NPHS welcomes new foreign exchange students
A loud hustle and bustle filled the airport, muffling the sound of Riana Thur, sophomore, and Victoire Thomas’, junior, beating hearts. Excitement sparked as they prepared to travel to California where they would spend the 2022-2023 school year studying abroad. Thur flew from Switzerland and Thomas from France in hopes that this year will be filled with the exhilaration of meeting new people, exploring all that California has to offer and improving their English.
After Thomas attended a conference at her school three years ago, she was inspired to go on an exchange year. “First you have to find a program, so my program is Education First [EF]. Once you get a program you fill out an application about what you like, what you don’t like, and like lots of questions,” Thomas said. “Then the program sends your application to potential host families in the U.S., then one family chooses you and then the high school [has] to accept you.”
Thur hopes to create friendships that will last even after she returns to Switzerland, however, she has noticed differences in the U.S. that make it challenging. “It’s difficult to make friends because everybody has different classes and after class everyone goes a different way,” Thur said. “In Switzerland, you have a fixed class where you move with the same 20 people the whole day.”
Incoming freshmen often hope high school will be like the films, and for Thomas, school in California is. “The high school here is like in the movies because you have different groups of people. You have the athletes and all of these groups so it’s actually kind of funny,” Thomas said. Another societal difference Thomas has noticed is the emphasis of manners. “The culture here is really different, here you have to say please and thank you all the time. We do this in France, but it’s not that much,” Thomas said.
Owen Meli, sophomore, is Thur’s host brother. Meli has always found the idea of hosting exciting. “My parents had [Thur’s] mother as a foreign exchange student when they were younger, so we’ve just been connected that way. She reached out to us and asked to come out,” Meli said. “We do everything together like she goes out with us, she hangs out with our friends with us, [and] we’ve gone to the beach a few times.”
Although Thur is sufficient in English, a challenge she has to overcome is constantly needing to interpret directions. “I actually thought [the classes] were easier but now that I got here it’s not even that much easier [because] I have to translate everything first in my head,” Thur said.
Moving from one country to another is a daunting task, however sometimes hitting the ground running is the most effective way to adapt. “Just trust yourself and trust the process and it takes a long time to be totally comfortable and it’s totally normal. I’ve only been here for two weeks, but I knew that it’s not going to be easy everyday but you just have to trust the process,” Thomas said.
