Hello everyone, I’m Audrey Arisgraha, a current senior student at PJ Global School Malang who has just completed an exchange program in the U.S. My exchange year is fully funded by U.S. Department of State through a program called KL-YES (Kennedy Lugar Youth Exchange and Study). The process selection itself took almost a year, starting from city to national level. You can learn more about the selection process through this link: https://seleksibinaantarbudaya.or.id The registration is usually open around August to September, so it’s best to prepare early! However, you can only register for this program if you’re currently at grade 10 or 11. If you’re still in dilemma in deciding whether you’re going to apply or not, I hope my experience will help you in deciding so. Best of luck everyone :)

I still vividly remember the feeling of excitement and nervousness when I landed in the Land of the Free. “Will I be able to survive alone here for the next 9 months?,” is the only question I have in that moment. The arrival orientation we had in Washington DC prepared us for that exact reason, it prepares us for the potential culture shocks that we’ll encounter during our exchange year because adapting to a new environment and family might be hard for some people, especially when both came from an exact opposite cultures. The orientation took 2 days and we got the chance to meet KL-YES students from other countries (Egypt, Thailand, Phillippines, etc.).

I got placed in Jeffersonville, Indiana under AIFS/AYA placement organization. It’s a very diverse city with the population of 50,315 people, just 15 minutes away from Louisville, Kentucky. So within less than 30 minutes, you can get across to another state in the U.S.!

To get the authentic American experience, you’ll live with an American family. My family consist of 1 single mom, I called her Granny, she’s the one who wore a white zip-up jacket in the photo above. The rest are my host sisters, they live in a different house but I meet them regularly. It’s also possible to have another exchange student in your family! Meet Larissa, a Belgium exchange student, that was hosted by my host sister, Aungie. Larissa is the one who wears a white crewneck and her host mom is the one who’s wearing a grey T-shirt. However, in the beginning of January I got a new friend from Brazil which you’ll see later. Her name is Mariana and she’s my double placement! A double placement means you’ll live under the same roof, or even possibly in the same room, with that person. It’s very interesting how I could learn various cultures from different countries during my exchange year in the U.S. As a fellow exchange students, we helped each other a lot. From learning how to cook, do our laundry, manage our financial, and many more. Doing an exchange year requires a high self-independence, you’re expected to be mature enough to manage your own feelings and problems. We could still ask help from our local coordinator since they’re our supervisor during our exchange year, but it’s the last resort if anything gets unbearable.

I directly started school not long after my arrival in my host city. My host school is Jeffersonville High School, the home of the Red Devils. It’s the only high school in Jeffersonville, making it humongous with 2,134 students inside it. Just like what’s shown in the movies, I have to catch the yellow bus as early as 6.50 in the morning. Usually the students are allowed to drive their own vehicles, but since exchange students aren’t allowed to drive, we have 2 choices: take the bus or have our host parents drive us if they could.

Jeff High always has a special place in my heart because many memories were made here. I got to pick my own classes, met amazing teachers and friends, joined various clubs, and tried sports that I never played before. Everyday, the school starts at 7.45 and ends at 2.20 with 40 minutes of lunch time. We have 7 periods each day, I took journalism, AP literature, business, culinary , principle of teaching, speech, and ceramics for my first semester. Meanwhile for the second semester, I switched my 1st, 3rd, and 6th period to finite math, economics, and U.S. government. For the lunch, it’s divided into lunch A, B, and C due to the large number of students. Your lunch session depends on the class you take for your 4th period. American schools supports and accommodates your personal interests, you will be assigned to departments that best fit your dream career. There are 4 departments at my school: health, public services, business, and engineering. So if you’re interested in becoming a nurse, you’ll be assigned to the health department and have a counselor that will guide you throughout your high school year.

I would say American schools make best use of technology. Each student is given a chromebook to do their homework, quizzes, tests, and any other school related stuffs. Not all works are done online, but most of them are. Each class is also equipped with a touch-screen board so the teacher won’t have to rewrite everything down again and they can make use of various features that comes in it. Regarding grades, students’ real-time score reports is displayed on PowerSchool, it can be accessed anytime. The school usually has a website as a platform for parents to find any informations regarding their kids’ school, that also means that parents could track their kids’ grades.

American schools are divided into 2 semesters or 4 quarters, 2 quarters are equal to 1 semester. The reason why it’s divided into 4 quarters is because they have fall, winter, spring, and summer breaks. When it’s approaching to the end of the quarter, teachers usually give the students extra credit opportunities that aren’t mandatory. The teachers won’t force the students to fix their grades, American high school heavily relies on individual independence. For your information, students can only contact their teachers through school email and usually the teachers will only respond on work hours (7.45–3.00 weekdays), this is why the students need to be proactive during the class in order to succeed.

I still vividly remember the struggle of finding my next class within 5 minutes of passing period. As most of you may already know, American schools use moving class system. You might need some time to memorise your class locations especially if you go to a big school. Another culture shock that you may encounter when going to an American high school is their lockers! It has some password combination which might take you some time too to get the hang of it, it’s very interesting for me to experience these “school problems” that are very different from my home country.

Other than academics, the school also provides various clubs that you can join. I joined Anchor Club, archery club, National Honor Society, and speech and debate club. My favorite one is definitely Anchor Club! Anchor Club consists of only women and they do a lot of community services. My most favourite memories from the Anchor Club is when I volunteered for Loaves and Fishes and Pilot & Anchor Club Fashion Show. During Loaves and Fishes, I helped cooking tons of foods to feed the homeless. The homeless people will come to the church and they’re welcome to enjoy the foods, drinks, and desserts that are provided. Meanwhile for Pilot & Anchor Club Fashion Show, it’s an event held to support small businesses. We modeled some outfits from local consignment stores to increase their sale. I had a lot of fun picking and mix-matching the clothes.

Besides joining clubs, I also learn to play tennis during my exchange year. Sports is a very big thing in American schools, the sports varied based on the seasons. For example, during fall it’s mainly football, soccer, and girls volleyball season. For girls tennis, it’s a spring sport. I’m nowhere close to the word “sporty,” but I decided to try tennis during my exchange year to get me out of my comfort zone by trying something I never tried before. That’s part of being an exchange student, you tried something new every day! The sports there are very competitive, American students are very serious about it because many universities offer scholarships for athletes. If you’re a good performing athletes, there will be many universities that are going to offer you a contract to play at their school. Student athletes go to practice every day and matches almost every week.

Overall, attending American high school is such an unforgettable experience. It gives you the opportunity to further discover yourself and unleash your hidden potential. The wide variety of activities offered allow the students to explore their passion, hobbies, and talents. I discovered my new hobby by trying ceramics class and those are the projects that I made during my time there!

If you ever decided to do an exchange program, prepare to discover unexpected things from yourself. Passion, hobbies, and talents you never think you had before. I hope my American high school experience will spark your interest in doing study abroad. In the next chapters, I’ll tell more about American traditions!