Most people would consider going to school in another country a daunting endeavor, but a student from Germany did not let fear of the unknown stop her.
Sonja Rudel, an avid horse lover, is a 15-year-old junior staying with Brian and Elise Echola-Smith. She said they help her with English and spend time with her on the weekends doing things such as camping on Lake Michigan.
Rudel, dressed in a typical American teen-ager outfit, is settling in to America nicely. Even though she stands as tall as a basketball player at 6’1”, she participates in tennis at NHS, something she used to do when she was young back in Germany, before her commitment to showing her two horses became her true passion.
Coming to America though was quite the cultural shock. “The food is too salty and not fresh,” Rudel said of her first experience with fast food in America. The people are a change as well. She said that Americans are more friendly. For example, her teachers at NHS ask her how she is doing and converse with her on a much more personal level than her teachers in Germany. School life has been an adjustment as well. She said that she likes how many choices of classes she has here, but the school days are much longer than they were in her native country.
The decision to become a foreign exchange student was spurred by her love of traveling and her desire to see America. Rudel received support from her mother, who was also an exchange student in her teen-age years.
When reflecting on what she misses most about her hometown she responded with a smile and a spark in her blue eyes, “I miss my friends and my family.” She quickly acknowledged that she thinks that every exchange student would say that.
Something less predictable is watching Sonja Rudel tell near strangers to have a good day or offer a handshake in greeting. Clearly, her personality, which guided her to America will boldly not let her fear the unknown.
