Imagine spending a year overseas, far from your family and any missing any sense of comfort once afforded to you. Although this may sound daunting, for many foreign exchange students their time spent abroad is an unforgettable experience.
Foreign exchange programs were initially created to provide academic and cultural experiences to students through an overseas education. These programs can be organized by the schools themselves, nonprofit organizations, or government-sponsored programs or scholarships. To be accepted into these programs, students generally need to have a 2.5 GPA or above and display some sort of proficiency in their host country’s language as per the International Student Exchange. Depending on the program’s benefits, students can also be provided with financial support in their journey overseas. All students are given a host family which provides exchange students with a safe and welcoming introduction to their new environment. Regardless of the details regarding their program, all foreign exchange students get the opportunity to broaden their academic and cultural horizons.
Starting this semester, Green Hope welcomed a new foreign exchange student, Alvise Farinati (‘26). While many may think the transition to life in a new country would be the hardest part of moving here, Farinati said that the journey was his biggest challenge. He explained, “Due to bad weather, I missed a plane connection and had to go to a hotel for a night.” Despite the language barrier, Farinati’s determination to improve his language skills, aided by Google Translate, makes making friends the easiest part of living in America.
Outside of school, Farinati has become quite comfortable with his daily routine living in America. “Every day after school, I take the bus and go to my house and my host family, I talk to my host mom so I learn the language better, I can help her with dinner and after, I watch TV with her and that is my usual day.” Farinati also enjoys many other activities that North Carolina has to offer. He detailed his hobbies saying, “I like golfing with my host father, I like basketball and soccer, and I like tennis. If I have time, I like going to watch the sports at Green Hope.”
While transitioning to life in America has been fairly easy for Farinati, the differences in schools have been quite an adjustment for him. “School here is much bigger, schools in Venice are much smaller because in Italy they only have around 400 students in school. Students stay inside the room and teachers change classes. Schools in Italy don’t have a cafeteria or commons to eat lunch in, they eat in class. Italian students also get just 15 minutes to eat.”
While Farinati has a lot of time left in the school year, Green Hope has hosted a plethora of other foreign exchange students in the past, one of which is Anton Ascher. Ascher completed his time at Green Hope in June of this year and now provides insight into the completed process as an exchange student and his experiences in the States. Like Alvise Farinati’s experiences so far, Ascher claimed “What was easy to adjust [to] was the daily life because I had an amazing host family who took good care of me and was super friendly!”
Now back home in Hamburg, Germany, Ascher goes into detail about the drastically different education system saying, “In Germany, you have a different schedule every day with about 13 different classes every week. Also, the kinds of classes are very different. Also, in Germany, you can’t select your classes. I really enjoyed picking classes in North Carolina, which I was interested in. My favorite class was definitely AP US Gov.”
The global differences such as Italy’s all-day classrooms and Germany’s 13 classes a week schedule provoke many potential foreign exchange students to consider studying abroad. Back in Germany, when asked about his overall experience in America, Ascher said, “I basically had a year of positive experiences because I got to see a lot of the US and got to experience so many different things. In school, I mainly enjoyed football games. Friday night lights are just awesome.”
As for his Green Hope-specific memories, Ascher reflected on the people he met and his classwork saying, “ I mostly miss the people [at Green Hope], but I also miss the sports, school spirit and working digitally via Chromebook.” Having completed his time abroad, Ascher uses his experience to advise anyone interested in going overseas claiming that, “The advice I can give is simply, ‘just do it’. It’s going to be challenging and you’re going to get pushed out of your comfort zone but it’s going to be worth it. You are getting such a unique experience and you’re going meet amazing people. An exchange year is not just a year of your life, it’s a life in a year!”
The immersion program enhances the diversity within the Green Hope community and provides a unique experience for all students as well as ensuring that the foreign exchange students receiving a valuable education.
