Austrian students become Vikings for two weeks

Samo has seen a recent influx of foreign exchange students — on March 12, a group of 44 Austrian students from a Vienna high school called Wasagymnasium arrived at Samo as part of an exchange program; they are set to depart from Samo and Los Angeles on March 26.According to Hector Medrano, the administrator in charge, this exchange program was coordinated through the company Image Doctors, who managed all of the paperwork for the Austrian students. For Medrano, the exchange program hopes to foster lifelong relationships between students of vastly different backgrounds.“I hope that Samo students can go to Austria in the near future to visit their Austrian friends,” Medrano said. “In the past, I have had American students go to Austria and spend summers and also attend weddings. The bonds that are created are pretty amazing.”Rachel Israilevich (’15), who hosted an Austrian student named Katja Weiss, decided to participate in this program because she was interested in making a new friend and learning more about Austria.“I’ve always thought that it would be a good experience to get to know other cultures,” Israilevich said. “You learn something that can’t be taught in a classroom or by visiting a foreign country, when you befriend someone who comes from a different culture.”Other students such as Sadie Saltzman (’15) were influenced to participate in this exchange based on their parents’ experience.“When my mom was 17, she was an exchange student in Holland,” Saltzman said. “She loved living there, so we decided to participate because my mom had been involved in an exchange program before, and it seemed like fun.”Israilevich connected instantly with Weiss, and according to Israilevich, this is no coincidence. After signing up to host an Austrian student, Israilevich had to fill out an extensive questionnaire about her personality types, hobbies and other activities. Austrian students filled out the same questionnaire, and based on their answers, they were paired with a compatible host.According to Israilevich, her personality meshes well with Weiss’ and she credits this to the questionnaire.“[The questionnaire] had questions on it concerning you and your family,” Israilevich said. “They were questions similar to : What do you like to do? What’s your family like? Do you have any pets?”Although Samo students and Austrian students have much in common, the cultural differences between Samo and Wasagymnasium are clear. Wasagymnasium students don’t attend the same classes every day — throughout the span of the week, they cycle between multiple classes on different days. They do not have pep rallies and there are far fewer extracurricular activities for them to participate in.“The classes aren’t similar,” Weiss said. “We have a class of about 25 which we just stick to. We always have the same class, and we have our own classroom and teachers come to your classroom.”Fanny Michalewicz, an Austrian student who stayed with Saltzman, recounts the whole experience as a positive one.“It’s a great experience. You get to know a lot of new people, and you get to know the ‘American life’,” Michalewicz said. “Also, I’ve always wanted to go to California.”