Exchange students bring international flair to Robbinsville High School
Snowbird – Considering they are both teenage girls, Giorgia Magnani and Seoyun Choi could hardly be more different.
Giorgia is a 17-year-old from Cervia, Italy, a coastal tourist town of about 28,000 people on the Adriatic Sea. She is a polyglot – she speaks her native Italian, French, Spanish and English. She is outgoing, with a touch of flamboyance.
Seoyun Choi is a 15-year-old from Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, a South Korean city of about one million. Her family’s home is on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
She speaks her native Korean and is learning English, often typing Korean words on her smart phone to find the English equivalent. She is studious and reserved.
What draws them together is that – for this semester – they are exchange students at Robbinsville High School.
Their hosts are Rob and Robin Mason, who live on the banks of West Buffalo Creek in a house they once ran as a bed and breakfast.
The Masons – who have five grown children – had a janitorial business in Myrtle Beach before moving to Graham County, where Rob started teaching at the high school and community college levels. They are retired now.
The Masons hosted an exchange student from El Salvador a few years ago and signed up to host two more this year.
They got their choice of candidates.
Upon arrival
Giorgia Magnani and Seoyun Choi flew in to Asheville on different days during the holiday break. During the drive to Graham County, they went from Asheville’s freeways to four-lane mountain expressways, two-lane country highways, two-lane mountain roads, through countless hairpin turns before going up the dirt road that leads to their hosts’ home on the banks of West Buffalo Creek.
The altitude? A hair shy of 2,168 feet, with thickly-wooded, steep mountain slopes in all directions.
Giorgia comes from a relatively small town that has over three times the population of all of Graham County’s 8,440 residents. Seoyun’s home town is a metropolis by itself, but is part of the far larger Seoul Capital Area, which has a metro population of 26 million – more than twice all of North Carolina.
Both are well-traveled. Seoyun has been to the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Singapore, France, Malaysia and Vietnam – all family trips.
Giorgia has been to the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Denmark and in a previous trip to the United States, West Virginia, primarily educational trips (Spain for Spanish immersion, for example).
At school
Seoyun comes from a culture that places extreme value on education, Rob said – particularly STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).
Between school, tutoring, and self-directed learning, her studies take her well past midnight each day. At home, the school week is six days, with Sundays being her “weekend.”
Seoyun’s education is heavy in science and math; she took Trigonometry 1 and 2 in ninth grade. Even her spare time is consumed by education.
If she watches YouTube, it’s a tutorial of some kind.
“American education is easier than Korean education; it’s hard,” she said.
Seoyun has had trouble adjusting to the more laid-back approach to education in Graham County.
She has had difficulty adjusting to earlier bedtimes, for example.
Giorgia’s education has taken her to numerous countries to immerse her in her language studies. It is less focused on STEM, but is nevertheless rigorous.
The two are in different grades, take different classes and hang out with different age groups. Think of them as Team Giorgia and Team Seoyun.
They say that their fellow students and teachers at Robbinsville High School have been very kind.
“We’re happy to have them here,” said Robbinsville High School Principal David Matheson.
The school once had a couple of exchange students each year, he said, but it has been a few years since the school had any. The difficulty has been finding host families, he said.
Food
Local cuisine has been an adjustment for both teens, particularly school lunches.
In South Korea – according to the ArcGIS.com website – school lunches generally consist of soup, rice, kimchi and two other side dishes, such as a steamed egg and spicy mushroom soup.
In Italy, according to The Washington Post, school lunch almost always begins with a “primo” (or first course) of pasta – penne with tomatoes and ricotta cheese, for example – followed by a high-protein main dish, such as roasted chicken, and a side of vegetables.
Dessert is usually fruit.
School lunch in Robbinsville consists of an entree such as pizza, corn dogs, chicken tenders, macaroni and cheese, cheeseburger or pork BBQ on a bun; a side dish like French fries, corn, or mashed potatoes; and fruit such as sliced pears, apples, or peach cup.
Seoyun describes American food as “very big and salty. In Korea, more vegetables and rice.” And, she adds, spicy.
“She likes rice and seaweed,” said Robin.
Seoyun’s mother packed meticulously, including one suitcase just for food.
Giorgia won’t discuss the subject – “I don’t speak about the food because there is no comparison,” she said.
The mountains
For Seoyun – whose apartment rises about 240 feet above street level – home has few trees and is fairly flat. City lights make stargazing a mere dream.
Out on West Buffalo, Seoyun gets a front-row seat to starry nights.
“Oh my gosh,” she said. “The light pollution at night, almost no stars. But when I am in America I can see a lot of stars. Unbelievable.”
The differences Giorgia has experienced aren’t quite as striking. As a Boy Scout (Scouts are co-educational in Italy and go by Boy Scouts), she’s traveled to the mountains in Italy as well as during her other travels.
Snow?
“A little,” said Seoyun.
For Giorgia, not so much.
Return plans
The two return home in early June. There’s not much wiggle room between the end of the semester and their flights home, which leaves the Masons closely watching the weather reports and snow-related school closures, which have happened several times since the teens arrived.