Thursday, May. 22, 2008

Great Exchange

Exchange students from Slovakia wind up living a few blocks apart in Modesto

Though Andrej Reptis and Eva Hudakova lived only 24 miles apart in their home country of Slovakia, it took them an airplane trip across the Atlantic Ocean for them to meet and become good friends.

When Andrej, now a junior at Beyer High School, signed up to become an exchange student in the United States, the only thing he cared about was that he was assigned to a host family in California.

"When I thought of California, I thought of the movies, the ocean, hot weather and, of course, the beautiful Californian girls," he said.

When Eva, also a Beyer High junior, signed up to become an exchange student, she also hoped she would end up in California.

"I imagined the beach and hot weather," she said. "I just really wanted to go to California."

When Andrej and Eva arrived at the airport in Slovakia in August, they were among a group of 20 Slovakian students in the Cultural Home Stay International program who were preparing to board a plane to the U.S.

The two began discussing their common bond -- their excitement about getting to live in California for a year. They soon realized that they would both be staying in Modesto.

This seemed unbelievable because the Cultural Home Stay International Program typically places students living in the same state as far away from each other as possible in order to help them socialize with American teens.

Later, the two realized perhaps the most unbelievable coincidence: Their host families lived only a few blocks apart.

"It was so weird being at the airport and finding out he was going to be in the same neighborhood as me," said Eva. "It was cool because I knew that I would know somebody at school."

Andrej now considers Eva his closest friend and even accompanied her and her host family on a spring-break trip to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas.

Both students took part in the exchange program to improve their English, which they could speak and read when they arrived. Fate had seemed to follow them across the globe, even placing them in the same first-period English class at Beyer.

"I learned English for six or seven years back in Slovakia, but it's kind of cool to actually use it and learn the slang," Eva said. "In history, I was freaking out because it was a lot of reading and homework and I wasn't used to it. English essays and notes were hard, too, but after a while, it got easier."

When spending time together, Andrej and Eva make it a point to converse in English, not Slovakian, honoring the exchange program's suggestion that they immerse themselves in the language.

Being so far away from home for an entire school year can be emotionally draining.

"The toughest part is being away from my family and friends and trying to fit into a new life with new people and new things," Andrej said. "There are things happening back home without me, but things are happening here, too. I was a little homesick the first month."

Eva agrees that being far from home can be difficult at times, but also noted that it was important to mentally adjust from a vacation mind-set after settling into Modesto.

"At first, it is like a holiday, but then you get kind of homesick," she said. "It's like a summer vacation, but then you realize you are here for a long time. It was hard, and my friends back at home gave me a bad time, but they learned to understand."

While Modesto does not have the beach that Andrej and Eva imagined, that didn't stop either of them from spending much of their time in the water. They both joined the Beyer swim team, and Andrej is a member of the water polo team.

"Back at home, I did the modern pentathlon, which includes swimming, running, shooting, horse riding and fencing," he said. "Swimming was my favorite part."

Eva had been a competitive swimmer in Slovakia, but had taken a break during high school.

"I hadn't swam in three years and didn't think I could do it again, but it ended up being a cool thing to do after school," she said.

Andrej and Eva were among the few swimmers at Beyer who qualified to participate in the section meet.

The two agree that they have been extremely fortunate to have such fun host families. Eva has been living with Laurie and Jim Aikines, whose daughter Allyse is a freshman at Beyer. Andrej's host parents are Paul and Rosa LaFlamme, whose son David is a junior at Beyer.

"I didn't know what I should expect, like if the family would be crazy and have a ton of rules. But I was really lucky because my host family is really cool," Eva said.

Andrej agrees that he could not have had a better family to live with.

"This experience has made me realize that you don't necessarily have to be a blood member to be a part of a family," he said.

As the school year comes to a close, Andrej says that the past nine months have been full of wonderful memories.

"Everything together has been one unforgettable experience," he said.

Sasha Riddle is a junior at Beyer High School and a member of The Bee's Teens in the Newsroom journalism program.