“We hosted a girl [named] Pauli from Chile and basically my entire family is involved in hosting and study abroad programs. Hosting Pauli made me want to go on exchange,” CHS senior Seth George said.
Pauli Tapia was an exchange student at CHS from Chile last school year. Among her host family was George, who recently returned from his own trip abroad after living for 11 months with a family of four in Denmark.
Tapia was part of what inspired George to study abroad. Throughout his entire life, his family has been connected with various exchange programs around the world. Denmark has always held a special place in George’s heart not only because he has family there, but also because his aunt recently hosted a student from Denmark.
Once he arrived in Denmark, George immediately connected with his host family. He stayed with a younger sister and brother who were 13 and nine respectively. In particular, he bonded with his father on a special level.
“My host dad was adopted from South Korea, so that was a really cool experience for me. Another Asian adopted into an all white family [was] a cool way to relate with him,” George said, whose host family even introduced him as their new son when he was around their family and friends.
George was welcomed into not only his new family, but also his hosts’ extended family. His host grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins welcomed him with open arms.
Others embraced George by welcoming him to a different type of family – his school.
“Luckily, my classmates wanted to be my friend,” George said. “I know a couple of exchange students who weren’t as fortunate.”
George highlighted many of the differences between the school systems in America and Denmark.
“On the first day of freshman year, [students] are put with 25 or 30 other people and are with them for [an] entire high school career, so [groups become] really close,” George said.
Not only were the classes different, but the teacher system was different as well. George said, “The normal day was 8:00 am to 3:30 pm. However, if you had a teacher who couldn’t show up that day, you wouldn’t show up. And each class was 75 minutes long, so I could have three hours off one day and then a jam-packed day the next.”
In addition to the school system, the atmosphere of his Denmark school was drastically different from that of CHS.
“My Danish school was all brick and no color and I went during the dark period, meaning that almost the entire day was pitch black. I did miss all of the light and color at CHS,” George said.
The sports in Denmark were also different from the ones in the United States.
“You would join teams for your city, not your school and you would play different cities,” George said. “My best friend played disc golf and was a top 15 player. My other friends played handball. Swimming and soccer were also really popular.”
As his school year in Denmark concluded, George’s transition back to the United States was not easy. When he first returned home, he found himself feeling nostalgic about strange places.
“The scent of my garage – I missed it, which was weird,” George said. Returning to school at CHS was a further challenge.
“My English is worse than it was and I am still working on it after a month of being here. I also feel behind on some school work,” George said.
Despite this somewhat shaky transition, however, George knows that he would study abroad all over again if given the chance. Denmark opened his eyes to a new world around him.
“I have definitely matured. Being immersed into a foreign country really opened my eyes to other people and other cultures,” George said. “I was friends with all sorts of different people.”
Not only did George learn more about himself, but he also built a bigger family composed of all sorts of people.
“I look at each group – my host family, my Danish friends, and my exchange students – all as family, and I don’t think many people can say that.”