A little over a year ago, Karli Reiter, a current senior at Olympia High School, boarded a plane to Barcelona, Spain. Reiter participated in Rotary International’s Exchange Student program during her junior year and stayed with a host family in Vilanova del Valles, Spain for nine months. During this time, she attended a Catalan school, met other exchange students and explored Spain. She chose this trip because she wanted to see the world in a different way and understand a different culture, as well as investigate the importance to her of being an American.
Most of Reiter’s time was spent in a Catalan town. This meant she was in the middle of a Spanish independence movement rooted in Catalonia, a region of Spain seeking to become their own country and where they speak the Catalan form the Spanish. This was one of the main differences she encountered while living in Spain.
Another disparity was the schooling. Reiter was in the Bachillerito stage of school: a two-year system in which you pick a track, such as science or humanities, and you take classes only in those fields. Reiter pursued economics and art. “There were some things I liked about their education system,” Reiter said, while explaining the process. “But there’s a lot of things I appreciate about American schools.” One of the aspects of American schooling she missed most was interacting with other students.
Each school day, Reiter sat through six hours of lectures with no group work. “They would just write on with chalk on the blackboard the entire day,” she described.
One of the only times students were given breaks was for smoking. “Everyone smokes tobacco. I think I was the only girl in my grade who didn’t smoke cigarettes,” Reiter said, as she described the social differences.
Adam Peters, an OHS student who went to Thailand on exchange last year, also noticed differences in foreign schools. Peters commented on how they “changed classes everyday, like college.”
One social contrast between Olympia and Thailand Peters noted was the pollution. There was less care for the environment and Peters described the streets as covered in garbage. Peters also commented on the difference in personal hygiene. In Thailand it was common for people to take three to five showers everyday, by simply dumping buckets of cold water on themselves.
Living with these differences can often lead to culture shock for exchange students. “Culture shock is something that’s really hard to describe. It’s more of an experience than just a description,” Reiter stated as she tried to explain the feeling.
A factor in Reiter’s culture shock as she adjusted to life in Spain was the difference in communication style. At least in principle, Americans typically think before they speak. Reiter felt this contrasted with her Spanish community. “Over there, they can say what they want, because that is their culture.” Reiter said this was an interesting difference between American and Catalan customs.
Interestingly, she didn’t just experience these feelings while in Spain. When she returned home to America, Reiter felt reverse culture shock, too. Being in different social circles at school, living at home with her family, and getting used to driving again all required time and adjustment.
Changing abruptly from one lifestyle to another is a challenging aspect of being an exchange student. But it allows students to understand other cultures and discover what they love most about home.
Hugs are what Reiter missed the most about Olympia. In Vilanova de Valles, greetings consisted of a kiss on each cheek. This contrasted with the American norm of hugging when you see a friend or family member. “For me, I don’t have any connection with a kiss on the cheek, so that was hard,” Reiter said.
As an active soccer player, Reiter missed the common participation of girls in athletics. The girls in her town didn’t workout much. To keep playing soccer, Reiter had to drive forty minutes to practice with a team of mostly younger girls.
She also experienced a new found appreciation for teachers in Olympia. Reiter explained how she noticed her teachers appreciation for their students when she returned. She missed how Olympia’s community in general was so grateful. “Olympia is just a lot more accepting of diversity and other people and cultures,” she reflected.
Peters missed aspects of home, too, such as the ocean, trees and the rain. He gained new gratitude for the common courtesies shown in our community, such as saying “bless you” when someone sneezes. He agreed with Reiter’s comments about the accepting culture of Olympia and expressed specific appreciation for the open-minded attitude of his city.
While Peters missed many things about home, he returned with a new sense of insight and understanding. “I decided to go on exchange because I wanted to experience what the world had to offer that didn’t exist in Olympia,” he stated. The exchange program was able to help him achieve this.
Reiter is also happy about her choice to go on exchange. As she reflected on what she learned through her year abroad, she sited an appreciation for the Catalan people. “They really believe in themselves. They are strong in who they are,” she admired.
Coming home to Olympia, both Reiter and Peters achieved their goal of understanding other cultures and were left with wonderful memories to last a lifetime.
