The new school year welcomes exchange student, Gaia Albeniz De Rinaldis, from Pamplona, Spain. She’s excited to enter her sophomore year and explore new experiences in America. She enjoys visiting and shopping in New York City, with Times Square being her favorite spot. 

Gaia previously was in an exchange program in France during her eighth-grade year. She was placed in a boarding school two hours away from her home. 

“It was a wonderful experience, and I thought it was great to live outside my home and meet new people.”

She chose to come to the United States because it is a popular country. She grew up attending international schools and always wondered what living in a famous country full of celebrities and businesses was like

  She loves being involved in school activities including soccer and the Crimson, she felt that it is a group of people she can connect with. Gaia says that in her old school, there were fewer clubs and sports available to students.

“Instead of making school a place to socialize and to spend time with friends, you just go to school to study.” 

She prefers Bernards High School because they put in extra effort to give all students equal opportunities to participate in activities they love. Gaia also feels that transportation in Spain is a little bit different from the U.S.  She says, 

“Here there isn’t a lot of public transportation and everything works by car or train. In Spain, people usually hop on buses and walk.” 

She has felt self-conscious about walking sometimes, as she recognizes that most people drive their cars. 

Another difference between school in Spain  and Bernard’s is that she doesn’t have a lunch block, 

“Having no lunch can be answered by how time works in Spain. Nobody has lunch before 2 p.m. which means that I go to school at 8:15 a.m., I have a snack at 11:00 a.m., and by the time I get out of school I just go home and have lunch there.” 

Gaia isn’t used to eating lunch at 11 a.m. and prefers to eat at 2 p.m. and dinner at 9 p.m. She enjoys trying new foods around America such as Pop-Tarts, Chipotle, Mallomars, and Cheez-It. However, she states that in Spain some foods and drinks such as energy drinks are about to be banned because of how bad they are for your health. 

“I have always been taught that it’s so bad, same with carbs, cookies, and everything. I have never been to a cafeteria that hands out pizza, fries, cookies, chocolate milk, and energy drinks every day. Spain prefers people to keep a healthy diet.” 

Other than the food she also misses her family, which includes her parents, siblings, and her new kitten. 

“Sometimes I just can’t process that I’m going to spend 10 months without seeing them. They can’t visit me and I can’t visit them. I’m really happy to be here, but sometimes I do feel like I’m missing out on stuff back with my family.” 

Even when she feels homesick, her host family is always there for her.

“I was so excited to meet them, I felt like I was the luckiest person in the world to have that family, and now that I am living with them, they are as great as I imagined.” 

Now there’s a new journey Gaia is about to experience. She will have her first homecoming in a week, make new friends, play a sport, and enjoy every second of America before she heads back to Spain.