Foreign exchange students on DI hope to see the world from different perspective

Allan Menchik da Cunha is a 16-year-old boy from Maracaju, MS, Brazil who enjoys playing video games, swimming and riding a bicycle. His future aspirations include wanting to pursue a higher education with a focus in computer engineering.

Kevin Zanon is also a 16-year-old boy, but is from a little village in Switzerland called Neftenbach. He enjoys playing and listening to music, going out with friends and is fascinated by aviation.

These may sound like descriptions from a teen’s social media site, but these two boys have much more in common than one would think. They both are currently living with host families on Daniel Island through sponsored foreign exchange student programs—da Cunha through the support of Daniel Island Rotary and Zanon through the East Cooper Breakfast Club and Rotary Club Zürcher Weinland. Da Cunha is residing with Thomas and Jana Upshaw and Zanon with Frank and Jenny Conway.

“We are always excited to be a part of the Foreign Exchange Program in the Daniel Island Rotary Club,” said Daniel Island Rotarian Derek Epperson. “This year is no exception as we not only have an incoming student, Allen da Cunha from Brazil, but also an outgoing [Daniel Island] student, Claire Conway, who will be in Belgium for the year. It’s obviously an exciting and life-changing experience for the students but speaking for the families here who have hosted students in the past, it’s certainly a positive and fulfilling experience for them as well.”

For both da Cunha and Zanon, wanting to see more of the world was a driving factor behind the decision to attend high school in a different country.

“At first, I didn’t really want to do the exchange but my parents did, and it took some time for me to make myself comfortable with the idea,” said da Cunha. “And the main reason I really agreed to do it was because I wanted to see the world from another perspective. I lived in a small agricultural city in which I felt like I was in a cage. It was always the same thing with the same people. I want more for my life.”

“I decided to do an exchange year because I wanted to get to know something new,” added Zanon. “I wanted to get out of my regular surrounding to experience things that wouldn’t be possible to experience in Switzerland. And I can learn English in a very interesting way. To go to school in another country was never the reason why I wanted to come to the U.S. It was more the culture, the people and the language. To attend a high school was just a nice extra.”

Although they come from vastly different areas of the world, both explained that the culture in the U.S. is different from their home countries.

“There’s surely a lot of cultural differences like eating habits, night time, school and family, but I’ll just talk about the eating habits,” said da Cunha. “I’m used to having a big meal at lunch and dinner, while here you have more of a breakfast and a dinner.”

“There are a lot small differences in culture from here to Switzerland,” said Zanon. “The difference that helps me the most is that the people here are very straightforward. They come up to you, ask you how your day was or invite you to eat lunch together at school, even if they just met you. It makes it much easier to find friends.”

Zanon and da Cunha both are attending the Academic Magnet High School in North Charleston and agreed that schooling differs drastically in the U.S.

“At my Swiss school we have 40 minute lessons and a schedule for a whole week,” said Zanon. “At Magnet we have A and B-days that alternate every day. Also the lessons are 1.5 hours long. Another difference is that here you have a lot clubs supported by school and school athletic teams. In Switzerland when you want to do sports, you have to attend a sports club not connected to your school. I also made it onto the AMHS football team, which I probably never would have done out of school.”

“The school is awesome,” said da Cunha. “I don’t think there’s a single thing that’s not different. I used to have school only in the morning most of the days. My schedule was for the whole week and everyone has the same schedule according to your grade. The students don’t move between classes, but teachers do.”

After being in the U.S. and on Daniel Island for over a month, both share similar feelings towards their experience and the area, but for very different reasons.

For da Cunha, coming from a small, agricultural town in Brazil, the U.S. presents opportunities that could not have been achieved without traveling abroad.

“I love being in this country,” said da Cunha. “It sure is a country that can give me what I desire and much more. It’s been a great experience so far, and I’m sure it will just get better until the very last moment. Daniel Island is great—totally different than any other place I’ve ever seen; very organized and so pretty.”

For Zanon, being able to fully experience an unfamiliar culture has been particularly interesting.

“My first month here was great,” said Zanon. “School is going well. I’m making friends and my host family is doing a great job with showing me the island and with introducing me to southern culture, for which I’m really thankful—especially the southern seafood. I love seafood, but in Switzerland we don’t have a lot of good seafood.”

When it came to picking a favorite memory they’ve had so far, both seemed to struggle.

“My favorite memory so far is between the first day in the U.S where I wasn’t really believing that I was here,” said da Cunha. “The Upshaws prepared all these great things for us to do. And the day where they gave a party for me to meet people from school before it started. I had one of my first contacts with other Americans besides the ones I’m living with.”

“It’s so difficult to choose a favorite memory, because there are so many—I guess that’s a good sign,” said Zanon.” If I would have to choose one I would probably say the moment when I came out of the airport and I saw all the people I was emailing with for so long—my host families and counselors from the organization.”

Zanon and da Cunha expressed extreme gratitude towards their sponsoring Rotary clubs, host families and the Academic Magnet High School.

Daniel Island Publishing

225 Seven Farms Drive
Unit 108
Daniel Island, SC 29492 

Office Number: 843-856-1999
Fax Number: 843-856-8555

 

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