USA is a place where dreams come true
My name is Ema and I am an exchange student from Slovakia. Currently I live in Oklahoma, Cashion with my host family, Cates.
Normally people talk about their vacation experiences and what have they seen so far. But I want to talk about the sport activities that the exchange program in US provides.
Since I am a gymnast, sport is my passion, in any form. This is why I am very pleasantly surprised how students in US are being able to perform sports in school. My school provides students many opportunities in term of sports. You are able to try any sport you would like to, even if you have never done it before. They have different facilities for every sport and clothes are provided with colors that represent the school. Students don’t need to go outside of school to different clubs to enjoy doing sports like in Europe. And that’s how I found out new different sports, that I really enjoy.
At first I tried cheerleading. All the movies of girls doing cheer and enjoying it so much are completely true. It was something amazing. My cheer-mates were kind and nice, not like the ones in movies, and I couldn’t be happier with everything we were doing there. My biggest achievement was, when we won 2nd place on Cheer State Competition, Game day. The preparations for this competition were hard but it was totally worth it.
The next sport I feel in love was cross-country. In the beginning you are thinking how you can like a sport that is just running around in the forest. Well I don’t know but it was a great experience. I liked it from day one. My coach was amazing, she supported me and pushed me to my limits. Her coaching skills helped me to get to Regionals. Another big competition/meet, you can not really imagine how many people there were until you actually see it. I was very grateful for this opportunity and that my coach Miss Taylor took me to their squad. She will continue to coach me, not in cross country, but tracks in a little while.
USA is a place where dreams come true. I had the experience to visit OU (Oklahoma University) Women’s Gymnastics. I went to their practice, met them, talked to coaches. It was something incredible. College sports are on different level and you need to be really good to get there. However, it is very useful and effective for people that were doing sports and want to continue in it. US colleges are great because they aren’t only high rated in schooling programs but also give out scholarships for sports. These scholarships are hard to get but there are some possibilities. It was and still is one of my dreams to go on a US college with scholarship for gymnastics.
My American year is going great so far and I cannot wait what my next 4 months will give me. I am very thankful for all experiences and grateful that my parents who allowed me to do this exchange program
Ema
exchange student from Slovakia
living with the Cates family in Cashion, Oklahoma
Learn more how to become an ICES Exchange Student and Study in the USA
