The first day of school can cause apprehension for many students, including seniors. But when you’re a foreign exchange student equipped with a schedule in a language you can’t read and a fanny pack, you already know it’s going to be tough.
Sergio Ivan Castillo-Alvarez is a 16 year old foreign exchange student hailing from Copiapo, Chile, which coincidentally is the same city the 33 trapped Chilean miners are from. Upon arriving, Castillo-Alvarez was faced with his first challenge: overcoming the language barrier.
“When I first came here, I could not speak a word of English,” Castillo-Alvarez said. “My host family would talk to me, but I couldn’t understand them. I just kept saying ‘yeah’ a lot. I spent a lot of time by myself sitting on my bed in my room because I couldn’t express myself. Eventually, I just told myself that I had to learn the language because I had to be able to communicate. Now I think [the situation] was kind of funny.”
Learning to speak English was one of the reasons Castillo-Alvarez wanted to be a foreign exchange student in the United States.
“If I can speak English, then I can have more job opportunities,” Castillo-Alvarez said. “I don’t know what I want to do yet, but I know that it will help me in the future.”
According to Castillo-Alvarez, entering the foreign exchange program was difficult. There was a lot of paperwork to be filled out for visas and other such things. He had to maintain good grades in school in order to compete with the other 20 students who were also interested in studying abroad. Out of those 20, only five were chosen. The five prospective foreign exchange students were given the choice of three countries to visit, their number one choice being the one they’d like to go to the most and their third being their least favorable. Castillo-Alvarez chose the United States as his first choice, Canada as his second, Finland as his third, and Germany as his alternate choice.
“Germany was my alternate because my mom really doesn’t like it,” Castillo-Alvarez said. “But my family hosted a foreign exchange student from Germany and we’re going to visit him in Germany next year.”
Along with filling out a pile of paperwork, Castillo-Alvarez and his family began corresponding with his prospective host family, the Danielsons.
“I have had really good luck with the Danielsons,” Castillo-Alvarez said. “They are really nice and really cool. I also like the Tuftes, the new host family I have been staying with.”
Castillo-Alvarez’s family has also hosted a number of foreign exchange students over the years. His sister was also involved in an exchange program that allowed her to live and work in Maryland and New York. She was able to learn to speak English as well during her time in the US. She plans to become an English teacher in Chile.
Albert Lea High School and the United States in general, have truly welcomed Castillo-Alvarez. His favorite part about living here is the snow. The part of Chile in which he lives never gets the opportunity to be blanketed in the white stuff. He also likes the feeling of a small community. In Copiapo, students don’t have the opportunity to get to know each other as well and share the bonds built by growing up together because there are so many of them.
Specifically in the High School, Castillo-Alvarez likes the different sports seasons. In Chile, sports are played all year round without any variety or official seasons. His new favorite sport is hockey, which he has never heard of until he moved here.
“I started swimming this year and I really like it,” Castillo-Alvarez said. “Swimming the backstroke is fun and I might join the swim team when I move back.”
Castillo-Alvarez’s favorite class is Spanish 4. He said it’s really funny listening to the students with American accents trying to speak Spanish. He also finds it amusing to try to ‘re-learn’ a language he already knows.
Although prom is one of the biggest upcoming events at ALHS, Castillo-Alvarez isn’t too concerned with attending. For the majority of high school students, prom is a rite of passage and is a part of fitting in. As a foreign exchange student, Castillo-Alvarez had trouble assimilating in the beginning.
“In Chile we have a lot of foreign exchange students, but it is a lot different over there,” Castillo-Alvarez said. “Over there students make more of an effort to include them, but here it is not the same. I have friends and I get invited to games, but in Chile they are even more [enthusiastic] about the foreign exchange students.”
Castillo-Alvarez is going back to Copiapo, Chile on May 4. He said he can’t wait to see his family and friends. He hopes to come back in the future and see everyone again. Castillo-Alvarez also invites all of the friends he has made in Albert Lea to visit him in Chile as well.
Although Albert Lea High School will be bidding farewell to Sergio in May, he won’t soon be forgotten. His impact on the students who made him feel welcome in the community will last just as long as his commemorative photo on the wall dedicated to all of the foreign exchange students in the CRC.
“I really like the snow,” Castillo-Alvarez said. “We don’t have that in Chile.”
Another aspect of Albert Lea that he likes is that it’s a small community. His hometown is a very large city with multiple schools, therefore he doesn’t have the opportunity to get to know everyone and experience the bond that develops when you grow up with the same classmates.
