Exchange Students Are Enjoying Their Newtown Experience

By Laurie Borst

Heidi Sikemsen and Rebecca Schuermann both arrived in Newtown in late August to begin a year studying here as exchange students. Both have had many similar experiences.

They find their classes interesting. Heidi is taking French, Italian, drawing, English and US History. She really enjoys her drawing class with art teacher, Carol Skolas.

Rebecca says she has settled in and is finding her way through the school without too much difficulty. She is taking chemistry, integrated math, and French, all of which she finds easy. American Literature is totally new for her, she said. And while she had US history in Switzerland, what she is learning here is much more detailed.

“My teachers have been very accommodating helping with language issues,” Rebecca offered. “I’m in chemistry with my host sister, Melissa [Fitzsimons], who helps me understand [the terminology].”

“The school system is different than at home,” Heidi said. “The schools here are much better. At home, we have no math/reading center. And we didn’t get much homework. Here, I have homework everyday. That is a big change.”

Another big change was the morning schedule.

“The worst part is getting up so early. I get up at 5:30 and have to catch the bus at 6:40,” Heidi lamented. “I had to be driven [to school] a number of times. In Greenland, I walked to school which was five minutes away.”

Both Heidi and Rebecca joined the cross-country team this fall. They did well and found a lot of friends through their participation, getting to know each other during weekly pasta dinners.

“The girls were great,” Heidi said. “They welcomed me with open arms.”

Before coming to the states, both girls had played handball, a common activity in Europe. They also liked to attend discos, or youth clubs, three or four times a week, where they got lots of exercise dancing.

But it’s not been all studies and sports. Heidi enjoys shopping at the mall, going to movies, and having sleepovers with her friends. Two movies that stood out were September 11 and Stranger Than Fiction.

The Harvest Ball and Back-To-School Dance were fun for Rebecca. She has also discovered fast food.

“You have to go to Danbury for fast food,” Rebecca said. “We go to different stores and compare french fries.”

“I fell in love with Taco Bell,” she continued. “I go there with my friend, Ally Swink. She’s my Taco Bell bud. And I have to add, the General Store has really good food.”

Rollercoasters

Heidi and Rebecca both had their first amusement park experience. Heidi said at home, they don’t have amusement parks. Rebecca reports there is one in Switzerland that she is aware of, but she has never been there.

Rebecca and the Fitzsimons went to Six Flags in Massachusetts. She got to enjoy her first ever rollercoaster ride — on Superman! When she saw that it had been constructed in Switzerland, she just had to ride it, and she absolutely loved it.

Heidi and her host family, the Odams, visited Lake Compounce. “I loved it!” she exclaimed. “I rode the Skycoaster with my host dad. And my host sister and I had fun at the water park.”

“We went to a Bridgeport Bluefish game. That was lots of fun,” Heidi reported. “I only saw bits of baseball on TV at home.”

Heidi also got to visit the Norwalk Maritime Center. “I have never been so close to sharks, never seen them with own eyes,” she said. “It was awesome. And the turtles were huge!”

Rebecca has been on a couple trips to New York City. The first was with another exchange student from Switzerland and her host family in Shelton. They went shopping at the Burton Store where both young women picked up snowboard gear.

Her second trip was with the Fitzsimons. They went to many “tourist spots” like Ground Zero and the Empire State Building. Rebecca enjoyed the view from the top of the Empire State Building.

Heidi said the family went to a Japanese restaurant for Mr Odam’s birthday. She liked trying Japanese food. In Greenland, they only have Thai restaurants, she added.

The family took a trip for a pumpkin festival in Barnesville Ohio. “It was lots of fun,” she said. “I was amazed at how big pumpkins can get!”

The Odams took her pumpkin picking at Jones Farm in Shelton, an entirely new experience for her.

Both Heidi and Rebecca thought the fall foliage was beautiful. In Greenland, there are very few trees, Heidi reported. In Switzerland, the majority of trees near Lucerne are evergreens, so for both girls, the leaves turning color was new.

“Halloween is not really celebrated in Greenland,” Heidi said. “The country is beginning to get into it. We have a celebration in February for kids, mostly students in grades 1 to 11. Everyone dresses up and gets together for parties.”

Food And More Food

“This was my first Halloween. I went trick or treating on Main Street with Melissa who was a white angel and I was a dark angel.”

“I never ate so much candy before,” she reported. “At home, we decorate for Halloween, but there’s no door-to-door trick or treating.”

Following on the heels of Halloween, the girls experienced our over-indulgent feast of Thanksgiving. Rebecca and the Fitzsimons had a turkey two days before Thanksgiving, then headed to the family home in Vermont. They had dinner on Thanksgiving at a restaurant.

“I’m starting to understand why you celebrate Thanksgiving,” Rebecca said. “Dark meat, white meat, pumpkin pie, cheesecake — so much food!”

The Odams went to their cabin in Pennsylvania for turkey day. Mrs Odam’s sisters also have cabins in that area, so the families did a progressive dinner. They hiked between the cabins for the different courses.

“I liked all the different foods,” Heidi said. “All the pies and ice cream for dessert. I really liked the pumpkin ice cream pie.”

After Thanksgiving, the families moved right into preparation for the Christmas season. Heidi got to experience cutting your own tree at Maple Row Tree Farm in Easton.

“We have no trees in Greenland,” Heidi explained. “We get Christmas trees shipped over from Canada for the holidays.”

“We set up a fake tree and decorated it,” Rebecca offered. “There is a train that runs around it. We do similar things in Switzerland, but we use poinsettias in the tree for decoration.

“I’ve never had a tree with fake lights,” Rebecca continued. “We use candles on the tree. Of course, that’s why we have many fires this time of year.”

She added that, in Switzerland, everyone decorates their windows and places wreathes on their doors. Rebecca went on to say that back home, Christmas, New Year’s and Easter were the holidays that are celebrate with big meals with the family.

Heidi explained that in Greenland, Christmas is celebrated for three days, from the 24th to 26th. She added that our trick or treating reminds her of Christmas Eve at home. Children go door-to-door singing carols and are given candy as they go.

The Odams took Heidi to New York to see the Nutcracker Ballet this past weekend. They are also going to see the Radio City Music Christmas Spectacular.

Rebecca has been to Vermont where the family goes skiing. Rebecca has been snowboarding for the past five or six years, and enjoys the opportunity to go to Okemo and Killington to practice her sport.

Both girls report feeling a little homesick. Heidi feels it a little now with the holidays approaching.

“Phone calling and email makes it easier,” she explained. “This is worth it, it’s a one time experience.”

Rebecca found herself missing home a little bit when her cousin and his friend stopped by during a road trip from Montreal to Mexico.

“He is like a brother. I grew up with him,” she said.

While the young women are missing home, they are both very happy with the choice of host families where they were placed.

“I feel like I fit, that I’m a member of the family,” Rebecca said.

Heidi keeps in touch with other students from Greenland. Many report problems with the rules imposed on them as well as culture shock.

In Europe, most young people have graduated high school by the age of 16 and bristle at having curfews and reporting their whereabouts.

The two girls miss the independence they had at home. Both lived in cities where they could walk or take public transportation, neither of which is an option here. They lament the need to be driven everywhere, although Rebecca said she had some friends with cars, which makes it easier.

Rebecca spoke about the meetings that are set up for the exchange students in the Connecticut/New York area. Current exchange students and former US exchange students meet occasionally to discuss their experiences and offer advice to each other. Meetings are also available for host families and siblings to talk about their experiences.

“It has snowed at home already. I miss that,” Heidi said. “But each year there is less snow. I don’t understand why people here don’t believe global warming is happening. In the north [of Greenland], the ice has melted a lot, so much that dog sled races have been cancelled three years in a row. The polar bears are dying because the ice is thinning. I see it every year.”