Foreign Exchange Student Highlight

Grisel Gonzalez 
Assistant Editor
 Meet Endika Llano Arrabal, who has temporarily left his home country Bilbao, Spain to submerge himself in the American way of life as a foreign exchange student in Idaho Falls at Bonneville High School (BHS). 
  Endika starts by mentioning a friend who had previously come to stay in Texas with the foreign exchange student program, and he prompted and motivated Endika to come pay the United States a visit as well. Along with his friend, his parents were  a major factor in his decision to come to the U.S.; Endika mentions that “they were the ones that motivated [him] to come here.” On the topic of his parents, Endika shares that the biggest challenge he has faced thus far is having to face all his problems alone without the in-person support from his parents. Despite the challenges, Endika’s favorite memory in the U.S. was attending an NBA game between the Utah Jazz and the Golden State Warriors. Endika states that if he could experience anything else before he leaves, he would want to attend another NBA game because of how much he enjoyed the last one.
  Regarding the differences between his home country, Spain, and the U.S., Endika mentions that the language barrier has been the hardest to adjust to. Endika shares that he has been learning English since he was four years old; however, inconsistent practice made it challenging to perfect the accents and pronunciation. Endika talks about the differences in the schooling systems and states, “I like this one better because it’s easier and you guys have more freedom. In Spain you cannot choose your classes.” Besides the differences within countries, Endika goes into depth about how incredible his host parents here in America are. He mentions how he loves that his host family is just sitting around, and they are taking him out to do new activities and see new sights. Lastly, Endika’s piece of advice to other students contemplating going through the foreign exchange student program is that it can be harder than they may have anticipated, the whole journey and experience makes it worthwhile!

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