Mexican exchange students visit Saratoga

Junior Alisha Thanawala glanced nervously up at the clock in her APUSH classroom on Nov. 17, her mind racing frantically. The Mexican student she was hosting, freshman Ana Sofia Villanueva Morales, had left the classroom 30 minutes earlier to go to the bathroom.

As she ran around campus yelling Morales’s name, Thanawala couldn’t help but imagine the worst — maybe Morales had been kidnapped, slipped and fallen or simply lost somewhere on campus.

She could only think about the sweet 14-year-old girl from Cuernavaca she was just getting to know. Running toward the front parking lot, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Morales waiting for senior Analisa Ruff, another host student, to take her off campus for lunch.
“I was just really nervous about having to tell [Spanish teacher Arnaldo Rodriguex] or her teacher since I am responsible for her,” Thanawala said.

For the past three years, high school students from Cuernavaca, Mexico, have traveled to Saratoga to immerse themselves in the American culture. This year, five students visited Saratoga from Nov. 16 to Dec. 3.

Hosting a Mexican student, however, can be challenging. For example, Thanawala lost Morales because of a miscommunication. Thanawala did not make clear that she was expecting Morales to return after she left class. Due to the language barrier, they at times had difficulties fully understanding each other.
“After this, I realized that I had to really make sure she understood what I was saying,” Thanawala said.

In addition to the language barrier, Thanawala said there was a clear cultural barrier that made it difficult to become instant best friends.

“It was hard finding common topics,” she said. “Sometimes she talked about TV shows that I don't know and I talked about shows that she doesn't know.”

For Thanawala, who has grown up with basically the same people since kindergarten, hosting a Mexican student was a test of her social skills.

“We have started becoming friends, but we are still in those kind of early awkward stages of friendship,” she said.

Thanawala admits that as a Spanish 4 Honors student, she was motivated by the cultural credit Rodriguex offers for hosting a student.

“I have no time to actually go out and get the credits and thought this would be an interesting way that doesn't force me to totally rearrange my schedule,” she said. “My mom was totally up for it because it is like her dream to adopt a ton of kids.”

Ruff has hosted a student for two consecutive years now. She said that the connections she made with her student last year motivated her to want to experience them again.

The host students planned a full agenda for their Mexican exchange students. Ruff brought her student to a Stanford basketball game, dinner at Kyoto Palace, Black Friday shopping in San Francisco, ice skating in Downtown San Jose, walking through Christmas in the Park and more.

This year, Ruff hosted senior Nancy Alvarez, a 17-year-old from Cuernavaca. Ruff said the cultural differences between herself and Alvarez were evident in just their morning routines.

“[Alvarez] likes to do her homework in the morning, so she wakes up very early to do her homework sometimes. If she doesn't do homework, she spends 30 minutes in the morning praying, so she wakes up early also,” Ruff said. “I, on the other hand, take care of everything at night because I love sleeping.”
Ruff said hosting Mexican students has changed her own perspective.

“What touches me the most is how sincere and thankful the students from Mexico are,” she said. “I feel like we don't realize how beautiful Saratoga is and how many things we have offered to us that aren't offered at other places.”