Forest Grove is honored this year to be the host to five exchange students from two different continents and five different countries. Mickaelle and Tomas from Italy, Nancy from Japan, Arya from Turkey, Maria from Spain, and Jauke from the Netherlands. Each student has left their families, friends, and everything familiar to come to the United States to experience a new lifestyle. It is a daunting change for nearly everyone but especially for these kids. All of them are only in their junior year of high school.

When asked why she wanted to go on exchange Arya said, “I knew there was more than one culture in the world and I decided to learn about one, as well as teaching about my own. I was curious about what the people looked like, what they did in their free time, what they laughed at. I was excited to learn everything about a culture so it was a great opportunity for me.” All of the students held the same opinion; everything was becoming the same in their home country so they wanted to change. Many might be curious why somebody would want to go to the United States for an exchange, after all there is a whole entire world of other cultures. I was curious myself why someone would have the United States as their choice. Many said they wanted to better their English and that they loved American pop-culture. However, the “American lifestyle” is more than just High School Musical. What had they learned about American culture since their arrival? Nancy remarked, “There is so much diversity. I learn something new every day. In the United States, English, Spanish, and other languages are spoken. It’s so fascinating to me.”

It is a recurring theme that the exchange students have noticed how much diversity there is in the United States, which is ironic because so few Americans actually notice this diversity themselves. Saara Vihavainen is the president of the International Friends Club at Forest Grove High School. “Bringing cultures together and diversity into Forest Grove High School is important to me,” she said on why she kept the club together. It is important, especially for young people, to learn and be aware about other people and cultures.

I studied abroad my junior year in Turkey and remember very clearly the change one undergoes when immersed in a new culture. Exchange gives you the opportunity to leave your native culture and adopt a new one, to learn new customs and ways of life. It gives you the chance to live more than one life in your lifetime. However, this can also be achieved, to a point, by meeting with international people within your own country.

If you will be a sophomore next fall consider applying for the Rotary Youth Exchange scholarship which allows you to study abroad in a foreign country for ten months your junior year. If you are older, you can apply for programs like AFS (American Field Service), YES (Youth Exchange and Study), or NSLI-Y (National Security Language Initiative-Youth). There are a variety of programs, ranging from one year to a couple weeks in the summer. If you are interested in meeting international friends consider joining the International Friends Club which meets Thursdays after school in the cafeteria, or if you see someone in the hall say hello. They love to meet new people.