Concepcion Martinez Olivares, Ronja Schaefer and her host family the Peppers at Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth.
It’s been almost 10 months since I last saw my family and friends. It’s been 271 days since I left my home country and I landed in the U.S. ready to start a new life.
As exchange students we leave behind everything that we know to create a new life in another country with a different culture, food, language, friends and family.
My name is Conchi and I am an exchange student from Spain. I’ve been attending Memorial High School since August. Spending my exchange year in Wichita Falls has been a very enriching experience.
Being part of the Pepper family has been one of my most important parts of my exchange year, most of my best memories here I’ve made with them. One of my best memories was our road trip to San Antonio and Austin. I also loved going to Dallas on New Year’s.
I created a new family here with my host family. We have supported each other through our highs and lows and even though sometimes we’ve had our disagreements, we’ve always talked them through because we really love and care about each other.
Another thing that I am so happy I got to experience is American high school dances. My little self would have never believed that I went to an American prom. Prom was such a fun experience. I loved choosing a dress, taking pictures with my family and friends and dancing till it ended.
Sports in high school are also a very important matter. Here I got the chance to participate in some events in track and I also have done dance and participated in the Spring Showcase. I met some of my closest friends in track and I loved going to the meets.
In this year I got to experience Texas culture first hand, I really enjoyed taking part in traditions like going to the rodeo, celebrating Easter, doing line dancing at Billy Bob’s, seeing the Stockyards, etc.
Getting adapted to a new diet and different food was a little bit difficult, but I also got the chance to cook for my host family traditional dishes from my home country. The food that I eat in Spain is really different from the food I eat here. Even though I adapted, I still miss the food from back home.
When high school finishes I’ll be going back to my country. After being here for so long I can say that I was worth it, this experience has taught me more about the world and about myself than anything I have experienced before.
Leaving home to go home is going to be very hard. I’ll miss the life that I’ve created here, I’ll miss all my friends and my host family. I’ll miss high school and all the good moments that I’ve experienced here, but as Winnie the Pooh said, “How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”