Mexican exchange student enjoys visiting Saratoga

After Emilio Cortes, an exchange student from Mexico, stepped off a plane arriving at San Jose International Airport on Nov. 18, he was greeted by senior Vishal Narayan’s family. Cortes stayed with Narayan for two weeks to experience American culture until his departure on Dec. 3.

Two other exchange students, Natalie Christian Gomez de Leon, who stayed with junior Gaia Kakkar and Julieta Albavera Ocampo, who stayed with junior Raiyah Shah, also visited Saratoga during this time.

Most years, students from Cuernavaca, Mexico, arrive at the school in November as part of an exchange program conducted by Spanish teacher Arnaldo Rodriguex. However, this trip didn’t occur last November due to a change in the value of the peso, so it was rescheduled to and occurred in March.

This two-way program also sends SHS students to Cuernavaca during February break to take Spanish classes and learn about Mexican culture for a week. Students who choose to take part in this program are taken care of by volunteer host families, such as Narayan’s family.

Cortes and Narayan got along especially well.

“I introduced Cortes to a lot of my friends, and they hit it off really well,” Narayan said. “We started joking and it was really great to experience how my friends were so interested in Mexican culture, and how my Mexican friend Emilio was so interested in U.S. culture.”

Additionally, Narayan made sure to satisfy Cortes’s interest in American culture. During his stay, the two had Thanksgiving dinner and went Black Friday shopping, where Cortes bought a pair of joggers.

The pair also attended the NFL game between the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks on Nov. 26 at Levi’s Stadium. According to Narayan, Cortes was the one who purchased their tickets.

“I don’t know how he did it — we were just talking in my house, and the next thing you know, he got us tickets,” Narayan said. “I’m really happy we went, because even though it was on a whim, Cortes told me on the day he came here that one of his dreams was to watch an NFL game.”

However, the two also faced a bit of conflict in terms of their diets. Cortes, who was used to eating meat every day, had found himself in a vegetarian household. To resolve this issue, Narayan drove Cortes to various fast-food restaurants, such as Taco Bell, In-N-Out and Five Guys, where he could order meat.

Narayan said Cortes thoroughly enjoyed living in the U.S. with him for two weeks.

“He loves the American food and culture here and I’m sure he’ll come to visit again,” Narayan said.