Argenta Oreana High School - Pilot Yearbook (Argenta, IL)

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DRIFA “I have always wanted to come to America, but never really believed I would. “The thing about America that surprised me was their friendliness towards me. They treated me as though I was coming home from a long trip. People in Iceland think and are a lot like Americans. They have most of the things you have, but everything is smaller becouse the population is only 200,000. “What I like most here is your hot summers and the trees. Sometimes though I miss the mountains, glaciers, and the ocean. “The food is kind of different than lam used to. For example: hamburgers, pie, corn, pizza, and potato chips. School is very different, too. In Iceland the teach- ers walk between classrooms, and each class is in the same room. We have ten to fifteen minute breaks between classes, and one hour for lunch. We take more subjects and have different subjects every day. We need only nine years to graduate, but we go to school on Saturday. I have never seen football or baseball before I came here. But we have basketball and soccer. “Last summer I enjoyed waterskiing and had a sun- tan for the first time in my life, and I liked it very much. “I would like to thank everyone thatmade it possible for me to spend this year in the United States of America, especially those that became my friends.

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TIME CHANGES US

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VIVIAN And this year we have two exchange students; I would like for them to stand up. In the first day of school when Mr. Mosier introduced Drifa and me, I could hear the beat of my heart. Sometimes it looks for me that I have always been here; it seems that I hove seen all those faces before. At the beginning I was afraid I wouldn't find my classes, and it was hard to understand the people. But with the time, I learned how to love the school and every day I made myself open the eyes to watch everything: the face expressions, the classes, the halls. I want to keep every detail in my mind. “I got so excited with my first football game. I loved it--the band and the cheerleaders, and after I became a pom-pom girl it almost looked that I was part of the ceremony. When I remember Homecom- ing and the play and all the exciting things we have till the end of the year, it is really a great school. I know there is going to be a day that is going to be my last one. But I know that other exchange students are going to come and feel the same way I do. I hope this chain is never going to break.”