by Carolyn Maynard
Every year, three to four students from countries around the world attend Hopkinton High School for the school year. They stay with host families, take classes and play sports. Through all of their activities, they learn about American culture. This year, one of the four exchange students is Roxana Stefan from Romania.
Roxana decided to come to another country to learn about culture and to meet different people. “I am really grateful to be here and experience anything new that is educating,” she said. The application process to become an exchange student wasn’t difficult. It took about two weeks for Roxana to fill out her application. Once she was accepted into the program, there were three Rotary meetings where all of the Romanian exchange students met one another. They each were able to pick the country where they wanted to live, but not the area within the country. The area isn’t what matters to Roxana, though. “For me, it is more important meeting people. I will go on many trips with Rotary Club so I have the opportunity to visit parts of America.”
While there are many cultural differences between the countries, one of the biggest contrasts is in the school systems. School in the U.S. starts at 8 am and ends at 3 pm, with a lunch break in the middle. School in Romania starts at 12 noon and ends at 7 pm or 8 pm. Classes in Romania are much shorter than those at Hopkinton High School, and are also taught differently. About the teaching styles, Roxana said, “I like the way the teachers here approach their students.”
Throughout the course of the year, Roxana will rotate host families, take new classes, and play new sports. Hopefully the rest of her year will be just as good as the first month.
