Two AFS Exchange Students Arrive For Their Year At NHS

By Laurie Borst

Rebecca Schuermann and Heidi Sikemsen arrived last week in New York City to begin a year of study in the United States. Both have finished requirements for high school graduation in their native lands. When their studies here conclude, both young women will return to Europe to attend college.

Rebecca is from Lucerne, Switzerland. She is an only child who lives with her mother. Her host family is the Fitzsimons on Castle Hill. Irene and Michael Fitzsimons have two children, Melissa, 15, and Michael, 12.

Heidi is from Nuuk, Greenland. She lives with her mother and older brother. She will spend the year with the Odams family on Hattertown Road. Wendy and Steve have one daughter, Abbie, 9.

“I always wanted to see America on my own,” Heidi said. “I have never traveled from Greenland alone, always with my parents. I’ve been to Denmark.”

Rebecca expressed a strong desire to learn English well, which influenced her decision on where to study.

“I could list preferences for which country I would like, but not which state,” Rebecca continued. “You can say if you like a large or small town or a farm.”

Heidi was able to list a preferred geographical area in the United States, either north or south.

The young ladies arrived at Kennedy Airport last week. Heidi arrived on Thursday, toward the end of the heat wave.

“When we left the airport, I couldn’t breathe. It was too hot,” Heidi reported. “But I adjusted. New York City is very beautiful at night.”

Rebecca arrived on Wednesday. “Everything is bigger here. New York is a very fast city,” Rebecca related. “Central Park is very nice. We had our orientation in the park.”

Next Monday, both women will attend an orientation session at the high school for new students. They will meet with the guidance department after the session to select courses for study this year. Neither was sure of any required courses, but both need an advanced math course as preparation for college. Both felt they would like to study a language.

In Switzerland, four languages are spoken throughout the country. French and German are required study in school. Italian is offered if students wish to study it. “Swiss German” is a blended language that borrows from the other languages spoken in the country. Greenlanders study English and Danish. Greenland is a possession of Denmark.

When asked what they would like to do or see while here, Rebecca quickly responded, “I want to see a professional game of American football. Mr Fitzsimons is a Jets fan. And I’d like to see a baseball game.”

“I would like to see the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center site, and a baseball game,” Heidi said.

With the talk on baseball, Rebecca said, “Our AFS volunteer at orientation was a Yankees fan. A Japanese student was wearing a Red Sox shirt. It was a difficult but funny situation.”

It must have been an uncomfortable moment for people not accustomed to the good-natured sports rivalry here in the Northeast.

Both women said they did not get to see American sports on television.

Their first weekend in Newtown, both women got to try new things. Heidi went to Cold Spring, N.Y., for a drive. “We crossed the Hudson River. It was very pretty. I enjoyed the countryside,” she said.

Rebecca went fishing for the first time. “It was here in town. I caught four fish. Later today, we are going waterskiing on the lake.”

Heidi will be going to the Pennsylvania mountains this weekend, where the Odams own a cabin. The family will celebrate Heidi’s birthday, which is August 18, while there.

The Fitzsimons own a home in Vermont, where Rebecca says she will get to spend many weekends. She can go snowboarding this winter, an activity she enjoys. Rebecca also likes handball. Creating comics on the computer is another pastime she enjoys.

Heidi likes to draw, paint, and write. In Greenland, she likes to socialize with her friends. They go to cafes to “hang out.”

While Switzerland enjoys four seasons like New England, Heidi is looking forward to the fall foliage, something not seen in Greenland. Both women expect they will eventually miss the mountains in their homelands. While they find our hills pretty, they do not come close to the height of the mountains overseas.

Greenland is the largest island in the world, roughly three times the size of Texas. Its population is approximately 56,000, one-quarter of which live in the capital city of Nuuk. Most of the island lies north of the Arctic Circle.

Eighty-one percent of the island is covered with glacial ice. The narrow stretch of exposed coastline is dotted with fjords, narrow inlets between steep, rocky cliffs. Fishing and tourism are the main sources of income.

Switzerland is a landlocked country, a little less than twice the size of New Jersey, in the middle of Europe. Switzerland has a population of 7.5 million. About 60,000 of those citizens live in Lucerne. The strong economy is anchored by finance and banking.