BY KRISTIN GRONINGER, Junior
BLYTHEWOOD - On August 13, Amalie Madsen started a new part of her life. She flew from Copenhagen over New York to Charlotte to spend a year with her new family in Columbia, South Carolina, and to learn something about the American culture.
Amalie is a 15 year old girl from Denmark. She is making an exchange year in South Carolina, until June next year, and is visiting the Blythewood High School as a sophomore to see how American teens are in school, spend their free.
“Amalie has a different accent and she is dressing different, she has her own style,” junior Madison Bundrick said. Madison met Amalie in their painting class in school.
Why did Amalie come to America?
Coming to a different country wasn’t Amalie’s own idea.
“It was my dad’s idea because I was very shy. He was an exchange student too. He wanted me to get out of my shell and do something, I guess,” she said.
Amalie thought it was a good idea and made the choice to spend a year in a different country, live with a new family and visit another school.
Amalie wanted to come to America to learn English and to experience the American high school life on her own.
“I always saw American movies and wanted it to experience by myself.”
She wanted to understand another culture, meet people from all over the world and learn a new language. Amalie also has the responsibility of being a good representative for her own country, Denmark.
“Oh yeah I already learned they don’t have 12 years in school in Denmark,” said Bundrick.
Amalie’s experience with America
“There’s so many things different to Denmark. The people, the food, the school system, the law. Like everything,” Amalie said.
Moreover, Amalie has experienced welcoming hospitality and kindness from the Americans. What she likes most about America is the school spirit from the students of Blythewood High School, and she liked choosing between different subjects to make up her schedule.
“In Denmark you can’t choose between so many subjects and make your own schedule,”.
“I think the best I done was going to Scarowinds with my friends,” she said with a smile on her face.
Amalie’s experience with her exchange
“The best thing is generally I would say to meet new people and start as a new person and the worst thing is to miss home,” Amalie told about her exchange.
The time in America is scary for Amalie and exciting at the same time. To force herself to become more outgoing was the most challenging thing for Amalie. But she mastered this challenge.
“I would say I became more outgoing and I am not so shy anymore as I was,” she said.
The new language was hard for Amalie in the beginning, too, “I thought that I was really good in English, but then I was like I have a accent and they didn’t understand me,” she said.
Sometimes Amalie becomes homesick but not that often, she said, she is glad to have the opportunity to be in South Carolina and does not want to go home.
What other people think about an exchange
Madison Bundrick thinks it’s interesting that Amalie is coming from a different country and she is spending a year with different people.
“I would try it, just for fun,” Madison said about the idea of making an exchange on her own.
As well Kelly Dimeler, Amalie’s “host mum”, said it is interesting to meet somebody from a different country and learn something about the culture of the exchange student. Another reason why they’re hosting an exchange student is that they want to give them the opportunity to experience their own culture, said Dimeler.
Amalie’s host family has already given five exchange students from all over the world the opportunity to experience the American lifestyle. Their first exchange student was Amelie’s brother 2010.
“The best thing of hosting an exchange student is to give them a lot of good experience and get to know them. And the worst thing of hosting an exchange student I don’t know, sometimes it can be hard to understand them,” said Dimeler.
“Moreover, an exchange student should be included as a complete family member but sometimes it is challenging to make the exchange student feel like an actual part of the family than as a guest,” Dimeler said.
Amalie has been experiencing the culture of America and the American people the last two months, and has much more she will experience in the next nine months she is here. Amalie will fly back to Denmark with an experience she will never forget.
