Early dinners and a confusing language: CHS life through the eyes of a foreign student
More stories from Allisya Mullins
Many people from different parts of the world come together at CHS. Just like the bridge represents.
Have you ever had a time in your life where you had to leave your home of 15+ years to a place where people speak a different language and live a different lifestyle? For most of us, probably not but juniors Iago Sanchez and Mohamed ELhacen Menane (who goes by Hacen), and seniors Ted Galbadrakh and Basel Alshalawi had to go through this experience this year and were kind enough to share their experiences with us.
Q: Where are you from?
A:
Iago: Spain
Hacen: Mauritania
Ted: Mongolia
Basel: Saudi Arabia
Q: What is the strangest thing you have encountered since you have arrived in the United States?
A:
Iago: It is really strange how people have lunch and dinner much earlier than I am used to.
Hacen: The strangest thing that I have encountered is how the schools function.
Ted: There are unnecessarily large portions here.
Basel: People eat dinner very early, like at 5:00 PM. The perfect time for me is between 8:30 to 9:30 PM.
Q: What is the hardest thing about living in America and leaving your country?
A:
Iago: America uses a whole other language, English, not Spanish and it is extra hard because sometimes American people do not understand me.
Hacen: The hardest thing living in America is the language because in my country we do not speak English a lot. When I left my country, the hardest thing was missing my family, friends, etc.
Ted: There is no public transport here, making it hard to go places and hang out with my friends.
Basel: It is hard getting used to a whole different lifestyle.
Q: What is something you wish that happened back in your country that happened here and vice versa?
A:
Iago: I wish that in my country teens could get their permits at 16 and I wish that here, in school, people do not change classes. You always have the same people in all your classes in my country.
Hacen: I wish the way Americans teach happens back in my country and I wish America had longer breaks. In my country every 45 days we have a break of 2 weeks.
Ted: I want the huge parades to happen in America and the shorter school days to happen in Mongolia
Basel: I love how Starbucks is everywhere unlike my country [where] it is always far from me. But in America, I want coffee shops that would show TV series. It would be better to drink some coffee while watching my favorite TV show at the same time.
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Allisya Mullins is currently a junior at Carlisle High School and is the student life section writer and a photographer. Allisya is new to Carlisle High...
Gabriela Menendez • May 31, 2016 at 12:25 pm
This is a phenomenal story, truly my favorite out of any periscope article. I agree, people should eat later, and what about public transportation? Viva la Metro! All of these foreign exchange students seem so cool, I wish they were MY friends! I love hearing about different cultures!