Exchange Student: Kevin Wu
AG: What’s your name, Chinese and English name, and what grade are you in?
KW: My name’s Kevin, Wu Jiawen [is] my Chinese name. I’m in grade 11, and that’s a junior.
AG: Why did you choose to come to our school for the program? For a specific class, sightseeing, the experience overall?
KW: Actually, all of them. This is my first time coming to the US, so I thought it would be a unique experience… I’m really curious about the courses and the teachers and the classes, and America. So our school offered this program so I came.
AG: What did you hope to come see here? Did you want to come see New York, or specific colleges, or programs here? Is there anything you wanted to see in specific?
KW: Yeah, some colleges, like for example Princeton. Actually, I also wanted to see the University of Southern California and New York University, and those universities.
AG: What do you think about Glen Rock, the school here, and the community?
KW: It’s very good, it’s very great, actually. For example, the scenery is very great. You have a lot more trees than our school, and it won’t cause a lot of allergic reactions. Laughter
KW: It’s very friendly, environmental friendly. And so if you want to study, there’s always a place for you. For example, the cafeteria or the outside, so I think it’s very great. And also, the teachers here [are] very kind, and the classes [are] great.
AG: What did you learn from your time here? About schools and what America is like versus what your school in China is like?
KW: Oh, so generally you have [an] earlier lunch and a shorter time- shorter break between each period. But longer class period[s]. In China, we have 40 minutes to 45 minutes, and most of your classes [are] one hour, slightly less than one hour. And, as for the context of the course…
AG: Okay. If, after coming here, if you were given the chance, would you come back? Come here again?
KW: Yeah. Of course.
KW: US classes [are] more appealing, [it] makes you think on your own and you need to look up books and materials. But in China, we sometimes just listen to teachers.
Exchange Student Host: Jacques Calvez
AG: What’s your name and what grade are you in?
JC: Jacque Calvez: I am Jacque Calvez, I’m in grade 11.
AG: So, who did you host? Which Chinese exchange student?
JC: I hosted Sunny Liu [Chinese name is Liu Jiayang].
AG: Why did you choose to host an exchange student in the program?
JC: There was space open in my house, I thought it’d be cool, and also there were a bunch of trips they were going on that I thought were interesting.
AG: Did you want to see anything specific?
JC: The museum was cool and I wanted to go to New York, [see the] Museum of Natural History.
AG: Oh. Were you able to go to China last school year? Earlier this-
JC: No I was not.
AG: Okay. What did you learn from Sunny? About China, about how she saw America.
JC: It was kind of interesting to hear about the differences in, just, everyday life. We went to- me, my dad, and Sunny went to New York to visit Times Square, and… the New York High Line. And she told us about her national parks and how big they were, and just also about living there, living in Beijing… and how different it was and how similar it was to America… She found a lot of parts [of China] quite similar to how New York functioned and also a lot of different things.
AG: Like what?
JC: Like the food. She had- we went to an
JC: Italian place and she said it was her favorite pizza ever. And also, all of the lights and all of the cool stuff, she was really in awe of how tall the buildings were. She took a lot of pictures, of how many people [there were] and all the large billboards and all the people in the streets taking photos with the mascots and stuff.
AG: Okay. What was the favorite thing that you saw with Sunny, or that you did?
JC: The High Line. Cause there’s just… so much there and there’s so much to see, and it’s cool to see, as an American and someone who’s visited it before, how much it’s changed, and it was cool to see someone who had never seen it before, and how cool it was for them to be there.
AG: So after them, would you host her again, or host another student again?
JC: If I was asked to host Sunny again, I would, but I think it’d be cool to have an opportunity to meet someone new.
AG: And after hosting and hearing about her life in China, would you want to go to China if you were given the chance?
JC: Not particularly, no.
AG: Okay. Anything else you’d like to add?
JC: She was very extroverted and it was really cool to see how she interacted with all of my friends… She always wanted to come with me when I was hanging out with my friends, or going to go get froyo with people, or just after school clubs she wanted to pop in on. It was really cool to see how she was really into learning and socializing and American culture.
AG: Okay. Cool! Thank you.
