Exchange Students and Their Experience at West So Far
By: Alex Vakar
October 2021
We’re all familiar with the process of adjusting, as the West student body has had to go back to school in person this year while accommodating our lives to Covid-19. I spoke with two exchange students who went through a similar process of transitioning, getting used to Madison West High School as a whole.
One of the downsides to being an exchange student at a transitioning time like this is that there’s a slight limitation to the events that we consider to be a “normal” part of our high school experience. There are many restrictions put in place that minimize the excitement of events like our homecoming pep rally, most sporting events, music concerts, and more. Experiences like these feel like the missing effect of going to a 3D movie without the glasses. Consider this your formal introduction to two exchange students, one from Japan and the other from Germany; Kota Yatagai and Anton Waha, who shared with me their experiences at West so far.
Kota Yatagai is a senior from Tokyo, Japan, who came to Madison through the program Ayusa, a non-profit cultural exchange organization. There is a significant difference between fully immersing yourself in the language you are learning and sitting in a classroom. Kota mentioned that there’s a lot of vocabulary and many expressions, idioms, and slang that he didn’t learn at school in Japan. He has been learning English since the 8th grade, but said that “since Japanese has completely different pronunciation from English, catching what native speakers are saying is the most difficult part [of being here] so far.” Kota continues to mention that his school has the same amount of students as West, but “we don’t get stuck in the hallway since we usually take every class in the same classroom.”
5,000 miles west is Darmstadt, Germany: Anton Waha’s hometown. He is a junior that came here through YFU (Youth for Understanding, a network of over 50 independent national organizations working together) and FLAG (a US-based non-profit student exchange organization).
“The city is known for its university but mostly for the Mathildenhoehe which is popular because of its beautiful art nouveau buildings,” an ornamental style of art that became popular in 1890 throughout Europe and the US. Anton mentioned that the most difficult adjustment he’s had to make so far is making it through the school days. However, “making new friends [helps me] survive [each day].” Anton, a tennis player himself, noted that being a student athlete means different things in Germany than it does here. He noticed that kids here also have very little free time and found it abnormal to be in school until 6pm, when his practice is over.
Clashing impressions of American teenagers came from the two exchange students. While Anton thinks American teenagers are significantly relaxed in comparison to his classmates, noticing that some kids come to school in pajamas, Kota claims that American students are “much fancier than [his] friends, and [he] loves how they speak, behave confidently.”
Regardless what part of the world they come from, kids seem to “just want to have fun and live our life,” said Anton; also they “[all] hate homework, ” according to Kota.
West has been striving towards diversity and raising student voice. I think I can speak for all when I say it’s beyond exciting to welcome exchange students into our student body and learn about different cultures in a more direct form. Astonishingly, both Kota and Anton are restricting contact with their families to focus on learning English and adjusting to new life in this country, so let’s give them a warm welcome to our school and community.
Kota Yatagai on the left, Anton Waha in the middle and Diego García La Parra, an exchange student from Alpedrete, Spain on the right.
October 2021
We’re all familiar with the process of adjusting, as the West student body has had to go back to school in person this year while accommodating our lives to Covid-19. I spoke with two exchange students who went through a similar process of transitioning, getting used to Madison West High School as a whole.
One of the downsides to being an exchange student at a transitioning time like this is that there’s a slight limitation to the events that we consider to be a “normal” part of our high school experience. There are many restrictions put in place that minimize the excitement of events like our homecoming pep rally, most sporting events, music concerts, and more. Experiences like these feel like the missing effect of going to a 3D movie without the glasses. Consider this your formal introduction to two exchange students, one from Japan and the other from Germany; Kota Yatagai and Anton Waha, who shared with me their experiences at West so far.
Kota Yatagai is a senior from Tokyo, Japan, who came to Madison through the program Ayusa, a non-profit cultural exchange organization. There is a significant difference between fully immersing yourself in the language you are learning and sitting in a classroom. Kota mentioned that there’s a lot of vocabulary and many expressions, idioms, and slang that he didn’t learn at school in Japan. He has been learning English since the 8th grade, but said that “since Japanese has completely different pronunciation from English, catching what native speakers are saying is the most difficult part [of being here] so far.” Kota continues to mention that his school has the same amount of students as West, but “we don’t get stuck in the hallway since we usually take every class in the same classroom.”
5,000 miles west is Darmstadt, Germany: Anton Waha’s hometown. He is a junior that came here through YFU (Youth for Understanding, a network of over 50 independent national organizations working together) and FLAG (a US-based non-profit student exchange organization).
“The city is known for its university but mostly for the Mathildenhoehe which is popular because of its beautiful art nouveau buildings,” an ornamental style of art that became popular in 1890 throughout Europe and the US. Anton mentioned that the most difficult adjustment he’s had to make so far is making it through the school days. However, “making new friends [helps me] survive [each day].” Anton, a tennis player himself, noted that being a student athlete means different things in Germany than it does here. He noticed that kids here also have very little free time and found it abnormal to be in school until 6pm, when his practice is over.
Clashing impressions of American teenagers came from the two exchange students. While Anton thinks American teenagers are significantly relaxed in comparison to his classmates, noticing that some kids come to school in pajamas, Kota claims that American students are “much fancier than [his] friends, and [he] loves how they speak, behave confidently.”
Regardless what part of the world they come from, kids seem to “just want to have fun and live our life,” said Anton; also they “[all] hate homework, ” according to Kota.
West has been striving towards diversity and raising student voice. I think I can speak for all when I say it’s beyond exciting to welcome exchange students into our student body and learn about different cultures in a more direct form. Astonishingly, both Kota and Anton are restricting contact with their families to focus on learning English and adjusting to new life in this country, so let’s give them a warm welcome to our school and community.
Kota Yatagai on the left, Anton Waha in the middle and Diego García La Parra, an exchange student from Alpedrete, Spain on the right.