THE INSIDE STORY.

A Handbook for an Exchange Student.
by Nadya Dyachuk 

My congratulations! You have a chance to go to the United States of America for the whole year.
Are you scared? I know you have a lot of questions and who better to answer them than a person who already has been an exchange student?  Let me share my experiences with you.

As an exchange student, I also had to complete all the applications you are having troubles with now. I had to write a lot of essays about myself, describing how would I act in this or that situation.  I had to think and expect something - I didn't know what. Some of my expectations were wrong because they were based on stereotypes such as all Americans are rich, immoral or criminal.  However, a lot of the expectations turned out to be better than I thought. That is why I decided to make this handbook - to help you, future exchange student, understand the reality of your year to come.

When you come to the United States you might be scared of living with new people in a new country. You will ask yourself a lot of questions: How did I come here? Why did I come?  
Well, how did you come to the U.S. - by airplane of course.  Why? Why does a sixteen or seventeen year old teenager want to come to the U.S. for the whole year? The answers differ: to experience on American style of life, to improve skills in the English language or just to have fun. (Not including the chance you have to live independently without your parents for the whole year.)

All of the above is correct. To experience life in the United States, you said? Believe me, the U.S. will seem quite different from the country you life in. (As actually any place in the world is different from another one.) The United States has a lot of strange and weird things, like:
Duck crossing signs along with people crossing signs. (Not a bog difference, I might add.)
Did you know it is prohibited to carry any guns in any educational establishments in the U.S.? You also can "Adopt a highway" if you want.

The U.S. even uses a different unit to measure temperature than the rest of the world does. (No one knows why Americans do it; maybe they want to be different.) The U.S. also uses a different measurement system. There will be some things, though, which are the same as at home.  For example people are people everywhere, nature is nature everywhere, food is food.  Some food will be different though.  The United States of America has a varied number of restaurants: Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Jamaican, Indian and a lot of others.  You also will get used to eating in fast food places, which are situated all over the U.S. Some of the fast food places you already know; some of them you have never heard about before.

You will learn a lot about America and Americans. One of the things you'll learn is that Americans just love cars. They own a lot of cars. There are even signs for compact parking, so more cars can fit in one parking lot. Red cars, black cars, weird cars. Everybody drives cars sometimes even pretend ones.

The only way people move from place to place in the U. S. is by cars. That is, probably, a big difference from the place you live in!!! You will get used to traveling a lot, since people have "their own wheels" they like to travel. The U.S. is full of beautiful places to visit.

You also will have a lot of fun when going to such places as Washington DC, skiing in the Colorado Mountains, or spending a couple of days in New York City.

However, not all the trips will be like that. Some will be just usual, casual trips, like for example a trip to the grocery store. First it will be very confusing for you, but in a little while you'll get used to doing your chores. Do no expect your host parents to do everything for you. You will have to help them to do household chore; try not to forget to offer help to your host parents when they need it, because they will be a part of your family, part of your staying in the U.S., part of your life.  "After living for a year with my host family I feel that they are my real family. Not that I forgot my real family, but just now my family got bigger." said Claudia Kopittke, the exchange student from Germany.

Don't think that there is only you who feel anxiety about coming to the United State; your host parents gave been waiting for you since they knew you were coming. Your host family went through all the troubles you did: filled in the applications, passed some tests; waited anxiously for the answer. They do not expect you call them mother and father, but they are ready to accept you as a member of their family. From now on, you will be a part of their family. They will be just ordinary people, living in typical American houses.

If you happen to have a little host sister, or host brother, be willing to spend some time with them. It can be so much fun, if you only try.

Sometimes you fill feel homesick, thought. Don't think that you come to another country, live among all those people you have never seen before, and never even feel homesick. It is all right to feel homesick; don't be afraid of sharing with your host family. You can tell them how you feel, you never know what is going to happen, they might help you. However, do not forget that you have real parents. Do not forget to write and call them.

One of the fun things to do with your host family is to celebrate holidays. Americans like to celebrate holidays. One of the most favorite holidays is Halloween. You will have a lot of fun choosing your costume for the Halloween party. The Halloween party itself will be a lot of fun.

There are other holidays, which are also very important for Americans and will bring great pleasure. July 4, is the day of the U.S.A. independence. This day is famous for its fireworks. St. Valentine's Day, St, Patrick's Day, Mother's Day, Labour Day  and a lot of other holidays will make you smile and be happy. Do not forget to congratulate you host mother on Mother's Day.

Another big holiday is Thanksgiving, This holiday is to celebrate the beginning of the United States of America, but it turns out to be just a big dinner. On this day all the family gathers together and eats. The main dish of this day is turkey.

Right after the Thanksgiving dinner is finished, the Christmas rush begins. Christmas is probably the biggest holiday in the U.S.A. During this time people spend more money and energy then they did during the whole year. Every child and adult waits until Christmas morning, because this year Santa Claus will bring the best presents ever.

Also do not forget to call your parents on Christmas. Talk to your host parents about phone calls; do not expect them to pay for your expenses. You will have to budget your money yourself.

How you take care of you money is only your concern. It is really important that you learn to budget your money. When going shopping, do not forget that there is always another sale. It is also important to participate in all the activities with your friends, instead of just saving your money.

One of the tings you have to remember is that not everybody will be your friend. Be willing to go and talk to people even if you don't know them. You will be surprised how easy it is to make new friends by just coming and talking to them. It is very important that you don't lock yourself in your room and go outside only when going to school. You can have a lot of friends if you try.

Most of your friends will be from school. Before I came to the United States I thought that by the first day of school, I would have friends. However, I was wrong. Making friends takes time and effort. As Juan Ruiz, exchange student from Columbia told me, "It is not hard to make new friends. Just be sure in yourself, come and talk to people; they will be willing to talk to you and be your friend.  Of course, it depends on a person, but I think that everybody can make friends"

School is another aspect of your future year.  It is very different from the schools you are used to studying in. Schools in the U.S.A. offer a lot of sports to play. You will find it fascinating how many teenagers like to play sports. One of the most popular sports in the United States is football (not to be confused with soccer).  School team compete with each other. One of the biggest events in the school year is the football season. The whole school goes to support their football teams. Another popular sport in the U.S. is basketball. Basketball was invented in America.  There are just as many fans of basketball as football.

One of the answers to the question why do you go to the United Stated was to improve you knowledge in English. Yes, you will improve your knowledge of English; you will have to speak English all year round, every second you want to talk to somebody. It can be a little bit hard at the beginning, but you will get used to it.  By the end of the year your vocabulary will be enriched by a lot of new words and, of course, you will get used to slang. I want you to know that such words as nice and pretty have not only one definition. Everything in the U.S. is nice:  the weather is nice, the day is nice, you look nice, your dress is nice, you are very nice, it is very nice of you.  You can use nice even when you are mad at someone: Oh, well that's nice! Also such words as please and thank you will be very handy in the U.S. Do not forget to use these words when you ask for anything. American like polite people (as anyone in the world, actually.)
As everywhere in the world, there is a difference between the language adults and teenagers speak. Teenagers use a lot of slang. While communicating with your American friends you will learn that the word cool hold a lot of meaning in itself.  If you happened to live in the South, you should remember that y'all is singular, all y'all is plural and all y'all's is plural possessive. Don't worry if you don't understand anyone; they don't understand you either.  Be willing to laugh when you make mistakes.  Do not take yourself very seriously.

Spending a year in the United States will not only enrich your vocabulary, but help you to become a more mature person; widen your points of view, and understand that nations are not to be stereotyped and neither are people.

I guess now you are almost set to go to the United States of America. Right, I said "almost", set, because it takes more work to prepare yourself or a trip which is going to last the whole year than just reading a little handbook. If you are brave enough to be and exchange student, understand that people are people everywhere, then good luck and have fun.