Raising Exchange Rates: Two exchange students study at East following the first year without exchange students in over 60 years

Corentine Armaing: Poitiers, France

On the morning of her 16th birthday, junior Corentine “Coco” Armaing unlocked her phone to find the screen opened to the weather app. Instead of displaying the usual rainy forecast of her hometown Poitiers, France, a sunny, humid week of temperatures displayed “Kansas City.” 

It clicked instantly. 

After completing stacks of visa application, medical records and hours of research on Kansas, Shawnee Mission East and all things United States, it was official — Armaing was going to America. 

As a shy girl at her small French high school, bored with the structured un-excitement of her classes, Armaing felt stuck. Originally, her mom brought up the idea of a foreign exchange program to Armaing’s older sister. When she declined, Armaing expressed her own interest, seeing it as the perfect opportunity to meet new people and explore her extroverted side.  

“In France, I never go talk to people I don’t know,” Armaing said. “Because in France, we don’t do that a lot. People are less friendly. When you talk to someone [in the U.S.], they’re always smiling.”

The original plan was to spend the 2020-21 school year in the U.S., but the trip was canceled when COVID hit. Armaing briefly considered her plan B, Sweden. It was closer to home and more similar to her own culture, but once the U.S. began opening up again, Armaing knew she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to study abroad there.

Armaing boarded a plane in early August along with other exchange students, all preparing for their own destinations in the States — Atlanta, Michigan and Washington, among others. Many East classmates voice their pity that she wound up in a “boring” spot of the U.S., but she has no complaints. 

“I don’t really care because I don’t know the difference,” Armaing said. “It’s so much bigger and [there’s] a lot of stuff to do, and my host sister has her driver’s license.”

Even moments as simple as driving around and eating in the Chick-Fil-A parking lot with her host sister, sophomore Sophie Bruck, are vastly different than her life back at home, where the driving age is 18 — and the nearest Chick-Fil-A is across the Atlantic Ocean.

“It’s kind of just like having a best friend living in your house with you,” Bruck said. “[My older sister] left for college last year so I said to my mom, ‘Let’s get an exchange student so I don’t have to be alone with my little sister.’”

Though she’s only a few weeks into a full school year abroad, Armaing has already experienced American classics like Chipotle and Chick-Fil-A. On top of her list remains seeing a football game and going to Homecoming — something she didn’t even believe was real until she heard fellow students discussing their own plans for the upcoming dance. 

“I had only seen it in videos and movies,” Armaing said through translator Tristan Chabanis. “I told all my friends and called my mom when I found out [it’s an actual event].”

Dasha Nisa Martin: Madrid, Spain

Junior Dasha Nisa Martin was on a train heading to the sunny beaches of Madrid, Spain in mid-July when she picked up a phone call from her mom. 

“The agency has assigned you to Kansas City as a foreign exchange student.”

Martin always knew she wanted to explore the world, learn about new cultures and improve her English. In September 2020, she reached out to a program called EF High School Exchange Year. She spent the next three months researching, receiving teacher evaluation letters and taking online classes to improve her English. By July 2021, she met her soon-to-be host family over video chat.

“I didn’t get to know [my host family] too well through the video chats because we only had a short amount of time,” Martin said. “But now that I’m here I’ve gotten to know them more and I couldn’t be more appreciative of how kind they are.”

Since arriving in the states just one month ago, Martin is slowly adjusting to the culture so far from her own, which is what drew her here in the first place.

“I was worried to miss my family, miss my friends,” Martin said. “But it’s ok, just for the moment, because I am happy with where I am. They are sad because I am here, and they are there, but they were excited [for me].”

Martin’s host family, the Stracks, did everything they could to help Martin feel quickly at home. Martin and host sister, sophomore Vivian Strack, had both been only children their whole lives, but quickly formed a bond through family movie nights, traveling to the Iowa state fair and navigating the chaotic East parking lot after school.

“I think we’re a lot more comfortable now,” Strack said. “Where it starts to feel more like a family setting instead of just a guest in the house.”

Martin is keeping busy with her full schedule of Chemistry, Algebra 2, AP Spanish and U.S. History, as well as hoping to join East’s swim team — her favorite sport back in Spain. 

In the mean time, Martin’s host family is already planning trips to Colorado, Chicago and California — ensuring that Martin will get to explore all that the United States has to offer outside of Kansas.