CHS student to spend junior year as exchange student in Budapest

WASILLA — They say Alaska is the Last Frontier.

But having lived all 16 years of his life here, Justin Harris had his sights set on a frontier further. Last December, that passion landed him in a room in Anchorage where that next frontier was to be chosen for him. Harris was hoping for a Scandinavian county, or Germany, or maybe Switzerland, but instead was handed Hungary.

“It definitely wasn’t on my list — it was a country I never really thought about,” said Harris, who instead of beginning his junior year at Colony High on Aug. 15, departs for Budapest two days later. “But I’m happy with it; I was good with wherever they wanted me to go. The whole idea is not going for the place; you’re going for the people.”

Harris will spend his junior year as an exchange student, sponsored by the Rotary International, and the Wasilla Sunrise Rotary Club.

It’s something he’s wanted to do since middle school.

“We had an exchange student from Switzerland and she gave a presentation about her experience,” Harris said. “From that day, it clicked that it was something wanted to do and was going to do. I saved up and worked as much as I could to save money.”

Harris said the methodology used to determine his destination at the Rotary’s Winter Meeting isn’t told to the exchange students, who belong to one of three categories: in-bound, out-bound (such as Harris), and rebound, those who’ve spent a year abroad and bring that wisdom to the process.

“I think it was language. Hungarian is very different. It’s only one of two languages in Europe that’s not Indo-European, but Indo-Uralic and I have a good background in languages,” said Harris, who’s studied German and Danish.

Harris has spent the better part of the last eight months trying to learn a language hardly spoken outside of Hungary and its population of 10 million.

“Finding resources is difficult; it’s not really useful anywhere else,” said Harris, who’s been leaning heavily on the website Duolingo. “Through Rotary, there are great connections, and there’s a nurse here who has a couple of patients who are Hungarian. I’ll have an opportunity to talk with them, and there was a girl from Hungary here on exchange and I speak with her on Facebook.”

Harris said he will be placed with a Budapest family with an architect for a father and art gallery owner for a mother. Their two sons are older, one of them attending University in Budapest.

As for school, Harris is headed to a sports academy with focus on Olympic-minded athletes, especially judo competitors. One such martial artist, Harris said, is competing at the Rio Games.

“It’s a way for aspiring athletes in the country, who do Junior Olympics, Olympics, or other national teams to dedicate more time to their sport,” said Harris, who runs track and plays football for Colony High, the latter a sport that doesn’t exist in Hungary. “I want to try out soccer, and I’m looking into Judo of all things.”

Harris said he was driven to take on world travel while still young because later in life, work obligations might get in the way.

“My family has always been into travel. Alaska is a great place to live, a lot of things to do here… but there’s a lot of perspective you can gain, even traveling in the U.S. of things that are so different. It boggles the mind to think how different things can be on the other side of the planet,” Harris said. “A lot of us live our lives sheltered in where we’re from and what we do, the day-to-day grind. But there’s a huge world out there and no one sees it all.”