During the 2008-09 school year Goodrich High School hosted six foreign exchange students from five different countries.
Prior to their departure home, the six responded to few questions regarding their stay in Goodrich.
Name: Martin Nahlovsky
Age: 18
Home: Lysa nad Labem, Czech Republic
Memorable: The Stanley Cup playoffs. I went to several Red Wings games in Detroit.
Cultural: School is very different. We have one more year of high school in the Czech Republic and the schedule is different every day.
Learned: I have learned a ton of new words, also a lot of swear words.
Name: Yibo Qi
Age: 16
Home: Shanghai, China
Memorable: I got a lot of cookies in the cafeteria.
Cultural: I grew up in a big city and it’s different with Goodrich. And the holidays are different. I never celebrated Mother’s Day before.
Learned: How to really get along with my host family and understand each other more.
Name: Eu Jin Gong
Age: 16
Home: Cheng Ju, South Korea
Memorable: Korea is a small country, so lots of people don’t have yards. I did yard work here.
Cultural: The culture of relationships between teacher and student is so much different, like trust between them.
Learned: The way to be an adult.
Name: Zhixin Wang
Age: 17
Home: Luoyang, China
Memorable: I was in the Tennis Team and met lots of good friends there.
Cultural: Freedom. In my hometown, we don’t have so much time to enjoy sports.
Learned: I learned to be independent. I learned lots of cooking in the U.S., like cookies and pizza.
Name: Camila Fernandes
Age: 18
Home: Sorocaba, Brazil
Memorable: It’s been amazing to experience this way of life that I knew by movies.
Cultural: People here have more time to enjoy being around friends and practice sports. Because of our schedule in Brazil, we don’t really have that much time during the week to do other activities besides school.
Learned: I’ve learned how important it is to be open-minded. There is so much to see and learn about other cultures.
Name: Yuka Kishi
Age: 17
Home: Japan
Memorable: Homecoming, Snowcoming, Prom, field trips.
Cultural: American people aren’t shy. They eat a lot. Classes finish much earlier. They have funny personalities.
Learned: English and the U.S. culture.