Exchange an eye-opening education

PALMER — Going on a foreign exchange opens the door to teenagers all over the world.

Students who are accepted will be shipped off to places like the Czech Republic, Japan, Brazil, Mexico or India. This year, the Palmer/Wasilla area received inbound students from various places like Kyrgyzstan, Finland and China.

Yuting Yang, an inbound student from China, and Sara Zwink, a rebound (returning) student of Brazil, were happy to share their experiences. Yang is a junior from Chongqing, China.

“It’s a big city with a lot of people, very hilly and many rivers, and very many shopping malls,” she said.

Yang arrived in Alaska early in August and was surprised at the lack of public transportation.

“Here, we do not have public transportation,” she said. “It’s very hard, I have to beg people for a ride. In China, we have buses and tiny ships and cheap taxis.”

The lack of transportation was not the only thing that Yang is adapting to. School in America is very different for her.

“(In) my school we are forced to learn certain classes, we cannot pick,” she said. “The teacher also changes the classrooms. School in China lasts very long, from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.”

Zwink, a rebound student who returned to Alaska in August, regards her trip to Brazil as “one of the best experiences of my life. I went to Joao Pinheiro, a small farming town in the middle of Brazil with around 30,000 people. Everyone was very friendly and it was neighborly, but the different levels of poverty were so surprising. For example, there would be a street lined with mansions, but there would also be homeless people living in front of them. It was shocking to see how the classes were so intertwined.”

School in Brazil was very contrary to the norm in America, she said.

“It was a k-12 kind of school, but we stayed in the same classroom,” she said. “The teachers moved with all their stuff, so we stayed with the same 30 kids all year. The teachers were very friendly and we sometimes called them ‘aunt’ — you know, if you were really close to them.”

Yang realizes that keeping in contact with family is very important.

“Sometimes we do Internet chat, sometimes e-mail, and I call them once a week,” she said.

Zwink also kept in contact with her family.

“I Skyped, Facebooked and e-mailed my family, but it was kind-of random, like sometimes it would be three times a week and sometimes it would be once a month,” Swink said.

Despite wanting to visit other places, neither Yang nor Swink would change their experiences.

“I had my heart set on Europe, but after Brazil I know I wouldn’t change a thing if I got to do it over again,” said Swink.

Yang’s father wanted her to go to the East Coast, but she already loves Alaska.

“I am very happy I came here,” she said.

Foreign exchange is a great opportunity for teenagers. It can provide job opportunities, college scholarships and friends all over the world.

Darby Salmon is a sophomore at Palmer High School.