Exchange program not all fun
Think about challenges before going abroad

WINFIELD HIGH SCHOOL courtesy photo

Saki Mahlelis of Greece (second from left) with fellow Winfield High School exchange students Jesus Cruz (left), Pei Ling Du and Angie Villanueva.

By Saki Mahlelis
Winfield High School

Editor’s note: Mahlelis is a Greek exchange student at Winfield High School.

Who wouldn’t want to be a foreign exchange student, to go to a different country and spend a long time there? Many kids think that being an exchange student will let them go away from home, see something different and just feel free without parents.

It’s good to go to a foreign country. Kids who do this can better learn a language, go to a new school with new classmates and learn and live in a new culture. Foreign exchange students also have the opportunity to see how things are different in their new, temporary home country. They can see what is different about big holidays such as Christmas or Easter.

To see and live differences like those can be a great gift for the future of exchange students. Also the exchange students make new friends for life.

But many of those who decide to be a foreign exchange student think only about the good things that might happen to them during their stay in the host country. They don’t think about the fact that their host family is probably going to be totally different from their own family and that they will have to try to integrate into the new family and be open to those differences. They probably don’t really think about what it means to be separated from the people they love.

Because they can’t see, hug or just hang out with the people that they love, exchange students sometimes have unexpected hard times. Also, many foreigners don’t know how to appreciate the exchange students until they are out of reach. That doesn’t mean that these students can’t have a great time during the stay, though.

So, yes, it’s a good experience to be an exchange student, but kids who are interested in being one have to think seriously about it because it can also be a difficult experience.