Leaving your family. Leaving your friends. Leaving your home. Leaving everything behind.

It takes a strong person to leave everything behind to start a temporary life in a whole different country. These strong young women are Carla Miro and Ainara Novo.

It takes courage to be able to trust a family you have not only never met but to support you and treat you like one of their own. You are leaving everything you know to go to a place you know nothing about. You have nobody and once you arrive, your host family is all you have until you go to school and can socialize and meet some amazing people.

Being a foreign exchange student can be scary but it truly can be a great experience.

Carla Miro

Miro is specifically from Barcelona in Spain. Barcelona is 4,186 miles away from Flint, Michigan.

Every country has its differences, from its culture to how everything is ran.

The schools in Barcelona do not have lunches, you always eat at home. Everyday is different meaning you don’t go to the same classes every day unlike we do here at Kearsley High School. Here in the United States we only have 2 semesters and in Barcelona they have 3.

Miro talks about the students at her school back home in Barcelona.

“There are a lot of kids. About five to six hundred kids in my whole high school,” spoke Miro.

Miro’s favorite subject in school is history just for the simple reason that she likes history.

Everyone has their preferences just like Miro having a favorite meal from her home. Miro makes a quick comment on what hers is.

“My favorite is a Spanish omelette,” Miro voiced.

Moving so far away from home is always a scary thing. You never know what you are getting yourself into until you are actually there and it has become a reality and not just a dream.

Miro speaks on her scariest thoughts before she came to the United States.

“I was scared that I was going to make no friends and not get along with my host family,” vocalized Miro.

Thankfully both of her worries didn’t end up becoming true.

Miro was glad to see that the people weren’t as bad as she thought they were. What she means by this is the people being so nice to her for not being fully fluent in English like everyone else is around her.

Something else that Miro enjoys about the United States is being able to dress however you want. Miro makes a quick statement about what she specifically likes about this topic.

“…I like how you can just dress in pajamas” voiced Miro.

Being involved in clubs or sports or even just going to games and being supportive is never a bad thing to experience. You never know what can happen and it can truly be so much fun.

Miro is currently on the Girls Varsity Swim team and would like to play soccer in the spring when the season comes up.

Ainara Novo

Novo is from Bilbao, Spain which is 3,892 miles away from Flint, Michigan.

Moving away from your family is never an easy thing to get over despite how old you are. Novo states her scariest thought running through her head about coming to the United States.

“Being away from my family,” Novo quotes quickly.

Sports are always a big thing in the United States. While you are in high school, almost every student loves to support the teams and even the players who may be one of their best friends. Novo loves sports the most so far while she has been in the Unites States. However, volleyball is her favorite.

Everyone always has different opinions and always prefers something different. For example, Novo’s favorite class is Spanish. Plenty of people do enjoy Spanish because of the fun projects you get the opportunity to do. However, with English class, there are so many people who don’t enjoy it because it is more than just learning the language. Novo touches on why Spanish is her favorite.

“Spanish class is my favorite because I understand everything,” Novo spoke.

After arriving at any place not knowing anything or who you are about to live with, or even not being able to know anyone because you are new, is never an easy thing. There are always things that you might overthink about, and sometimes they turn out better than you thought they would. For example, Novo explained, “The school. I thought it was going to be harder.”

Being from the same country and having nothing in common is a rare occurrence. This is not the case though. Just like Miro, Novo’s favorite food from back home is an omelette. It is just a classic in Spain.

Leaving your family is never an easy task to do. Leaving your friends is hard because you don’t know how they will do with your absence. Leaving your home is always scary knowing that it is your safe place. And lastly, leaving everything behind is the hardest when the only person you know is yourself.