Foreign exchange students get taste of American life

In addition to learning about marketing, math and English, a few students at Hickory High are getting lessons on American life this year.

Elena Beltza, Vorapat Vorapanya, David Herraiz and Adam Stepanek are all exchange students in Hickory as part of AFS Intercultural Programs. The program is an international, nonprofit organization designed to provide intercultural learning opportunities to students.

The students came to the United States in the middle of August and will leave at the end of June.

Vorapanya is from Thailand, Stepanek is from the Czech Republic and Beltza and Herraiz are from Spain.

"I wanted to go to the States since I was 9," said Stepanek. "My father promised we could go for a month for holiday, but we were never able to. I decided to come on my own through AFS."

Beltza said she had talked with a friend in California who convinced her it would be fun to try the AFS program.

"I was bored with the town and doing the same thing," she said. "In Spain, we think the U.S. is so cool."

Herraiz said he wanted to leave Spain. He also had a friend who came to the U.S. and had a good experience.

Vorapanya had several reasons to come.

"To be an exchange student is a big deal," she said. "I wanted to improve my English accent. This will also help me grow up."

Vorapanya is 16, the youngest of the four students. The other three are 17 and should technically be seniors.

"I would like to be a senior and graduate from this school, but it's not possible," Stepanek said.

In order to graduate from a high school in North Carolina, students must have four years of high school English.

Although they were all placed in the junior class, the three 17-year-olds are taking some senior-level classes so they will be on the same level as their classmates in their home countries.

When they first started school at Hickory High, the four exchange students did have to get used to a few things.

Vorapanya said she was not used to block scheduling. In Thailand, students have eight periods a day, she said.

Beltza said she wasn't used to such a large school. In Spain, there are only about 500 students in the high school, she said, not the 1,100 that are at Hickory High.

Stepanek said he liked the choices offered at Hickory High.

"I like to choose my subjects instead of having to study everything," he said.

He opted to take French, marketing, history of the 20th century and English III. Stepanek said he wanted the challenge of studying two languages while in the U.S. He wants to take advantage of every opportunity presented.

"I'm enjoying every second of staying here because we have just a year here," Stepanek said.

Beltza said she loves her time in the U.S., but there are days when she misses her family. On those days, she's glad she and Vorapanya were placed in the same host house together.

"We're so close," she said. "We're sisters."

While in the U.S., the four have done a lot of traveling. Vorapanya and Beltza have seen a lot of Virginia, including Thomas Jefferson's birthplace, Monticello. They soon plan to visit Washington, D.C.

"Everything's so pretty out there, with the hills," Vorapanya said. "I'm from the city, so I don't get to see places like that."

She said what she's really looking forward to, though, is seeing snow, something she's never seen.

It's one of the reasons she's glad she'll be staying in the U.S. over Christmas, which is required by AFS. Students are not allowed to go home for the holidays.

Herraiz has already seen the North Carolina mountains. He hopes to see more.

"I want to stay in the U.S. as long as I can," he said. "It's so different from home. We have all these Spanish and Moroccan people. Here, you have people from all over the world."

Stepanek has done the most traveling out of the four. He has visited Gettysburg and Philadelphia, Pa., and Washington, D.C. While in the D.C. area, he also toured Mount Vernon, George Washington's homestead.

"I want to visit as many places as I can and as many capitals as I can," he said.