Experiencing new cultures

She looks around the classroom noticing the unfamiliar setting. The new faces make her nervous as she heads to her seat to start her adventure, not knowing anything about America.

Junior Jirapach Supagamnerd is a foreign exchange student from Thailand. Her parents thought it would be beneficial to experience a new country and learn more about how America is different from Thailand. Inspired by her brother to be an exchange student, Supagamnerd took the opportunity to expand her learning, even if it meant being without her family. Once coming to America, Supagamnerd was put with a host family so she would have a nice place to stay.

“[Host families] can look on the internet if they want to have an exchange student to stay with [them],” Supagamnerd said. “Then they choose which student they want to stay with. The student [is] going to come and stay with you for a year and then leave to go back.”

When Supagamnerd first came to America, she was feeling anxious and scared because she felt as if she didn’t belong here. She had no prior knowledge or experience about America.  

“[I was] nervous [because] it’s a different country,” Supagamnered said. “I didn’t know anybody here [and it’s also] a different language.”

Although Supagamnerd visited other countries in Asia, she specifically wanted to travel to the United States. Before she came to America, however, her English wasn’t the best and it was hard to learn a different language besides Thai.

“I want to get more experience and improve my English,” Supagamnerd said. “I want to see how different my country [is] from here.”   

Being new to the country, Supagamnerd has been in U.S. History teacher Sarah Dowdy class since the start of the spring semester  

As an exchange student, Supagamnerd is required to keep on top of her studies. U.S. History teacher Sarah Dowdy enjoys having Supagamnerd in her class.

“I met her on the first day of the spring semester in U.S. History class,” Dowdy said. “When she moves back, I will miss her happy, positive attitude and work ethic.”

Junior Artistaya Coomvan is one of Supagamnerd’s close friends who is also an exchange student from Thailand. When they met at the beginning of lunch, they clicked almost instantly.

“[I bonded with] her,” Coomvan said. “We have been here together and we [can] get through a lot of things in America together.”

America and Thailand have different ways of learning and teaching methods. In Thailand, they have a complex way of studying and ways they manage their classes.

“We study in a different program and the schedule is different,” Supagamnerd said. “[In America,] we can choose a schedule [for] what we want to learn. We have a lot of time involvement [for] what we want to learn and we can choose [our courses]. In my country, we can’t choose.”

Although Supagamnerd misses her home country, she would rather stay in America because she believes living here is more enjoyable than in Thailand.

“If I had a choice, I would stay here,” Supagamnerd said. “It’s much better than my country. Everything is better.”