6. America and Americans

[August 2015]

I feel free.

Everything is new, and nothing from what I do, feel, see, hear, eat, read, or watch, would I associate with home. I'm the same person who has suddenly found everything around new. I have found myself new.


Certain sights, sounds, and sensations will be always associated with the fall of 2015. Listening to the country music which I've expected myself to hate, and which I actually had enough of at some point, but which I also learned to love after a few weeks. The sight of brown hills surrounding entire Yakima Valley and its lack of green. The sounds of water sprinklers and the animals raised on our farm, including sheep and chickens. The smell of a book I bought at the airport in Seattle. The taste of chicken burrito from Taco Bell and of Hot Pockets, my first favorite American snacks. Sound of a microwave which we never use at home and which is a normal thing in the States. Even the unfortunate smell of the litter box used by four cats living in our house.

5. Language barrier and activities

[August 2015]
Not without a reason have I out together the aspects included in the title. Especially in the first weeks of an exchange program, they are tightly associated with one another. 

A lot of people have been telling me that my English is very good. Yeah, to be honest, even before going abroad my language was good enough to speak it more or less fluently, and to understand most of it when watching movies, reading books, or talking to others - in English. 

Facing up the same language spoken by natives is a little bit of a confusion. The first impression is that they speak fast, and I can't understand a word. Plus, the vocabulary they use is slightly different from the one I've been taught in school. It's the jargon, but it's also a sensitive difference between British English and American English. 

4. First time at Davis High

[August 2015]

Walking into Davis High School for the first time was like entering a hospital, or a clinic rather. A very new, very modern and very well-equipped clinic. Well, two of these features are correct. The school is indeed brand new and it is well-equipped. 

A. C. Davis High School. One of two high school belonging to Yakima School District, capable of holding something around 2400 students and more than 200 staff members. It's been renovated for last couple years and the fall I am to become a student there, the renovation is to be completed. 

3. Discovering Yakima

[August 2015]
Yakima Valley. A piece of land surrounded by hills spread and high enough to isolate it from the more friendly climate of the Pacific Coast. What I mean by friendly is basically cooler and more humid, for this is what I'm longing to once I find myself in Yakima. This part of the state is pretty much a desert, with the air being hot and dry and the sky cloudless. The only green patches of land are the lawns of people's properties that are being hydrated by water sprinklers.

I feel as if I found myself in some sort of a movie, though I can't really say what kind of movie it would be. It's neither a western, nor an American comedy, but something makes the town feel very American even though I've never had a chance before to shape my view on what 'American' actually means. Or had I? After all, I'd read couple books before I came over, and I had explored the neighborhood in Google View, so I sort of knew what to expect.

From what I see, there is only houses; I don't see any blocks of apartments. Buildings are all spread out, making the city feel really flat, especially due to brown hills surrounding it all the way around. There's also this specific feeling of space. However, I dislike the high-voltage lines dangling messily low above the streets. Something about them makes a rather depressing impression.

It's hard to spot a property or a public place, such as school, restaurant, or even a store, that wouldn't have an American flag hanging from above its entrance or waving on a high mast. Something tilts in my heart, for I finally know for sure that I am in the United States indeed. Apart from Star-Spangled Banner, there's some other flags which I don't recognize. I am yet to. 

Taking opportunities

What I repeat extremely often (perhaps way too often, I'm afraid) is that an exchange program is a unique opportunity to gain a whole bunch of skills that teach not only how to live, but also how to live successfully. I admit it, I have no comparison with other nations, but I believe that Americans are one of the most wonderful people to be encountered by foreigners. The way I see it, they have developed a surprisingly powerful and effective mentality of faith, support, positive thinking, and even a hint of specific courage.

In this post I'd like to focus on catching opportunities, which is something I have learned long before I have departed for the exchange program. After all, the program itself was an opportunity which I was given, while a lot of people out there haven't been.

I cannot say there was anything about my life from before the exchange I would ever regret, maybe except for one thing - at times it felt a bit boring. I used to thoughtlessly go through life, not really knowing yet what I would like to do in the future. To say that I wanted to 'change my life' would be way too much; I just thought that an exchange program may give me a chance to simply see and experience something outside the little world I'd always stuck to.

What inspired me to become an exchange student

I have already begun to tell the story of my exchange program, but I've forgotten to include what's critical - an introduction. How did I become an exchange student? What were the reasons I decided to go? What opportunities did I see and what obstacles did I meet?

For nine years of my schooling, I hadn't even heard of such a thing as an exchange program; or if I had, I don't really remember it. It was nothing I would get interested in, it was nothing I would have ever taken seriously into consideration.

Not unless I went to high school. One day at the beginning of the school year, something pushed me to take a look into my class' gradebook. (We still used paper gradebook back in the day. Now it is entirely replaced by the on-line version). Curious, I took a peek into the class' roll. There was a name of a girl who never showed up at school, yet who was registered as one of our students. Right by her name there was a note: "Trip to the USA."

Intrigued, I searched and read a few blogs and websites concerning exchange programs. But it's my mom who I need to give credit to, for it was her who had initially got into the thing much more than I had. She did a research and ignited such a thought in my head: "Why wouldn't it be something for me?"