Meet Akylbekova Aikumush.  She is from Kyrgyzstan, a country in Asia.

Q: How is the US different from your country?

A: The culture is different, school is different, everything is different. Kyrgyz people eat a lot of ham, fast food, and Chinese food, but we also have a lot of national foods. We eat a lot of meat, like sheep, beef, horse–and the horse meat is the best. In my country, we speak Kyrgyz, the national language of my country. The second language is Russian, so I can freely speak both, and English in my country is like French and Spanish in this country. My English is not very good, but I’m trying to make it better. I am also in the French class.

 Q: How did you become an exchange student?

A: It’s a long story. To become an exchange student, there were three rounds. You have to pass the first round to prove you know English. The second round you have to write three essays in 45 minutes, pass a reading test, and fill out a lot of documents on your house, family and school grades. It’s long. The first was in September, the second as well, and the third in December, and in May you now that you became an exchange student. The first test was difficult. Everyone spoke English, and you’re translating from English to your language.

Q: How did it feel to leave your family back home?

A: I’m not too sentimental, but there are times when I really miss my family. I have a big family. I have four siblings; I’m the eldest. I have three little brothers and a little sister.

Q: How is life with your host family?

A: It’s really good. I really like them; they’re not boring. Every weekend they try to do something, they try to show me something. The weekends are fun.

Q: How is School here different from school in your country?

A: Here you have a study hall.  We don’t have that in my country. In my country, we have classmates, so every class we are together, and we can’t choose subjects, so we have to study a lot of difficult subjects. We also have uniforms; we have to wear black skirts with white blouses. You can choose the classes,;the schedule is not the same every day. We had to study all this science, and Algebra, I was not good at algebra, but I’m getting better with the help of Mr. Zwank and Mr. Goodale. I am better with literature and languages.