PESHTIGO – Getxo, a fishing town in the utmost northern area in Spain —Basque Country, near Bilbao — has a population of around 75,000. One of those residents, who also speaks Basque (Euskera) and English, decided to go on an high school exchange adventure across the Atlantic all the way to Peshtigo, Wisconsin.
June Azkargorta, a junior in high school, has only been in Wisconsin since August, yet some of her first words during my interview with her in her native Spanish were “I’m loving it here, I would love to [permanently] live here [one day]”.
“I really love competing in sports,” Azkargorta said as one of the reasons why she has been loving her stay here so far.
Volleyball, for instance, is among her newly discovered passions.
“I played it with friends [in Spain] before, but I was never part of a team, and I’m not terrible at it,” Azkargorta said.
Even though her JV2 volleyball season ended in mid-October, Azkargorta is already eager to start training and playing basketball for Peshtigo High School as of mid-November, a sport she has played before.
Jeff and Tiffany Krall are hosting Azkargorta while she resides in Peshtigo.
I was able to overhear Jeff Krall joke with June during a family event that took place around the time of my interview as to how Azkargorta’s love for Wisconsin could change after the temperatures drop, which Azkargorta quickly dismissed, saying “I’m ready, I love snow.”
The Kroll family took Azkargorta to the Panthers vs. Packers NFL game recently, and Azkargorta was impressed with the atmosphere.
“We had a Panther’s fan in front of us, yet surrounded by Packers fans, so it was great to see how both fan sides behave peacefully,” Azkargorta said.
Her host mom happens to work with international student recruitment and placements throughout NE Wisconsin and mentioned she is available for questions from families interested in hosting students in the future. She can be contacted at krall.tiffany@gmail.com.
The Krall family eats “really healthy,” which Azkargorta said she loves. She thought she would gain weight prior to coming to the US, but said “it’s been quite the opposite” thanks to healthy eating habits.
Macaroni and cheese was rated as “delicious.” Azkargorta said she was told about it by friends and it did not disappoint her when she tried it.
One of the drawbacks Azkargorta noticed was “walking everywhere is something I miss. Most of my friends don’t have a car. You have to rely on car transportation to go places and I have to secure rides if I want to go on my own to a store.”
She highlighted that this is a minor cultural change, but that she still loves the Midwestern lifestyle very much.
As for words she heard of quite a bit since her arrival, the word ‘nap’ was one she did not quite understand when mentioned to her the first few times. For context, she said her host family has a toddler she babysits on occasion.
“Whenever I heard the word nap I wasn’t quite sure. Eventually I learned the context of it, and I got to love the sound of that word” Azkargorta said giggling.
Azkargorta has a 32-year-old sister and a younger brother who are both living in Spain.
She is closer to her younger brother, but says she definitely misses her dog. She stays in touch with her parents every Sunday.
While on the one hand she is “not a big fan” of Halloween, she says she happily displayed a cow costume when she accompanied her host family trick-or-treating.
On the other hand, the Homecoming celebrations at her high school in Peshtigo are something she really enjoyed, especially “getting ready with friends to attend the event, going on a photo session with them [and toilet papering]”, Azkargorta said with a smile.
Azkargorta admits the educational requirements and overall level in Spain seem higher to her, but she still learns good concepts every day. She likes the incentive she receives upon delivery of her work alone, which in Spain would not merit a score.
“A math test gets you 2 points just for writing an answer, and if you get the answer right you get 1 extra point” she said as an example.
“It’s not that the class level is much easier”, she said, clarifying that the test-grading level is something she finds “less strict” when compared to grading she experienced in northern Spain.
In fact, Azkargorta said she picked pre-calculus because she loves a good challenge.
“This way I will be more prepared to transition back into Spain at high school level,” she said as the main reason.
Among other places in the US she would love to visit, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York again are on her bucket list before she returns to Spain next summer. Still, she’s not in a hurry yet.
“I am adapting well,” Azkargorta said.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here