
• 1:09
  And I'll start over here.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER4: Okay. Um, I'm Nina.
• 1:15
  I'm from Germany and I'm considered as a junior here.
• 1:18
  But I have three more years in Germany of high school and I'm 16 years old.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER3: Thank you.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER5: My name is Nayra.
• 1:25
  I'm from Spain.
• 1:27
  I'm a senior here and I'm a senior in Spain too.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER6: My name is Jaime. I'm also from Spain.
• 1:35
  I'm 17 years old and I'm a senior in high school.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER4: My name is Leandra.
• 1:39
  I'm from Germany and I'm also a junior here.
• 1:43
  My name is Giada. I'm from Italy and I'm a senior here, but I have one year left in Italy.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER5: My name is Coline.
• 1:50
  I'm from France and I'm in -- I'm a senior here and I'm already graduated in France.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER3: Thank you. So everybody comes here with a lot of different experiences and you come to Oregon High School and that is a giant change for you.
• 2:07
  So it makes me think, why did you decide to be a foreign exchange student and what made you select the United States?
• 2:13
  And whoever wants to start that one, go right ahead.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER4: I can just start again.
• 2:19
  Um, I've kind of started over COVID because I didn't really have a lot of stuff going on, so I had time to think about what I want to do and I kind of
• 2:29
  had to think about because my school ended in 10th grade in Germany, and then I have to go to another school, but you don't have to do it.
• 2:36
  So I kind of had to think about what I want to do, like in my life and what do you want to go?
• 2:40
  And then I -- the idea came kind of -- the idea came up to do an exchange and I chose the US because there was a scholarship
• 2:50
  I applied to and it was for the US.
• 2:52
  Okay. And then I got the scholarship too, and it was just only for the US.
• 2:56
  And that's -- Well, congratulations on the scholarship!
• 2:58
  SPEAKER5: Thank you. That's great.
• 3:00
  Okay.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER3: Anybody else?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER6: I can go. So I was going to change school in Spain from like 11th grade to 12th grade, and
• 3:12
  that was already like a very difficult change because it would be -- it was going to be the last year of school.
• 3:18
  So my mother was like, we have already this problem, so let's try to look for other, I don't know, experiences or challenges.
• 3:27
  So she told me like, "Would you like to go to an exchange year?" And I actually say like, "I would like to, but only if it's in the US," because
• 3:37
  they always offer you maybe the UK, Ireland or the US.
• 3:41
  And I always like, I'm sorry, but like UK and Ireland, it doesn't sound as good at the US.
• 3:48
  So I said like "If it's in the US I would love to." We start of trying to find and we found uh, how to go and
• 3:59
  we could do it and that's it.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER3: And then you ended up here.
• 4:02
  Okay. Okay.
• 4:04
  Thank you. Anybody else?
• 4:07
  SPEAKER5: Okay, I'll go. I -- my aunt came to America, so I've seen how she lived here.
• 4:13
  So I ask that since eight years old.
• 4:16
  And when I turned 16, like, we found out I could come to the United States, But I wanted to come.
• 4:23
  I wanted -- I asked to go to -- I didn't want to come to America at the beginning.
• 4:29
  But then they say, like in England and in Canada, they pay the host parents so the host parents don't get you because they want you.
• 4:37
  They get you because they want the money, so they don't treat you as good as in America.
• 4:42
  So we thought that America also was like a really great place.
• 4:45
  The things like I was scared of the guns.
• 4:47
  So yeah, I just prefer having a better family.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER3: Okay. All right.
• 4:56
  Anybody else want to go?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER5: Please do. I'll decide to come
• 5:03
  SPEAKER4: here during COVID quarantine, and I choose the US because it was like the American dream, You know, like
• 5:12
  sports, like football cheerleaders and.
• 5:16
  Yeah.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER3: It sounds like movies.
• 5:18
  Yeah.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER4: And now I'm here.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER3: Okay, I know that when I've heard all of you speak about your experiences before, it sounded like some of you had parents who were
• 5:31
  really excited and wanted you to come here, and some of you had parents that were a little nervous about you leaving home.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER5: And being so far away.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER3: And so you've come from a wide variety of, I don't know, the beginnings of your journey where it was different for every one of you.
• 5:48
  And I remember you saying that almost all of you said you wanted to go to someplace warm.
• 5:54
  Right? You were imagining beaches in Florida or something like that, and then you ended up in Wisconsin.
• 6:02
  And if anybody wants to talk about that, I thought that was a really interesting part of your story when I've heard you in the past.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER7: Well.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER6: When you're applying to the exchange here, at least in my case, they ask you like hundreds of questions to
• 6:21
  try to find the perfect family with the perfect place.
• 6:25
  So answering those questions, they always ask, like, "what would you prefer?
• 6:30
  Like what type of weather" or whatever.
• 6:34
  So I feel like we if all we have to choose, we will prefer a warmer place.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER3: If your choice is warm or cold, you pick warm.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER6: If I can choose.
• 6:43
  Sure. I, uh.
• 6:44
  I would prefer that.
• 6:45
  But, like, I don't know what happened with my answers.
• 6:48
  Maybe they didn't read it or something, but they - they were like, "You want a warm place?
• 6:54
  Then Wisconsin." I don't know why.
• 6:56
  I feel it's because one of the answers that I like, one of the questions was like, told me sports that you like.
• 7:03
  And I answer this ski.
• 7:06
  I like to ski.
• 7:07
  But like something extra is nothing important or nothing.
• 7:10
  And they took that and say, okay, let's go to a place with snow.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER3: That's great. That's great.
• 7:18
  So and anybody can answer this one too.
• 7:20
  Just pop in. What was it like to arrive here and start the school year?
• 7:24
  What was what were some of your first observations as you started school here in Oregon?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER5: I will say for me it was easier than I think for most because I went -- I started one month before I came to school actually, because I want -- I knew I
• 7:40
  wanted to do volleyball because that's my sport.
• 7:43
  So I came like -- when I got my my close family, I only had one month between they gave me my host family until I actually met them.
• 7:52
  So I didn't have, like most people like months talking to them or anything because they gave me and I was like, "Hey, when -- where are the volleyball
• 7:59
  tryouts? Can I just go?" So I flew a Sunday and the next Monday I was already playing volleyball.
• 8:08
  So it was like really quick.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER4: I came one week late and I was just like, like throwing it, like, just like throwing that and like, yeah, here you go.
• 8:17
  But it was crazy because I never were like, in that situation that I like, knew no one.
• 8:22
  Like in the city where I grew up, I like know people from kindergarten or like earlier grades.
• 8:27
  But here just come in and it's like hundreds of people you never seen in your life.
• 8:32
  I thought that was interesting.
• 8:34
  And to see you like look back and see how like, thought about some people and then like I get to know them better.
• 8:40
  And they were like, totally different.
• 8:42
  I thought that was very interesting.
• 8:44
  Yeah. And it also helped to like, have all you guys, like the exchange students, at the beginning because you like went through all that together and I
• 8:50
  kind of connect very good.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER3: So I imagine even though all of you have excellent English skills, I imagine the first few days translating everything in your head made you
• 9:03
  tired. Yeah, I'm so tired.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER6: We started from the beginning because we -- at least I flew to the US completely alone from Spain to the US.
• 9:16
  So it started already, like on the plane when they started talking in English.
• 9:20
  And even with the, like, the radio plane.
• 9:22
  I don't know, like I didn't understand anything like zero.
• 9:27
  So it's really to say like, okay, my English is not enough, I'm going to have problems here.
• 9:33
  But actually my biggest worry before coming here was my English was going to be enough.
• 9:38
  It's not a problem.
• 9:40
  Oh, that's good to hear! It's because even though you don't speak a perfect English, they understand what you're saying, even though you're saying the
• 9:48
  things wrong. Like you can have, you can not use, I don't know, the past tense in one sentence that you have to use, but they know what you're talking about.
• 9:56
  So you can have a normal conversation without having a really good English level.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER3: And are you having conversations?
• 10:04
  Are you starting to enjoy having friends here in the United States?
• 10:08
  Yeah, yeah. What's been a big part of that experience?
• 10:11
  What's helped you meet people?
• 10:15
  Sports, obviously is one thing, right?
• 10:19
  SPEAKER5: Going to games.
• 10:21
  Like I -- all my friends like my actual what I say closest friends.
• 10:25
  I haven't met them at school.
• 10:27
  Like nobody in classes, Really?
• 10:30
  I met them all -- like my also like my best friends are volleyball teammates or like people I met at football
• 10:39
  basketball games.
• 10:40
  And I don't have my friends.
• 10:42
  I don't have any classes with them.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER6: Like in my case, I don't -- I don't do any sports this year.
• 10:51
  So I couldn't go for athletics or like I start knowing a couple people because maybe I
• 11:01
  ask them for rides or something like that.
• 11:02
  Because living, living in America without a car, it's completely impossible.
• 11:10
  So maybe I was friends with maybe two people because I was friends with them.
• 11:17
  They present their friends and I start getting along with everyone.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER3: Absolutely. So it sounds like rides - asking people for rides is also a pretty big deal.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER6: Yeah.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER4: Yeah. You spent a lot more time in cars.
• 11:32
  Yeah, like, I had so much conversations in just cars and, like.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER5: That's when, you know, actually the people.
• 11:38
  Yeah. Like when you actually know if you like them or not.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER3: That's when you're talking.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER8: I just hate asking people for rides because I know they don't want to do it, but I don't have another choice.
• 11:47
  Like I can't go anywhere.
• 11:49
  No, I actually
• 11:50
  SPEAKER5: will say they're really good at that.
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  I thought it was going to be worse.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER6: No. Yeah, people like to give rides, but it's true.
• 11:57
  Like at the beginning it was like, okay, I really need to ask her or whatever, that I need a ride, but like, I don't want to because whatever.
• 12:07
  And now that we are friends now I don't care.
• 12:09
  I ask them
• 12:10
  SPEAKER3: for a ride.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER4: Pick me up. No.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER5: You are way more difficult because no one wants to drive to Fitchburg or we live.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER4: Like farther away.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER5: I would allow us to take you guys, but they want to take us.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER3: So where your home is located influences that quite a bit too?
• 12:25
  Okay. So what has been the most enjoyable experience so far?
• 12:29
  And I'd love to hear from each one of you on this.
• 12:31
  What's been the best?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER4: Well, that's hard to say.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER3: I know.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER4: I understand. Like "the best"
• 12:38
  SPEAKER3: the best?
• 12:39
  One of the best. Let's say that.
• 12:41
  One of the best experiences so far?
• 12:43
  Okay.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER4: I feel like I wanted to say that earlier about the expectations, actually, with the warm weather that like at the end, it turns out so different than you
• 12:50
  thought it was. And I think the best thing is I get like so inspired by stuff I did.
• 12:56
  Like I did a theater for the first time and I never did that before.
• 13:00
  And I feel like I just learned so much about how people like present their feelings and how they, like act on stage just like by watching them.
• 13:08
  I didn't even have like a big role.
• 13:10
  But I thought that was a cool thing.
• 13:13
  And yeah, I really liked the musical.
• 13:16
  That's wonderful.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER5: Who else? I will say, for me, volleyball season was the best.
• 13:22
  Like I just enjoyed everything about it.
• 13:25
  But I also say how I, with Giada, I won't -- I won't complain.
• 13:31
  It was a dream. So like -- she took me.
• 13:36
  I was I was one day depressed at her house.
• 13:39
  I don't know where that that was like, "Hey, do you want to come with us to Hawaii?
• 13:43
  With us?" He made me a paper with the things that that I had to pay, basically only the ticket.
• 13:49
  And it was like, "yeah, we have this, this, this, this, this." And he texted my mom.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER3: Well, that's pretty amazing.
• 13:56
  I'll say
• 13:56
  SPEAKER5: that's one of the best things I've done.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER3: I bet!
• 14:00
  That's great.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER8: Who else? Yeah, I agree.
• 14:03
  Like I was like a dream was really cool and I think because like a helicopter ride and like, tubing surfing,
• 14:13
  that sounds lovely for me.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER6: I'm going to say something that all the American people are going to disagree, but the high school itself, it's so different from Spain.
• 14:26
  Like, I actually enjoy coming to the high school.
• 14:29
  That's where everyone's going to disagree.
• 14:31
  But I don't know.
• 14:34
  In Spain, it's more this last 4 or 3 years are like really focused on studying to get a -- to get
• 14:44
  good grades so you can go to college.
• 14:46
  Here, you have so much liberty.
• 14:48
  Also you study obviously, but it's I don't know, you can choose any class that you can't do it in Spain.
• 14:55
  I mean, you can choose classes, but it's not like in Spain you will not found in a normal high school woods class or a -- work with cars or even
• 15:05
  with animals or even cooking classes.
• 15:08
  You don't have that in Spain.
• 15:09
  So that's that's why I really like the high school.
• 15:12
  And I think it's the best thing that here in America.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER3: Okay. What are you -- What are the rest of you thinking?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER4: I think it's really hard to
• 15:23
  SPEAKER8: like, choose one specific thing.
• 15:26
  I feel like now each day is, like, a little better.
• 15:30
  Like, because you like.
• 15:31
  You feel like language is better and you have more friends and you do more things too.
• 15:36
  So I really like, enjoy going to a Bucks game in Milwaukee.
• 15:42
  Oh, yeah. Uh, a trip in Chicago.
• 15:45
  Uh, and all, like, the culture.
• 15:47
  Like, even, like sport.
• 15:48
  Even at school, too.
• 15:50
  Or, like, even like Washington Island.
• 15:53
  My host family has a house there.
• 15:55
  It's really
• 15:56
  SPEAKER3: pretty. Oh, I bet.
• 15:57
  And it's interesting.
• 15:59
  And I bet a lot of students who have lived in Oregon their whole lives don't think about athletic events as cultural events.
• 16:07
  And for you, coming from a different perspective, you see it as that.
• 16:11
  And that's really interesting.
• 16:13
  All right. So what are you thinking?
• 16:15
  SPEAKER8: Yeah, for me, it's also like the school events, like we don't have any events like basketball games or football games or stuff like that in Germany at the
• 16:23
  school. So there was always, like, always something that was fun.
• 16:26
  Yeah. Like something to go to or when you have nothing to do, there's always like a game or something you can just watch.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER3: I remember the last time I heard you speak, some of you also spoke about the difference in the relationships between students and teachers here compared to
• 16:41
  what you are used to.
• 16:42
  Does anybody want to talk about that a little bit?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER5: I want to say that - that Jaime is gonna kill me because last time he said I shouldn't say that, but I'm going to say that people here
• 16:54
  treat teachers really nice compared to us.
• 16:57
  Like we joke around.
• 16:59
  We made them like -- the thing that the teacher coming and everyone shutting up.
• 17:02
  That's not going to happen.
• 17:04
  Like we -- like we take like 20 minutes to shut up and actually see.
• 17:09
  I've been playing planes and throwing planes through the class around while the teacher is giving class.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER3: Well, I'm glad you don't do that here.
• 17:17
  That's good.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER5: We -- and here the tables are so good.
• 17:21
  People actually take care of their stuff.
• 17:23
  Like in Spain, you will see holes, names, drawings, like a chair with like that.
• 17:31
  You see? He's killing me.
• 17:33
  He's killing me. He doesn't want
• 17:35
  SPEAKER3: you to represent Spain that way.
• 17:36
  You know
• 17:37
  SPEAKER5: We have another good things.
• 17:39
  Like, I feel like the class.
• 17:40
  Like the relationship with classmates are way better because we, like, are close.
• 17:44
  We are like a family group.
• 17:46
  And we normally protect each other.
• 17:48
  We normally like instead of here, they don't care about their classmates.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER6: What what she said about the classmates, because at least in Spain, what you do in school, it's you go, just like you have
• 18:02
  the same class.
• 18:03
  Like you go to one class and the teachers are the ones changing class too.
• 18:09
  Yes. So you stay with the people with the same people most of the day.
• 18:13
  And like this usually change like every like your classmates change every four years, more or less, because you change the like,
• 18:22
  which path of education you want to go.
• 18:25
  So that changed. But like since I don't know, six to 10th grade, maybe I've been with the same people in the same class for all
• 18:35
  the four years.
• 18:36
  So like I know them really well and that's something that it changed here.
• 18:40
  So that's why we have maybe like a really good relationship with our classmates.
• 18:44
  Yes.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER3: That makes a lot of sense because the students stay and the teacher comes in, right?
• 18:49
  And here the teacher stays and students move around and when they move around, they mix.
• 18:54
  So that makes a lot of sense.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER6: Like they told us this at the beginning, like "you're probably not going to make friends in class because you go to one class and then you change to another
• 19:04
  one." So maybe you see hundreds of students in a day.
• 19:08
  And for example, in Spain, you see like the same 25 all the hours every day for four years.
• 19:14
  Yeah.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER4: I think that might be the difference because here you come, like in the place of the teacher.
• 19:20
  So I feel like there's more respect and it's like the teacher has like his room and their rules and you follow them.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER6: Instead of the. Yeah.
• 19:28
  Having the teacher having his own room or the students have his own room and the teacher is the one coming.
• 19:34
  In Europe,
• 19:35
  SPEAKER4: like the teacher is coming in the classroom.
• 19:37
  So it's like, yeah, easier to get like messy and stuff like that.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER5: But we still have worse tables and worse -- like here, they're actually comfy.
• 19:45
  No,
• 19:45
  SPEAKER6: yeah. The chairs in Spain are terrible.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER3: It's wonderful to hear our chairs feel comfortable.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER5: I don't know, in Germany and Italy, but in Spain our chairs break our hair, like it's -- Okay.
• 19:59
  You have to put like, tape on them so your hair doesn't pull;.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER3: They have like, little screws in the back that your hair gets stuck on.
• 20:04
  Yes, like, I remember that from when I was a kid here.
• 20:08
  So anything else that you guys want to add to that?
• 20:10
  SPEAKER8: Like in Italy? Teacher are really strict and really friendly and it looks like they like hate their job.
• 20:21
  And also I will say that they are like usually like old.
• 20:26
  So maybe they way of teaching doesn't really fit with our idea of school.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER3: Oh, that's interesting.
• 20:33
  And do you feel that's different here?
• 20:35
  SPEAKER8: Yeah, like, yeah, there are more
• 20:39
  SPEAKER4: uh, younger
• 20:41
  SPEAKER8: uh, teachers. And I remember also when I came here the first day, my history teacher like showed like a PowerPoint, like her house and her husband and
• 20:51
  the dogs. And I was like, "Um, okay." I never saw that before.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER3: Really? Yeah. Okay.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER8: Yeah. Yeah. They do, like, keep their personal life for themselves.
• 21:00
  Yeah. Like they will not say anything.
• 21:02
  Even, like, the first name we'll not know it.
• 21:05
  Most of the time.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER3: Well, that's interesting because I know it's really important to our teachers to develop positive relationships with their students.
• 21:14
  And so that feels like that might be something that was new to you here.
• 21:19
  So what would you what advice would you give other students who are sitting at home right now, just like you were sitting at home and they're wondering whether
• 21:27
  or not to do a study abroad program.
• 21:29
  What would you say to them?
• 21:32
  That -- do it.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER8: Do it. Do it.
• 21:35
  Yeah.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER6: Another great year like you can.
• 21:40
  For me, it's the best year of my life by far.
• 21:42
  I don't know for the rest, but like it's -- even though maybe you don't end up liking it, it's you need this experience and more.
• 21:50
  In our age, we are like close to being independent and having that.
• 21:57
  It's it's also helped with that because you don't have your father's your parents to be there all the time.
• 22:03
  So yeah, just to help you become independent.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER3: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER5: I will say what Coline said also, like when you come to the high school, I know everyone says that and it's hard, but you can not wait to someone be your
• 22:15
  friend. They already have their group of friends and they don't need you -- like you are not giving them anything they don't already have.
• 22:23
  So you have to be the one being like, If I want friends, I have to go and get friends because people will come and talk to you, but they won't like,
• 22:33
  "Hey, do you want to hang out?
• 22:34
  Hey, do you want to come to my house?" No.
• 22:36
  You have to go to them and be like, "Hey, do you want to like, I don't know, go do something?
• 22:41
  Go for a coffee?" And for the first month, I think it was, I didn't do it.
• 22:45
  And I was like, alone.
• 22:46
  And it was like down parts where you are like, crying and you're like, "Oh my God, I'm alone.
• 22:51
  I do not have anything to do." And for example, now, if I'm alone, I don't have anything to do.
• 22:56
  I write every single person.
• 22:57
  I call every single person.
• 22:59
  And I never maybe never talked to them in my life.
• 23:02
  But I will say like, just do it.
• 23:04
  Like, then you're going to regret it because you will be the last month being I haven't made any single friends.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER3: So you're saying be outgoing?
• 23:11
  SPEAKER5: Yeah, yeah, I know it's hard.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER3: Like.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER8: I know like most of my friends, I just, like, stand up on my chair and just, like, directly talk to them and like, "Hi, I'm an exchange student" and just you
• 23:22
  just have to be mindful of it.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER3: So you're saying just do it, you'll gain independence and it's important to reach out to people and be outgoing.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER4: Yeah, I would also say do it for one year.
• 23:33
  There's like a thing you could a lot of people think about like half of a year because it's not that long.
• 23:37
  But I feel like -- I hear that a lot before I went there.
• 23:41
  People also say that like after half of a year, it's like you start like feeling at home and you start making that connections and then you like started
• 23:49
  like, really enjoying it.
• 23:51
  So I would like tell what to do longer than half of a year.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER8: It goes so fast too.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER4: Yeah, yeah.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER5: I feel the best part was after Christmas.
• 23:58
  Yeah. Like Christmas was.
• 24:00
  Yeah. And then Christmas.
• 24:01
  Perfect.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER3: Really? All right.
• 24:04
  So I think people would be really interested in hearing what you were doing when you get home.
• 24:10
  What's next for you?
• 24:13
  Does anyone want to share that?
• 24:15
  SPEAKER4: I get scared going home.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER8: Yeah. Everyone does.
• 24:19
  I kind of want to go home because I miss home.
• 24:22
  At the same time, I don't want to leave because I know that it's never going to
• 24:27
  SPEAKER4: be -- I'm never going to be
• 24:29
  SPEAKER8: like this again.
• 24:31
  So.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER3: And when you get home to Italy, what will you do?
• 24:35
  You still have school?
• 24:36
  SPEAKER8: I have one more year of high school.
• 24:38
  And then, I don't know.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER6: For me, like it's going to be also like a new experience because after this, I'm going to college.
• 24:52
  So it's going to be also again, like start something from zero and go again.
• 24:58
  So I don't know.
• 25:01
  I don't want to leave. That's the first, like -- if someone is listening to this and want to know how like --
• 25:10
  SPEAKER3: Help you stay here?
• 25:11
  Yeah.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER6: I want to pay my college for me or something.
• 25:17
  I don't care what I have to do.
• 25:19
  But yeah.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER3: College is next?
• 25:23
  Okay.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER5: I have the same problem as Jaime.
• 25:25
  Like I call my mom every single week and I always try to convince her.
• 25:29
  Like I cried, begging her to not bring me back home.
• 25:34
  Like, I don't want to go to my life in Spain.
• 25:37
  Like, it was basically studying and I hated it.
• 25:41
  So I -- That's the last thing I want.
• 25:43
  Like, I don't want to get in that plane.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER3: But if you go home, is college your next step?
• 25:47
  SPEAKER5: Yeah, but I don't want to go home.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER3: You've made that clear.
• 25:51
  I'm.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER5: I'm call --I'm still.
• 25:54
  I'm still talking.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER3: I'm still
• 25:56
  SPEAKER5: talking. I'm still have two and a half months to convince her.
• 25:59
  I don't think it's going to happen.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER3: It sounds like she's staying firm on you here.
• 26:03
  Yeah, but I
• 26:04
  SPEAKER5: even texted in the whole group of my family being like, "okay, maybe my grandpa will like," you know, because my grandpa is always, always in my side or my
• 26:12
  aunt. And everyone said no, like every single person, I'm like, okay.
• 26:20
  Well, it's neither one Spain.
• 26:23
  So if anyone can do like a signed paper to send my mom or a video of everyone saying that, why should I stay in America?
• 26:32
  SPEAKER4: You should start a campaign.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER6: Like we can go a couple of months to like say hi to all the family.
• 26:40
  And because we also miss them, it's not like we don't care about them.
• 26:44
  Or we also give them two months or whatever and then go back.
• 26:47
  Okay.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER3: What about the rest of you?
• 26:52
  SPEAKER4: Okay, I'm gonna go ahead.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER8: I feel like also like going home will be weird because, like, you have been like, here, like, without seeing people.
• 27:02
  And they have like, they went on
• 27:05
  SPEAKER4: with their life and.
• 27:06
  Yeah.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER8: Yeah. And we are different.
• 27:09
  I don't know. I am also going to college in September.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER3: And so that would be also an adventure.
• 27:19
  Yes, it will.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER8: Yeah, I would have to go
• 27:22
  SPEAKER4: to school in Germany for two more years because
• 27:25
  SPEAKER8: this year doesn't count to me for some reason, just because -- I don't know.
• 27:30
  German schools can be fun. But if I would have like if I would have
• 27:33
  SPEAKER4: any chance to stay here, I would do it.
• 27:35
  Like I don't miss home at all.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER8: I just don't want to go home and and go to school.
• 27:39
  It's just the last thing I want to do.
• 27:41
  But -- But two more
• 27:43
  SPEAKER3: years for you?
• 27:43
  SPEAKER8: Yeah, that's. That's just too long.
• 27:45
  But I probably don't have a choice, so.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER3: And I'm --
• 27:53
  SPEAKER4: I'm excited to go back.
• 27:55
  But I also know that it's going to be harder to leave here than it was to leave Germany, because I knew I'm going to come back to Germany and I'm like, my
• 28:03
  friends are still there because they're not going to college yet.
• 28:05
  So it's -- I'm going to like have similar people when I go back.
• 28:09
  Okay. And -- but I know that I'm not going to come back here.
• 28:12
  And the people want like most of the people are going to graduate this year and if I come back on like a lot of colleges and it's not going to be the same when
• 28:19
  I come back here. And I'm probably never going to live with my host family like -- like this.
• 28:24
  Like, so it's going to be harder to leave.
• 28:27
  But I'm also not that it's so.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER3: Interesting that.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER4: For you to be in Germany.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER3: For all of you, it was hard to arrive.
• 28:33
  So many adjustments.
• 28:34
  It took a while and now for many of you, it will feel hard to go home.
• 28:39
  Yeah, because this feels like home at the moment.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER5: I also will say I don't know about you, but like living away from your parents, you're basically alone by yourself.
• 28:48
  You do everything by yourself.
• 28:50
  And I think going back to your parents house is like a step back.
• 28:55
  Yeah, like, except calling.
• 28:57
  I think all of us go to our parents again and it's like, I love my parents, but it's a step back.
• 29:02
  It's like you got all the freedom.
• 29:05
  I feel -- I also my parents -- I had less rules in Spain, but I feel like more freedom.
• 29:11
  I don't know how to explain it.
• 29:12
  Like they're not here telling me "your grades, your grades, your grades, your grades, your grades." Or "you need to do this, this, this." It's like your life.
• 29:21
  And then I have to go back and they're going to be here.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER8: It's just weird. When you came here and started a new life, and now you have to go back to your old life.
• 29:30
  I think it's also going to be hard for our parents because they're going to see that we really grow for like a year or two and we're not really the same.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER3: That's very insightful.
• 29:39
  Yeah. Anything else any of you want to share with our listeners?
• 29:46
  SPEAKER4: Yeah, maybe. I don't know if someone's listening who maybe wants to host someone.
• 29:49
  I just want to encourage people to try it because I think it's such a nice experience for people to host and for the exchange students, and I think that's
• 29:59
  really cool about America. Like I said before, that in a lot of countries they get money and in the US they mostly don't get at all money.
• 30:06
  And I think that's so incredible that like there are so many host like families who do that for free and it is like they don't have like a,
• 30:16
  like they have to pay for you for food and stuff like that and but it's such a nice experience I think.
• 30:22
  And yeah, I kind of forget it.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER3: I love that you're encouraging people to be host families.
• 30:28
  It sounds like everybody -- it sounds like everybody had a good experience with their host families and that's really nice to hear.
• 30:34
  Anything else to share?
• 30:37
  SPEAKER8: I know how hard like I understand, it's really hard to let your child go far away.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER4: But you're
• 30:44
  SPEAKER8: giving them a gift.
• 30:47
  Yeah.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER5: That's lovely. And I, I think Americans should try going also to an exchange.
• 30:53
  Yeah. Because I feel like.
• 30:55
  I don't know they they need to experience something else.
• 30:59
  So many are close minded.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER9: No, but I actually think.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER5: Some of them would actually be good because they, they like then they go to college and they go by themselves and they go crazy.
• 31:09
  So I think like exchange.
• 31:12
  I know. Like it's expensive.
• 31:13
  I'll say people who don't get scholarships.
• 31:16
  But I think it's experience like they also like because I feel Americans basically don't do it.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER8: You almost after that like like see the world kind of different.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER5: Yeah and you appreciate more things.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER8: Yeah you appreciate more your own time.
• 31:33
  Um.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER5: Well, I don't know about that, but, like, I feel like I don't for sure what my goals are, but I'm more grateful about things.
• 31:40
  Yeah. Like I've started paying my own stuff that my parents always pay, and I'm like, "Oh, my God." Like, I will go to buy like, toothbrush and
• 31:50
  toothpaste that are things that I actually need and maybe I spend $50 on things for like needs.
• 31:57
  And I'm like, "my mom pays this for me, for my brother, for her and for my dad." Like, I don't know, I appreciate more.
• 32:05
  For example, seeing like, I never really pay attention to how much like it costs flying to here, like until I had to pay like the ticket to Hawaii.
• 32:13
  And I was like, "Oh, my God." So I feel like I appreciate everything more and I'm more grateful because it's like now I'm actually understanding how much you
• 32:23
  do for me. And I never, like, actually knew.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER3: Wow. All right.
• 32:29
  I'm I'm going to end it with that because that was pretty cool.
• 32:32
  Thanks for sharing your experiences today and for sharing this whole life -- Life changing experience.
• 32:40
  Right? Just like you said, I really appreciate your insights.
• 32:44
  So we're better because you're here.
• 32:46
  So thank you. Thank you.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER1: Remember that you can find links to
• 32:52
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• 33:01
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• 33:04
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• 33:09
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• 33:11
  We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.