{"id":6913,"date":"2023-06-05T08:39:14","date_gmt":"2023-06-05T15:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ehsfalconnews.org\/?p=6913"},"modified":"2023-06-05T08:39:16","modified_gmt":"2023-06-05T15:39:16","slug":"foreign-exchange-students-share-their-thoughts-about-ehs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ehsfalconnews.org\/index.php\/2023\/06\/05\/foreign-exchange-students-share-their-thoughts-about-ehs\/","title":{"rendered":"Foreign Exchange Students Share Their Thoughts About EHS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Foreign exchange juniors, from left, Claudia Ochayta Moreno, Libe Fernandez, Larissa Borris, Hannah Gwosc, Carol Hofmann, Ibrahim Menawi, and Sophomore Patrick Lepik. (Photo by EHS teacher Jon Guldager)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

*Falcon News note: Interviews were conducted after the students were here for two months. At the time of publishing students have been here for nine months. Student views may have changed.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elmira High School has eight foreign exchange students this year. The students are Larissa Borris, Ibrahim Menawi, Patrick Lepik, Carol Hoffman, Libe Fernandez, Claudia Ochayta, Hannah Gwosc and Shahjan Munir. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven of the exchange students were asked about their journey to the U.S. and the experiences that they have had here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shahjan Munir already wrote his own story about his experiences in the United States for Falcon News in October. See that story here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Junior Ibrahim Menawi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question: Where are you from Ibrahim?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Answer:  \u201c<\/strong>Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Why did you want to take an exchange year in the U.S.?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cTo try new things and travel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How was your first day of school?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cNice, better than expected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How was it different from what you expected?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> “I expected a more urban lifestyle, not the small town living.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Do you do sports here and how is it different?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: <\/strong>\u201cSoccer is more competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Junior Libe Fernandez<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Where are you from Libe?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cSpain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Why did you want to take an exchange year in the U.S.?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cTo improve my English, culture, and for fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How was your first day of school?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: <\/strong>\u201cWeird, different, exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How was it different from what you expected?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cI had to initiate.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She explained that she had to reach out to other people in order to make friends, instead of being welcomed.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cSmile- it\u2019s not easy being far away from your home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Junior Carol Hoffman<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Where are you from Carol?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: <\/strong>\u201cSpain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Why did you want to take an exchange year in the U.S.?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> “To learn English and meet new people\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How was your first day of school?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cBad, lost and lonely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How was it different from what you expected?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: <\/strong>\u201cThe teacher’s relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Do you do sports here and how is it different?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cI play volleyball and we don\u2019t have one season in Spain; it\u2019s all year long.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Sophomore Patrick Lepik<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Where are you from Patrick?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cEstonia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Why did you want to take an exchange year in the U.S.?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A<\/strong>: \u201cI thought it would be interesting and the people would be friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How was your first day of school?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cOverwhelmingly friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How was it different from what you expected?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cThe English teacher is fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Do you do sports here and how is it different?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cFootball and soccer, but it\u2019s bad here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Junior Larissa Borris<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Where are you from Larissa?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cGermany.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Why did you want to take an exchange year in the U.S.?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cTo improve my English, to be independent and for fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How was your first day of school?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cHorrible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How was it different from what you expected?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cI thought it was gonna be more fun.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Do you do sports here and how is it different?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: <\/strong>“I did soccer and it was fun. In Germany we don\u2019t have school spirit and we don\u2019t have practice every day.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: <\/strong>\u201cI miss German school.”<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Junior Claudia Ochayta<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Where are you from Claudia?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: <\/strong>\u201cSpain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Why did you want to take an exchange year in the U.S.?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cI wanted to learn English and wanted to have the American dream.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How was your first day of school?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: <\/strong>\u201cIt was weird and I didn\u2019t know anyone, so it was horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How was it different from what you expected?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cThe size of the school, it\u2019s very small. The people are different and the food is different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Do you do sports here and how is it different?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cI did volleyball and it was okay but now I\u2019m playing basketball and the coach is so nice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Junior Hannah Gwosc<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Where are you from Hannah?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cGermany.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Why did you want to take an exchange year in the U.S.?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cI wanted to improve my English and get to know the American way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How was your first day of school?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> \u201cInteresting and I got lost a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How was it different from what you expected?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: <\/strong>\u201cI thought the people would take initiative more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Do you do sports here and how is it different?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A:<\/strong> “I played volleyball. In Germany we have club sports instead of school sports.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this Q&A, the students reveal their opinions about their stay in the states<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":9332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6913","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-features","8":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ehsfalconnews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ehsfalconnews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ehsfalconnews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ehsfalconnews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ehsfalconnews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6913"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"http:\/\/www.ehsfalconnews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9438,"href":"http:\/\/www.ehsfalconnews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6913\/revisions\/9438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ehsfalconnews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ehsfalconnews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ehsfalconnews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ehsfalconnews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}