International students studying abroad at Mount Si
November 25, 2009
By Laura Geggel
Three of Mount Si High School’s seven exchange students (from left) Michelle Freyer, Florence Servais and Abdul Rahman Albasbishi hang out at International Night at the high school By Laura Geggel
After a lifetime of watching American movies and listening to American music, seven exchange students from around the world decided to get a taste of life in the Snoqualmie Valley.
The students, hailing from Bahrain, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Norway said they enjoyed Wildcat life, in spite of its differences from their native lands.
“It’s completely different, but it’s very cool to live the American life,” said Michelle Freyer, a student from Germany.
Freyer decided to study abroad after years of writing to her pen pal, Mount Si High School student Dannah Parsons. Writing in English helped her master the language and Freyer said she only had trouble confronting intimidating biology words in her Mount Si science class.
Even though he has spoken English since preschool, Abdul Rahman Albasbishi, who goes by Hamani, said he has also had a few hang-ups in the classroom. Albasbishi comes from Bahrain, an island country off the coast of Saudi Arabia. He applied to study abroad after deciding to dive headfirst into an English-speaking country.
“Somebody came to my school and said, ‘if you’re good at English, you should apply,’” Albasbishi said.
Florence Servais, a student from Belgium, had a similar experience.
“I decided to come here because I like speaking English,” Servais said. “I wanted to come to America. It’s the most famous country in the world.”
Still, life in America has its differences. In Europe, teenage life is more independent. Servais and her friends would go downtown if they wanted to go dancing, she said. Here, the school organizes the dances and sends everyone home at midnight, instead of at 3 a.m., the normal time people would go home after a night out in Belgium, Servais said.
But she liked the school spirit and community at Mount Si. In Belgium, students who play sports have to join independent leagues as their schools don’t have sports teams. Even staying after school to use the weight room is something unique to American schools, Servais said.
She and the other exchange students said they could barely wait to experience homecoming. School dances are famed in America, with Hollywood glamorizing prom in its films. Freyer was so excited, she wished her mother could have been there to see her, she said.
“It was amazing because we don’t have dances in Germany,” Freyer said.
“Homecoming was really great,” Servais said. “I danced all through the night.”
On the school front, Freyer said her course load of six classes at Mount Si was significantly less than her schedule of 12 classes at her German school. Like some of the other exchange students, Freyer said her school day started later and ended earlier in her homeland – that the work was harder and there was less homework compared to life at Mount Si.
“This one is so easy,” Albasbishi said. “You guys are playing here.”
But Freyer said she didn’t mind the longer school days or the extra homework and Albasbishi said he liked the larger variety of classes Mount Si had to offer, such as photography and engineering design. Servais also said the Mount Si teachers were “cooler.”
“You can speak with them during a test,” Servais said. “Sometimes we ask them what they did during their weekend.”
In Belgium, Servais said she would have to find an outside tutor if she did not understand the course work. At Mount Si, she can stay after school and ask teachers questions.
The students have found other differences, especially with the food and transportation options.
In Germany, people tend to use fresher food, Freyer said.
“It’s not that fresh here,” Freyer said. “People usually eat frozen food or fast food.”
Claudia Baumann, another student from Germany, said her school in Germany does not even have a cafeteria since they get out of class in time for lunch.
As for transportation, “the people here use more cars than we,” said Freyer, who said it took her 1.5 hours by bus to get to Seattle.
Albasbishi said Bahrain is such a small country that he can walk everywhere, although he didn’t recommend walking in the summertime. Most days it tops 100 degrees Fahrenheit and in the summer months, the thermostat goes to 120 degrees. He noted another difference between Snoqualmie Valley and Bahrain: last year in Bahrain it rained a total of two days, he said.
Even with all of its challenges, such as learning American English as opposed to the British English she learned growing up in Germany, Baumann said she was glad to spend her year abroad in Snoqualmie Valley.
“I just love the American life, the culture and how nice everyone is,” Baumann said.
Laura Geggel: 392-6434 ext. 221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com. Comment at www.snovalleystar.com.
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