Betania Hoyos was a foregin exchange student at North Harford High School, for the  2020-2021 school year. Hoyos was in America for 10 months, and is now living at home again in Mexico. When she was at The Nest, she was a junior. In Mexico she is a senior. 

     In America she lived with her host family.  She said her experience “was really good even though the situation we are in right now,” Hoyos says. 

     “I had a great time with the kids from high school, especially [with the] varsity tennis team and my host family,” states Hoyos.

     Moving from Mexico to America can be a big and hard change and Hoyos said, “the biggest one [adjustment] was to be able to do things by myself, being more independent.”

     “[Leaving Mexico was] definitely [hard, I left] my family and friends and literally had to leave behind my life and start a new one” Hoyos stated. 

    Hoyos is a fluent Spanish speaker coming to America and having to learn and speak English was difficult. “My English was not as good the first few weeks I was [in America] compared from the last few months I was there,” Hoyos says. 

      In Mexico there are different foods, cultures, and there are also many more differences as well. “[The biggest difference between America and Mexico is the] food, the weather, the age [of] majority is 18 years, and the minimum wage is seven dollars.”   In Mexico teenagers do not work. In Mexico it is considered illegal for teenagers to work if they are under the age of 18. 

     In Mexico there are also a lot of food differences from America, which Hoyos also noted.  She said  In America people eat out a lot at restaurants and eat fast food, but in Mexico it is much more common that they will make their food in their own homes, and eat it there. 

     School in America is one of the other big changes that Hoyos had to face as well, “I have to wear a school uniform, I do not move from classroom to another[,] usually the teacher is the [one] going into [the] classroom.”

     Culture is different in both places according to the exchange student. “Patriotism is very marked in America. “The way to greet [someone] in Mexico is a kiss and a hug,” says Betania. In Mexico they also do not separate garbage and recycling, like how we do here in America. 

     While in America Hoyos played tennis, and played on the high school’s team as well. In Mexico she still does play tennis, but it is a little different. In Mexico it is only to play, no competition and the classes are for one hour each. While in America, tennis has the stretch and the warm-up, that Mexico does not consist of. 

     When her ten months were up she had to say goodbye to her host family and leave her life in America behind, Hoyos says, “I miss everything; the people in America are so kind, the food (especially Chick-Fil-A.)”