By Akane Fujimura
The last week of school: It’s time for seniors to graduate, but it’s also the time for foreign exchange students to go home. According to all the foreign exchange students in Homer High School, they’re glad to go home and see their family and friends again, but at the same time, it’s sad that they have to leave their host families, friends, and school.
“I feel kind of sad because I’m not going to be here next year,” Lertkiat Kuanmongkonlert (Neung), a foreign exchange student from Thailand, said. Lennart Schlichting, another foreign exchange student from Germany, agreed, “I’m excited to get out of school and have vacation, but it’s sad that I won’t see anyone again.” Senior Katie Schmidt, who is a host, stated, “I will miss them so much for sure.”
Ms. Hampson, school counselor, said, “Every exchange student says the same thing: they don’t want to go back to their home country. But I’m sure once they get there, they’ll be very glad to be home.”
Vegard Unhjem, a foreign exchange student from Norway, described, “My best memory in Homer High is soccer. We beat Colony and Palmer for the first time and it was really fun. There are a lot of things here that I’ll miss. ”
For the foreign exchange students, their going home can be summed up in two words: Sweet and Bitter.