Emma van Bourgonje, left, and Daniela García Juárez, right, are both attending United South Central High School this year as foreign exchange students. Emma is from Bonaire, a small Caribbean island, while Daniela is from Elche, Spain. Both girls are staying in Wells with John and Cindy Herman.

Exchange students Emma van Bourgonje and Daniela García Juárez say their first introduction to American high school was through movies and television shows.

Emma glimpsed the lives of American teenagers on shows like ‘Pretty Little Liars,’ ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘Gilmore Girls.’

Daniela, meanwhile, grew up watching Disney Channel.

“I’ve always really liked the language English, and I watched Disney Channel a lot,” Daniela explains. However, she says it was seeing other exchange students share their experiences on social media which solidified her decision to try American high school for herself.

“I knew everything wouldn’t be like the movies, but I still wanted to try it,” Daniela says.

Emma, meanwhile, had experienced the upheaval of moving to a new country in her early teens, and she wanted to apply what she had learned from the experience to an exchange trip.

“When I was 13, I moved to the Caribbean. I lived in the Netherlands first,” Emma explains. “It was very hard the first few years because I wasn’t open to it.”

She says it was a change in mindset which eventually helped her adjust to her island home – fully opening her mind to the Caribbean was the key to settling into her new life.

“I wanted to take that experience and learn from it,” Emma says.

Additionally, she was eager to try traveling on her own. She had, of course, made her initial move to the Caribbean with her family – her parents, her twin brother and two younger sisters.

Daniela, meanwhile, grew up in Spain. She lives with her mother in Elche, a city located in Spain’s Valencian Community. She also has a four-year-old half sister who lives with her father nearby.

Once Daniela had decided she would like to spend her senior year of high school in America, her mother helped her find an agency which would facilitate her exchange trip.

The agency they found, Deaquiparafuera, requires exchange student candidates to undergo an interview process before they are accepted into the program. Daniela explains the agency is typically seeking outgoing candidates who will adjust quickly to life in a new country.

“I’m shy, so I was worried about that,” she admits.

However, Daniela had recently taken a three-week trip to England, and she thinks her travel experience helped convince the agency to accept her application.

Emma also used an agency to facilitate her exchange trip. She had already graduated from high school when she applied, but, as she explains, “I wanted to get the experience I see in the movies.”

Emma and Daniela arrived in Wells in early August. Emma landed in New York on Aug. 23, and had made her way to Minnesota by Aug. 26. Daniela arrived two days later, on Aug. 28.

They had time to squeeze in a quick trip up North with their host parents, John and Cindy Herman, before school started. However, ever since classes at United South Central (USC) High School started on Sept. 5, the girls’ full schedules have permitted little time for traveling around Minnesota.

This semester, Emma is taking college algebra, U.S. government, horticulture, economics, English, pottery and baking.

“U.S. government is my favorite – it’s interesting to see the differences between my government and the government here,” Emma says. She also enjoys horticulture.

Daniela, meanwhile, has filled her schedule with study hall, algebra II, biology, economics, English, chemistry II and baking.

Although she says baking is her favorite, she adds, “I also really like algebra. It feels easier here than in Spain, the way it’s taught.”

Both girls say their school days at home are structured differently. While American students have the same class schedule every day, Emma and Daniela grew up with schedules which varied day by day.

Alternating daily schedules allow students to take more classes at a time – Daniela says she took as many as nine to 11 classes at once last year.

Daniela’s course schedule in Spain included many classes which would be familiar to American students, including economics, physical education, math and English – her language course.

However, her schedule also included philosophy, an independent research project and a language course taught in a dialect specific to Spain’s Valencian Community.

Emma’s courses last year included geography, economics, math, art, Dutch, English, and history – her favorite subject.

Neither Emma nor Daniela had the opportunity to participate in school-sanctioned sports growing up; their communities offered sports privately instead.

Emma is taking full advantage of the activities USC offers. She has spent her first few months at USC as a member of the tennis team, and she is considering joining the softball team in the spring.

“I really love (tennis),” she says. “I wish I could do it all year. My team is like a family.”

Daniela is unsure whether she will participate in a sport yet, although she is considering signing up for track in the spring.

At home, she fills her time with crocheting, roller skating and reading. Meanwhile, Emma says she likes to go to the beach with friends.

“I like to do anything creative,” she adds.

When asked if anything has surprised them following their arrival in the United States, both girls respond that they have tried their best to keep an open mind about their new school and community.

“I’m just learning – I didn’t want to have expectations,” Emma says.

However, both girls admit they have observed a few differences between their schools at home and USC, as well as some broad cultural differences between Spain, the Caribbean and the United States.

“The teachers (at USC) are really different – they get more involved, and they are friends with the students,” Daniela says. She adds, “The people are really different from people in Spain.” 

Emma agrees that she has observed different styles of communication between Americans and people she interacts with in the Caribbean.

“Where I come from, people are really direct. People are not direct here,” she says.

Both girls also say the food is different in America – it is typically less healthy and fresh than the food they are accustomed to eating at home.

“We are so lucky that our host mother cooks, but so many people eat microwaved meals,” Emma notes.

She and Daniela agree that they are grateful to have the Hermans as their host family.

“They were nice and open,” Daniela says. “It wasn’t awkward (to meet them).” 

Emma adds, “We already call our host parents ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad.'”

The girls are open to any and all experiences they encounter during their stay in America. However, Daniela also says she would like to visit Disneyland and New York some day. She is interested in attending college in America, too, although she would also consider studying at a college in Spain which will allow her to study abroad.

“I love Spain, but I just love to travel, and I love talking in English,” Daniela explains.

Emma also fosters dreams of traveling more in the future.

“I live on such a small island that you can’t even see on a map,” she says. “I want to see as much of the world as I can.” 

In the meantime, though, Emma is focused on soaking up Wells’s local culture.

“I want to see everything local I can,” she says. “I just want to enjoy every day the most I can, and say yes to every opportunity.”