Kristyna is this year’s winner of the Roger White Scholarship Award! This scholarship is presented in honor of Roger White, a deeply valued and dedicated Greenheart Regional Director whose passion for cultural exchange made a lasting impact. His legacy continues through this opportunity, which supports students like Kristyna in experiencing a transformative year in the United States.
Hi everyone, my name is Kristyna and I am an exchange student from the Czech Republic, here thanks to a scholarship for which I am incredibly grateful. Welcome to my first blog post from Colorado. It is still unbelievable to me that I am even writing this, but it’s true. I have just started living my dream.
Before I get to the American part, I’ll tell you a bit about my journey. In the evening, my parents, my sister, and I set off for Prague, where my plane to Frankfurt was leaving at 6 AM. Saying goodbye to them and my friends was really hard. The realization that I wouldn’t see them for 10 months was terribly difficult to accept, but at the same time, I was so excited for this new chapter. There were tears, laughter, love, and all the other emotions mixed together. Then I boarded the plane and left behind my entire life as I knew it up until that point.
The moment I crossed through security, I experienced a feeling I didn’t think I would ever feel. I felt freedom, the feeling that now it really is just up to me and I am heading to a new country all by myself at 17 years old. It was an amazing feeling. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard to let everything go, but it means that it was important for me to do so that I could try a new life and find myself. On the plane, I re-read the letters my friends wrote to me; it was so beautiful and it really moved me. I think the people around me definitely noticed.
I arrived in Frankfurt and waited there for just under 5 to 6 hours because the flight was delayed. When I boarded my final plane, I knew that once I stepped off, I would be right where I had always dreamed of being. It was still hard to wrap my head around it. Ahead of me was about a 12-hour flight, including the delay caused by a storm in Denver.
I stepped off the plane and was incredibly happy to actually be here. There I met my host family, who were waiting for me with a beautiful poster my host sister made. It was amazing to finally see them in person after texting for so long.
I have only been here for two weeks, and in that time I’ve seen the city, tried different foods, went to the Corn Festival in Loveland, met new people, had family nights, and most importantly, created a new family. Because yes, I truly feel that way with them. I can trust them with anything and I really feel like a part of their family. We are planning all the things we want to experience together. The biggest shock for me was just how huge Target really is. We spent so much time just walking around, and it was awesome. When they took me to Texas Roadhouse, it was a completely different world. So much food, music, screens, and my host dad even taught me the rules of American football there. And the free refills are just amazing.
School also started for me 4 days after I arrived, and I am thrilled about everything, even though the beginnings were a bit tougher. Right now, I am mainly trying to get to know friends and build relationships. I can’t wait to tell you much more about school than just the information I have after barely two weeks. In my own way, I’m still trying to find my place. But I can say that I really like it there and the attitude of the American teachers is great. I’ll tell you all about it in detail next time. Take care for now, and see you in the next blog post!
Come back next month to read up on Kristyna’s time in America!