Annagiulia Berardi

Ariadne Morales from Spain (left) and Annagiulia Berardi from Italy (right) experience their first American football game at Yorba Linda High School for Homecoming 2023.

The First Arrival

Ariadne’s heart is filled with a combination of eagerness and anticipation that the plane ride is coming to an end. From the stunning beaches of Fuerteventura to the suburban cities of Yorba Linda, Ariadne Morales takes her first step into a world of new cultures and adventures. Ariadne Morales (10) says,  “It was shocking for me to only see people talking just English all around me and realize that was going to be my life for the next 6 months,”  and her journey as an exchange student in a new school begins. Join us in this interview to see what exchange students could hope to achieve during their time in a new country and their thoughts on this new experience. 

1. Why did you want to become an exchange student?

Although only staying in the USA for 1 school semester, Ariadne plans to make the most of this time and experience the true American culture. Ariadne comments, “I wanted to become an exchange student because I always wanted to have a life like in the American movies and I saw that there was an opportunity and a lot of people were becoming exchange students and living their dream so I decided to be one of them.” Ariadne notices how diverse American culture is compared to Spain and hopes to explore as much as she can during her exchange time.  

2. Did anything surprise you?

When traveling to a new country or even a new state, culture shock is something that almost everyone experiences. Ariadne had a few surprises on her trip across the world. There are multiple things that don’t happen outside of the USA, which shocked Ariadne during her first visit.

One new experience is the tipping culture. Although many Americans are accustomed to the tipping culture, many around the world did not know it existed. The majority of the time, tips are extra money given to servers when a customer is satisfied with their service. Tipping culture has helped many in the USA, as it gives them extra money for their income. Ariadne says, “I am working on tips; my friends and I figured out that we have to give them when we are satisfied with the service.”

Although Ariadne understands the tipping culture, something that still confuses her at the moment is the taxes placed on items. Sometimes, there is an extra charge for items, and sometimes there isn’t. Ariadne expresses her opinion, “a thing that I still don’t understand is taxes. I can’t comprehend why you just don’t add them to the price in the tag…it’s easier! Also, it is difficult to distinguish the coins because their value isn’t written.” Many can agree with Ariadne that the addition of taxes can be somewhat tricky at times.

The final thing that surprised Ariadne was the public transport. In the USA, many teenagers are able to drive at 16 or at least get their driver’s license at that time. In Spain, the legal age is 18 or older, so everyone younger usually takes public transportation alone. Here, or at least in Yorba Linda, not many public transports can be seen on the streets. Instead, people typically just drive their cars to wherever they need to go. Many younger people are also seen driving, which is not common in Europe.

American schools have the privilege of air conditioning in almost all classrooms. Even when it’s cold, there will still be some type of air conditioning or heating. At the school Ariadne went to, there wasn’t any air conditioning, even if the temperature was very high. Unfortunately, due to this Ariadne got sick for the first few weeks of school and had to get used to the odd temperature—hot outside and cold inside.

3. How is your experience in school so far?

School is taught differently throughout the whole world, this includes both the USA and Spain. Ariadne truly enjoys her time here so far when it comes to school. The education system differs a lot from the two countries on different sides of the world.

In Spain, things were taught differently. For example, each subject was divided throughout the week and the students in Spain got to do different things every day, while in the USA all your classes are in one day. Not to mention, in Fuerteventura, the teachers are the ones that move from classrooms to classrooms, instead of the students that walk to their classes.

Ariadne and her friends decided to attend Yorba Linda High School’s Homecoming. Although she had a blast dancing, listening to music, and eating food, Ariadne was a bit surprised about one thing: Americans don’t dance at school dances. According to her, all everyone did at the homecoming dance was jump to the beat of the music. It was very different from the parties that Ariadne attended in her school in Spain!

4. Is there anything that you hope to do in California?

Other than experiencing the true American culture, Ariadne hopes to enjoy her time here learning and exploring the different places. Since there were no extracurricular activities, such as clubs and school dances, at Ariadne’s school in Fuerteventura, she hopes to be able to attend some during her time at Yorba Linda High School. All fun aside, Ariadne’s true goal as an exchange student is to improve her English.

5. What are your thoughts on this experience so far?

Throughout all her time here, Ariadne compares her time here to Spain. She says, “I miss Spanish food because most of the food here is fast food and I’m not a big fan of that. I think that high school is incredible, you can do sports, and theater, celebrate dress-up weeks, join clubs, go to school dances, and learn random but cool classes. High school is much more fun here than in Spain”

Final Thoughts

Although Ariadne still has many places to explore and learn here in California, she truly appreciates her time here and Ariadne has a final message, “California has a lot of amazing places to visit and they are all so beautiful. I truly loved my time here and I really hope I can learn more about American culture.” The school life, the people, the scenery–everything has been a great, fun, and educational experience for an exchange student. Despite all the cultural differences, students are still able to connect and adapt with each other to have the best time.