It is about 2 weeks since I have come to the USA, to Texas. I’m not gonna lie- beginnings are not easy. (And airplanes are not created for sleeping). When I got off the airplane in Houston, I was hit by a heat wave that I thought was the plane’s engine, but nah. That was the hot, humid, heavy Texas air I am pretty sure I can just cut through. That’s why they have strong air conditioning everywhere in buildings and then when you go inside it’s like you came from the equatorial Africa straight to Alaska. So basically you have no idea what to wear. Also, they put ice into every drink and everything is, like, four times bigger than in Slovakia. But I love it here!

People are so nice and friendly, for real. Always willing to help even when they don’t know you, always greeting with smile, or just asking how are you doing. I would want to live here for the rest of my life, if it only weren’t 40°C outside.

Now to my host family. I’m just so so lucky they chose me. I mean, it is not only that they are kind and funny, but they don’t treat me like some exchange student. They treat me as a family member. Yeah, I can still feel that this is not my real family and home, but I can also feel, that soon it will be like that. I mean I’ve been here for only 2 weeks! And things take time. We cannot give up at the beginning. More often we simply poke, tickle and fight with my two younger host siblings, just for fun, and I am also building relationship with their cat, which keeps attacking me (and everyone else too). But my host family is the best. We may not go to Hawaii or LA, but I think that a good family is worth thousands of trips. We will go to other places, but I know that they love me and want to take care of me. And I absolutely enjoyed these 2 weeks with them.

Fishing for the first time, first s’mores, family movie nights with home-made popcorn, eating in Mexican restaurants (I can’t stand spicy food and yet I love it there), getting to know other exchange students and other families, singing and dancing in the car (my family loves rap music), watersliding and swimming, playing Xbox and poker (not for real money), jet skiing and tubing (of course I fell, many times, but it was soo fun), eating and drinking things I’ve never had before.. well, and then my school time came.

My High School is huge. Really. And when the bell rings and all the students get to the halls, the traffic is so terrible, you have to push your way through the mass of people, and crossing to the other side seems just impossible. Not to mention the fact that on my first day of school, I was supposed to take the school bus in the morning, along with my host brother, however, the bus didn’t come! That is a good story to tell. Also, when I was coming back home, all around me there was this blue sky, but right above me one big cloud. And it started raining from it, I mean, pouring, and so I came home all soaked. First days be first days, right?
High School is not an easy place to survive without friends, and in the first days I felt so lonely and missed my friends in Slovakia, because, yeah, I talked to some people in my classes, but a person you talk to does not equal to a good friend. I kept saying to myself that it gets better, and guess what? It really did! I found my lunch crew and people who I am sure are becoming my friends and every day I meet new and new people.

I really love my classes, in Slovakia we would never be able to attend a dance class on a regular High School, not to mention theater, and even Earth and Space Science is more interesting than some Physics.

As I am writing this I’m not feeling very well, because I’m ill. Or maybe it is just an allergy, who knows. So I will try to survive it. But despite of all this, I went to a pool party for the ‘cool theater kids’ – students from our drama club or theater classes, and especially we wanted to welcome freshman students. The party was awesome! Delicious food and snacks and music and people and a fat cat! I met another nice people and, yeah, everyone is always confused when I say my name, maybe even more confused than when I say that I am from Slovakia. But they told me they liked it, they even like my accent, even though some people think I sound like I am from Russia. Nevermind.

To sum it all up, people in Texas have big cars, big roads, big houses. But also big stomachs and big hearts.

Šárka
exchange student from Slovakia
living with the Dean family in Magnolia, Texas

Learn more about becoming an ICES Exchange Student and Study in the USA