Exchange Student from Spain Discovers New Hobbies and Passions in the USA!

Elena is a high school student from Spain who came to the USA as an exchange student with STS Foundation. After being accepted onto the program and preparing for her exchange experience, Elena crossed the Atlantic to join her host family in Indiana. Over the last 8 months, Elena has had the opportunity to pursue her interests and try new hobbies, all while exploring life in America. Elena has been part of her school’s soccer team, Yearbook, and basketball team. She’s also had opportunities to learn more about herself and find new hobbies through the friends she’s made!

Elena shares with us what her experience of life as an American teenager has been like so far:

“I love Indiana! I was the soccer manager during the fall season. My friend and I were in charge of assisting players; she usually filmed games, while I took pictures. I would have never thought that I would be into photography, but now I take my camera everywhere I go. Besides, I’m in Yearbook so I get to take pictures of other sporting events. I recommend exchange students join Yearbook since you will always have that book as a memory. It’s also a class in which I have made many friends and I was informed of everything that was going on at school.

Sports in Indiana are amazing! I have loved being part of the basketball team this season and I am really proud of how much my team and I have improved. Here’s a picture from the “Wapahani Tournament” that we won, and the other one is when I won MVP of my team. Next I’ll be starting travel basketball and tennis.

I’ve been skiing since I was little, but I had never tried snowboarding. Doing it is one of my biggest achievements because it is way harder than skiing (at least that’s what I think). However, the best part about days on the slopes was having fun with my friend.

One of my best friends has a cookie business! She gets hired by people in town and she is a really good baker. I have helped her bake and deliver orders. But I also focused on creating a logo and an Instagram page for her company. I’m not sure if it helped or not, but we had fun doing it. Living here is making me consider career paths I hadn’t thought about; like marketing, journalism, or physics.

Another friend of mine has a dog who had puppies this winter! I helped by taking care of them with my friend, whenever her parents couldn’t. In Spain, I don’t have any pets, so I have learned a lot about dogs this year. My host family ended up getting one of the puppies and we named her Nala.

Lastly, another highlight of my experience so far has been earning tickets to see the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds baseball team has a program for some students where they give you free tickets when you have straight A’s. I got this certificate and I was really excited. They play in the Great American Ball Park, and it’s HUGE!!!”

Students just like Elena are currently dreaming about what new hobbies and passions they’ll discover during their exchange year. Join the STS Foundation family and help them live the life of typical American teenagers for 5 to 10 months. If you are interested in helping a young student like Elena, we invite you to learn more about becoming a host family with STS Foundation.

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This post was written by Morgan Tondreault