A Whole Different High School Year
Fahira Salsabila Lubis-INA YES to USA YP 21/22
“Hello everyone my name is Fahira, I’m an exchange student from Indonesia”, those exact words that I always said to my classmates and teacher when I first came here. My name is Fahira Salsabila Lubis, I’m a YES student from Indonesia who is currently spending my exchange year in Winder, Georgia. I still can’t believe that it’s been 5 month already since I tried to be brave and get out of my comfort zone to live a whole different life than what I had. Making friends from zero, building my relationship with my host family, and also trying and experiencing a lot of new things that I’ve never imagined before. United State Of America, a place of dreams.
I never thought that I would have the opportunity to experience one year of my high school year here. Long before I knew about the YES Program I always had those questions about, How does it feel like to be an American teenager that I see from the movies?. Homecoming, American Football, Basketball, and all those American High School things that at first I can only watch from my tv screen turns out I’m living my dream now. 2 weeks after my arrival in my host community, my high school held a homecoming dance. That night I met the other exchange students from my school for the first time. I finally met Jill, Carlota, Olivia, Blanca, Jan, and Neus!. The other exchange students that everyone told me about. It was one of the best moments of my exchange year this far . Picking out dress, heels, and nails with my host mom. Got to meet more friends that I haven’t really talked to in my class, and also got to experience the dance that was super fun!. After the dance me and my friends went to one of our friends’ houses and we got to eat s’mores with a bonfire. It was such a fun and memorable night!.
American High School Football Game, or everyone usually calls it Friday night football game. The Football season in my school has already started since before I came. I remember talking about watching the football game as one of my things to do when I’m here. From that moment on, my friends always go to Friday night football games at my school. And one of the most fun things about watching the game is they always have a theme for each of the games.
One of my favorite themes was “ Little White Lies “. So the theme is about writing lies in a white shirt, and at that moment my friend came up with a fun idea. I ended up writing Born In The USA as a lie because as everyone knows that I’m an exchange student and I wasn’t born here. Friday night football games have always been a really fun experience. Some of my friends also explain to me how the football games work and the rules so that I can understand the game. Talking and meeting a lot of new people in the student section, trying to catch the mini football that has winder barrow bulldoggs on it, the flour splash, and all those American High School Things that I finally got to experience by myself.
Since I was in elementary school I always participated in school sports. That’s why I really want to try and know more about how the school sports system works here in American High School. And yes, sports play a really big role here. When the flag football season started, me and some of my friends got the opportunity to be the manager of the girls flag football team. Flag Football is a variant of American football where instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag belt from the ball carrier to end a down . By becoming the manager of the team I got to travel with the team to a lot of different high schools. The players, coaches, and the managers of the team always travel with the yellow school bus. And when it comes to going back to school we often do buspool karaoke . I also took some pictures with my camera and became the photographer of the team. The experience that I had during my time as a manager of the team has opened my eyes about how important sport is in America. Me and my friends also often share thoughts with the coaches about a lot of things about the American High School Sport system.
Experiencing the “ American High School “ was a dream of mine and I still can’t believe that I’m living that dream. I’m really grateful for the opportunity and I learn a lot of new things about a whole different world than what I’ve seen before. Becoming an exchange student has also opened my eyes to the beauty of diversity. Despite all the differences that I have with my friends and my teachers I always feel welcome. Thank you U.S Department Of State, YES Program and Bina Antarbudaya for making my dreams come true.
