The AFS Experience—

A Family And A Guest Student Find Adventure In Crossing Cultural Barriers

By Larissa Lytwyn

Tracy Van Buskirk and her husband Peter share a love of traveling.

“When I was in college,” said Ms Van Buskirk, who majored in East Asian studies, “I spent a year abroad in Tai Pei, Taiwan.”

Ms Van Buskirk said the experience helped her evolve from a shy young woman often “unsure” of herself to a markedly more confident one.

Four years ago, the Van Buskirk family spent a year living in Switzerland.

“My husband has a special [work] project to do there,” Ms Van Buskirk explained. “We all really enjoyed the experience.” A real connector, she continued, was the discovery of the “cross cultural soccer mom.”

“The Swiss really enjoy soccer,” Ms Van Buskirk said. “My son Dana, who was in fourth grade at the time, was on a village team. You know how at American soccer games the parents are yelling at their kids and talking to each other? Well, it’s the same exact thing in Switzerland.”

Living in Switzerland had a particularly notable impact on daughter Elisa, now 16.

“Elissa was really the one who wanted to become an exchange student herself,” Ms Van Buskirk said. “Then, when she heard about AFS seeking host families, she said, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we hosted someone?’ At first I was concerned about a lack of space, but Elisa offered to bring another bed into her room. It worked out fine.”

Seventeen-year-old Veronica Reitan of Svalbard, Norway, arrived last fall, just a few days before Halloween.

“The Van Buskirk family was the perfect match for me,” said Veronica. Veronica, a dog-lover who carries a picture of her dog, Tassen, in her wallet, fell in love with the Van Buskirk’s Shadow.

Veronica, who has a younger brother, quickly became fond of eighth grader Dana and host sister Elisa.

“I think adolescents are pretty similar everywhere,” said Ms Van Buskirk. “The difference I saw was more in personality differences than cultural ones. You’ll always have your shy kids, or your more outgoing ones.”

She described Veronica as “very smart, confident, and sure of herself,” whose capacity to learn different languages was impressive.

“I really appreciate Veronica’s curiosities about the world around her,” Ms Van Buskirk said. “She has a real interest in current events, which was refreshing for my family.”

Veronica said learning English is required in Norway. “I’ve been speaking it since second grade,” she said. Like many countries in an era of increasing global communication, much of the television and films Veronica sees in Norway are American.

“My Norwegian friends really like the television show Friends,” she said. “She knows all the [American] teen movies more than I do,” added Ms Van Buskirk.

While considerably Westernized, Svalbard, population approximately 30,000, is geographically isolated.

The island is located several hundred miles north of the Norwegian mainland that is only accessible by hour-and-a-half plane rides. Traveling by boat is perilous, she explained, because the waterway is dotted with icebergs.

Though the climate is generally similar to the northeastern United States, Norwegian temperatures tend to be much cooler, with shorter summers and longer winters. The tundra landscape is mostly scrub brush and short grasses.

When asked to compare America’s social problems, including violence and bullying, to Norway’s, Veronica paused for several moments.

“The differences is not so much in [economic] class or ethnicity,” she said, “but whether you are from northern or southern Norway.

“There are some cliques depending on what side you are from,” she said. Being from Svalbard, she said, makes her somewhat neutral.

Another difference between Norway and America is the education system. While schools generally operate from fall to spring, with summer vacations, Norway’s public schools are divided by age-groups into three main categories.

“Primary school is basically from first to seventh grade,” Veronica explained. “Eighth and ninth is considered middle school. After this, you are usually around 16 years old. You can then choose to continue school for three years. It’s voluntary, but most people want to get a good education and do it.”

These three additional years of schooling help prepare students directly for careers, or, if applicable, further study at a university.

Veronica would like to become an animal behaviorist, a field that requires college courses.

“After I return to Norway this June, I am going to spend the summer as a tour guide of the fjords,” she said. “Then I am going to continue my education at the upper school and then study at university.”

She would like to consider applying her skills to the Norwegian army, training guard dogs.

She briefly reflected on Norway’s current alliance with the United States in Iraq. “Norway had talked about pulling out of Iraq,” she said, “but we decided to stay.”

The lack of public transportation in the United States has come as a surprise to Veronica.

Ms Van Buskirk laughed as she recalled, “When Veronica first got involved in after-school activities, she said, ‘Don’t worry. I can take the bus home.’ You don’t realize how dependent you are on cars here in the US!”

Like many of her American counterparts, Veronica now carpools with several friends to help get from place to place.

Ms Van Buskirk says she has really enjoyed Veronica’s stay. “She really sought to make the most of her experience!”

Veronica was able to experience her first Halloween in the states at the Van Buskirk Halloween party. She also enjoyed a Van Buskirk family reunion that Thanksgiving in South Carolina.

“It was a classic scene,” said Ms Van Buskirk. “It was wonderful that she got to be a part of that!” Veronica also traveled to Florida this past April on a family visit with Ms Van Buskirk’s father. Veronica loved Florida. “It was very warm down there,” she said. “A nice change.”

A few weeks ago, she saw New York City for the first time.

“Veronica took a bike tour through the five boroughs with my husband and some friends,” said Ms Van Buskirk. “What an amazing way to see the city!”

Future plans include a visit to Boston.

“It’s been great to be able to see so much,” said Veronica. In Norway, she has not traveled far beyond the mainland, Switzerland and Denmark, save one tropical excursion to Cyprus.

Ms Van Buskirk recommends that prospective host families be open-minded and expect small bumps in the road. “Nothing’s perfect,” she said.

For several years, the family has participated in the Fresh Air Fund, a program that allows inner-city children to spend two weeks with suburban families.

“I think the Fresh Air Fund helped prepare us for the AFS experience,” said Ms Van Buskirk. “The point of these kinds of experiences is to learn from each other, to recognize and appreciate each other’s differences.”

Veronica agrees. She encourages both prospective exchange students and host families to remain open-minded, tossing stereotypical depictions of other cultures by the wayside.

“A lot of people [outside American] think of the United States as exactly it appears in the movies and on television,” she said. She recalled one humorous anecdote, in which a Norwegian peer looked forward to going to New York.

“He thought he was going to New York City,” she said, noting his appreciation of urban culture. “But then,” said Veronica, smiling, “he was put in Buffalo! It was a bit different than what he expected.”

This fall, Elisa will be studying abroad in France.

“I think this will definitely help Elisa grow and develop as a person,” said Ms Van Buskirk. “Experiencing each others’ cultures is a great way to better understand our world. I have no doubt that Elisa’s experience will be a good one.”

AFS is currently seeking prospective host families from the Connecticut area. For more information, visit www.afs.org or call 800-AFS-INFO.