Looking back to Karolina's exchange year

“I remember when I first got to Houston, everything seemed so enormous - roads, cars, stores, and even food portions! Later I discovered how Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve are also bigger in Texas. And just when I thought I got used to the size of things in here, I went to the San Antonio's biggest theme park, NASA Space Center and Rodeo - the largest livestock show in the world. Yee-haw!”

“The thing that was the coolest and filled the majority of my life in here though was high school. It was nothing like what I was used to! The first thing that shocked me was of course the size - almost 4000 students and one enormous building! But I absolutely loved the idea that I myself was able to pick all the classes I wanted to take - pathophysiology, forensic science, choir, or wrestling. Even though I had the same classes in the same order every single day, it never got boring. The teachers' approach helped a lot too - they were always ready and willing to help and listen, while building us up. I also made many wonderful friends, especially in my extracurricular classes like choir, swimming, or wrestling.”

“During the high school football season I had the biggest American experience ever - pep rallies, sitting in the student section while cheering for our football team, making mums (Texas tradition - back in the days girls would make small flower-like decorations for the players as a good luck charm during their football games... but it got out of hand pretty quickly and mums became enormous) and of course - homecoming dance!”

“I loved every single day in the United States. My amazing host family treated me just like their own daughter, making me feel at home! The goodbyes are always hard, but I know I'll definitely have to revisit Houston to say "Howdy!" to my American family and friends again!”