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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2016)
FRIDAYEXTRA ! The Daily Astorian Friday, April 1, 2016 Weekend Edition An exchange of culture Denmark Germany France Astoria, Oregon Japan S. Korea Hong Kong Eva Ip Minji Song Kyoka Tanahashi Amandine Malnou Jan Kreibich Students from Asia, Europe spend time in Astoria By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian T hey didn’t really have a choice beyond coming to the United States , and some did not know where Astoria or Oregon was even located. But the six foreign exchange students assigned to Astoria High School — three each from Asia and Europe — have been enjoying their time on the North Coast, in their own ways. The students, all 16 or 17 and clas- si¿ ed as juniors for the year at Astoria, are Kyoka Tanahashi from Japan, Minji Song from South Korea, Ka Ching “Eva” Ip from China, Laura Axelsen from Den- mark, Jan Kreibich from Germany and Amandine Malnou from France. ‘I thought the town was kind of weird because of all the hills. But I think it was cool because of the river and all the bridges.’ Laura Axelsen foreign exchange student hailing from Denmark Coming west Coming east Most of the foreign exchange class had to Google “Oregon” and “Astoria” when they found out where they would be going to school . T he Asian students each come from cities more populous than the Beaver state. “I knew where Oregon was, but I didn’t know anything about Astoria,” said Tanahashi, who comes from Yoko- hama, a city of more than 3.5 million people just south of Tokyo. Since coming to Oregon, Tanahashi said she has taken pleasure in the simple things of small town life on the Oregon C oast, from seeing stars at night to even enjoying the prodigious amount of rain. “And downtown during Christmas was so cute,” she said. Song, who comes from the Gyeong- gi-Do, a province of 12 million surround- ing South Korea’s capital Seoul, had to Google “Oregon.” “Most Korean peo- ple know Washington, or California,” she said. “I’d never heard of the city of Asto- ria before,” said Ip, who comes from Hong Kong, a Chinese city of more than 7 million. Ip, like the other students, surfed the net to ¿ nd out more about her new home . “I’ve never stayed alone by myself in other countries,” she said. “This is the ¿ rst time I’ve been to America.” For Malnou, Astoria is the big city compared to her hometown of Ville- toureix, a small village in the countryside of southwestern France. “There’s a lot of ¿ elds,” she said of her pastoral home. “I just got like one neighbor next to my house. In front of me is a ¿ eld, to the side is a ¿ eld. We’ve got a big garden; behind my house is all of that.” Coming from the most similar envi- ronment to Astoria is Axelsen, from Odder, a city of 11,000 in the east of Den- mark about 10 minutes from the Katte- gat, a small sea dividing Denmark from Sweden. “I thought the town was kind of weird because of all the hills,” said Axelsen, whose home country is À at and on aver- age 100 feet above sea level. “But I think it was cool because of the river and all the bridges.” Kreibich comes from Ludwigshafen, an industrial city in southwest Germany home to BASF, the largest chemical pro- ducer in the world. “It’s nice to take a break from the city,” he said. “I would consider (Asto- ria) a village. People over here tend to start conversations easier. They’re more into small talk, which is not common at home. Germans are friendly, too. Amer- icans are just more willing to start small talk.” Freedom in school The exchange students, while facing a learning curve in their English skills, uni- versally said they enjoy the relative free- dom of study in America, even if they are a bit behind in math and science where they would be at home. “At my school, many students sleep during class, because the teacher is so boring,” said Tanahashi. “The classes are all decided by an education organization.” The dynamic is similar in Korea, where Song said teachers teach and stu- dents listen quietly. “When we called our teacher’s name, it could be seen as rude to the teacher,” she said. Every one of the students said they stay in the same class all day, all year, in their home countries. Kreibich said he enjoyed teachers having their own rooms, and not having to be with the same 30 students all day like in Germany. “We also do not have whiteboards and projectors,” he said. “We use blackboards.” After exchange Astoria’s exchange students arrived in August and leave in June, albeit in differ- ent directions. Tanahashi will return to school in Japan, but is interested in returning to America to study medicine. Malnou said she will return to France and graduate one year late before going to college to be an architect. Kreibich, a self-described plane addict, said he would like to attend Lufthansa Flight Training in Germany after he ¿ nishes a couple more years of secondary school. Song said she will visit Korea, return to ¿ nish her senior year at a high school in Michigan, attend college in Oregon and hopefully live in Portland. Ip said she will return to Hong Kong for a month before moving on her own to Seattle to attend Pierce Community College. Axelsen, returning to Denmark to ¿ nish secondary school, is a bit disap- pointed about having to leave Astoria just before the Scandinavian Midsummer Festival. Her host family’s student last year, Kristina Kjellberg, was named Miss Sweden, and Axelsen said she was inter- ested in following up this year as Miss Denmark. Laura Axelsen
