Chicago Photography Club
An exchange student at age 17
An exchange student at age 17
by Elaine Abonal
It almost feels as if it was yesterday when I was on my own in a plane without really knowing what to expect but excited about what the future held for me. Now I back home with a lot of memories, emails to answer, and a lot of stories to share. Do not even know where to start now I am writing about my experience of being an exchange student in Appleton, Wisconsin for a year.
Well, I wanted to be an exchange student during my whole high school life. I read about the summer programs in a brochure from IFS, and then I thought to live somewhere else for a while and have friends of another country would be the best thing in the world. It would be on my own, I have my own adventure of Indiana Jones, and fulfill my dream of having something different. Soon, at the end of my senior year, Mom and I were applying to IFS and decided that a whole year I would be much more immersive and make the experience much better. I had meetings on weekends about rules, how to survive, nostalgia, etc. Then I received an email. I had a host family! Next thing I knew, had a flight booked.
I was so excited and happy and I was telling all my friends about it. Wisconsin I was researching in books and online. Compared with what I saw on TV and what I experienced when I traveled to places like Los Angeles, California with my family, Wisconsin was different. It was more of agricultural land and the field. I lived in Appleton and its population was about 70,000 and thought it was a small town compared to our Manila. There was no traffic, only had an important commercial center, and everything was very close. I did not even know what to think of cold weather. I just bring long-sleeved cotton shirts me. But when winter came, I needed to get a coat. During winter, the sun set at 4pm and not rise until around September. There were days the temperature would go below zero and I had was about six layers of clothes just to keep warm. I did not even drying my hair before. I had to do every morning after taking a shower because if I did, my hair would freeze. What I liked the cold and snow was still able to ski. People were so excited for me and tell me all your snow stories (they do not have it in the Philippines). I've never skied in my life either, so I was excited and proud to learn.
I was placed with foster families in the larger world. They treated me like their own and are like real family elsewhere in the world. I had a foster mother, a foster parent, a brother and sister. Ben always be sweet and give me hugs and kisses. I loved every minute of it because I never had a younger brother before. Katie was fun to watch grow since began to be a teenager and always had stories in the bathroom we share. Through e-mails we established that I was going to call your Mom and Dad never used to call older people by their first names. I felt super loved. They made sure he had tuna in the pantry (and that was my favorite), embraced to me when I needed to be embraced, let me stay up late at night with my friends, and even let me have parties in the basement.
I went to an American co-ed public high school, and was a big adjustment coming from a private Catholic girls school. The school was new, everyone was different and was so diverse. Never I met so many kinds of people in one place. I was scared the first day of school. I do not know anybody, I lost since the school was huge, and people did not believe that I could speak in English every time my teacher said: And here's Elaine she is a foreign exchange student. But soon I started to feel comfortable. Funny how people are always surprised by how good I was to speak in English. They're like, Wow, not even speak better English than me. I loved answer citizens' questions like, So what do you do in winter? or "Where is Argentina? Not near South America somewhere? or How does it feel to have a coconut tree outside your house every day you nuts? I had the opportunity to take fun classes such as Spanish, photography and art, I met people with similar interests me and I have to go to field trips. My favorite was going to Chicago to see my favorite painting Starry Night by Van Gogh. I was a honorary member of the International Club and there was even a time when he was giving a talk on the Philippines by the school of the World Week and someone asked me to say something in Filipino. So I said, Magandang Umaga, ko ay ang pangal Elaine. They thought it was so good and people started clapping and giving me a standing ovation. Just by saying my name in Tagalog?
I made many friends and met so many people. I joined a youth group from the church, offered to a group of adolescents with cognitive disabilities, a team indoor soccer during the winter and girls track team during the spring. Friends took me out to movies, hockey games, restaurants, road trips, rock shows and concerts. One person even took me to see Incubus concert! I have to do my first prank American, who was writing about boys car pencil sores. Everyone was warm, open, and never hesitant to give hugs. I would say that as much as I missed my family and friends back home, I never was homesick because friends who made sure he was OK. Everyone was always there for me and help me with all the adjustments I had to do, like school, get rides, going out, shopping, going to prom, learning slang terms, everything. I will always remember the fun times you had with them.
One of the things I had to get used to enjoy and, finally, how the people rose up in my difference. The girls always said how lucky I was to have a year so and ask if I was going to tanning salons! I've never even heard of tanning salons since I got there! Some kids asked me how I got to be my hair so black. I was shy and surprised by how some guys were ahead. Unlike here, the men court girls. It is more informal. Finally, however I got used to it. I realized that kids from around the world are the same. I became really excited to be going out with all these cute boys, receiving calls, and exit. Hug someone of the opposite sex was not even a big deal, and it was something I liked. Exit opened my eyes to more similarities and differences in American culture. It was one of the times I was so proud to be Filipino. I was different, exotic and new.
Each month, I met other exchange students in our area. I made friends with people from Germany, Brazil, Netherlands, England, Hungary, etc. It was fun when we were together, because we have seen how language, color skin or height did not matter. We were all equal. He even bonds immediately because we were all going through the same exchange students so we talked on differences in the home, school, and countries out. I learned a lot about other cultures, and even came to share mine. I remember cooking of dressing for a Christmas party. I was stressed about it, but everyone loved him!
Being away for 10 months and lives alone in a world completely has taught me many different things. I grew up and my perspective has changed in ways you never imagined. Now I can say that I am independent, I thank my family and friends here, more open to new ideas, assertive, and more sure of myself. Having my own adventure has taught me that anything is possible and I can do anything. It was the best moment of my life and I will always remember how to pick out and discover what the world has in store for me was life changing and is something that always appreciated.
By Elaine Abonal
Article Featured in: Seventeen Magazine, Philippines
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