3/10/2008 - Not right or wrong - just different
Norwegian AFS student has made himself right at home with the DeVries family
by Mary Loden
of The Summit
For Rick and Julie DeVries having 17-year-old Olav HeibergHoff, an AFS student from Norway, staying with them is just like having one of their older boys back home. And Logan, a sophomore this year, really enjoys having a big brother around.
In between watching the action on the TV screen and smacking each other with pillows from the couch Logan grinned and said, “We get along really good at home, but we have our arguments.”
The guys may not see eye to eye on everything and their interests in school may take different avenues but they have enough in common to feel like home.
“They’re developing a really good brother relationship,” Julie said. They are already making plans for Logan to visit Olav in Norway.
Hailing from the town of Lillehammer, Norway, home of the 1994 winter Olympics, Olav enjoys downhill skiing and snowboarding and the ski resort where the Olympics was held is just a fifteen minute drive from his home. “I can see the ski jump from my house,” he said.
Although Olav, like many boys in Europe, played soccer growing up he said that any sport involving a racquet actually suited him better.
He is also interested in photography and watching movies, the universal teen pastime.
The whole reason behind studying abroad is immersing yourself in a new culture and taking advantage of new opportunities.
At Forest City High School Olav said he is required to take chemistry, physics and math in order for this school year to qualify back home, since he has chosen the math and science track, but he has filled the remainder of his schedule with art classes, foods, U.S. History, basic composition and American literature. And he loves that high school students here get to choose their physical education activity.
“Now he’s a great cook,” his host mom teased. “He can make cinnamon rolls.”
“Oh sure, the kind you just put in the oven,” Olav countered with a grin. Then shrugging, he added, “I like cinnamon rolls.”
He also involved himself in some American sports like basketball and cross country
“His dad was so excited about the cross country that he signed him up for the New York marathon,” said Julie with a smile. “His dad likes to run marathons.”
“Even if I can’t finish we’ll have a week in New York anyway,” Olav said.
This won’t be the first trip to New York that Olav has made with his dad. “His dad is director of the Lillehammer Art Museum,” Julie said. “He travels for his work and Olav sometimes gets to tag along.”
Several years previous to that the whole family, including his mother and older sister Ingrid, flew to Canada to visit relatives on his father’s side then rented a car and drove along the coast into California.
Olav said he likes to travel and his family does it quite often. While people in the United States get a passport for a specific overseas trip Olav said that almost everyone in Norway always has one handy.
He said that traveling to another country is like us traveling to another state. “For you to go to Florida is like me to go to Italy,” Olav said.
While we may be impressed by all the European travel Olav appeared to be impressed by the sheer enormity of the United States and its wide, open roads. “Most roads [in Norway] are all narrow and curvy. We couldn’t have huge Winnebago motor homes like you have here,” he said shaking his head.
It also took him a little while to get used to the Midwest’s wide swing in temperatures. While Norway shares our four seasons he said he had never experienced the 100-plus degrees that heralded his arrival in August, nor the negative digits we take for granted in January.
All-in-all the transition from Norway to the United States has been smooth.
“His biggest struggle has been the interpretation of terms [in his classes],” Julie said. Although Olav has studied English since 3rd grade there are just some English words that have no Norwegian equivalent. It is a constant learning process.
“English has about 300,000 words compared to 60,000 for Norwegian,” Olav said.
Other differences are just par for the course when visiting another country.
“They told us before we came it’s not right or wrong or better – it’s just different,” Olav said with an easy smile.
Julie said her family had the opportunity to host a foreign exchange student from Mexico about 15 years ago. “That was a good experience. We knew it was something we wanted to do again, but we were waiting for the right time,” she said.
“When people think about hosting they want to find a student with exactly the same interests as their son or daughter,” said Julie, who has now worked with the AFS program for several years. “But Olav is not in the same things as Logan. It has brought a whole new diversity to our home.”
She said other families feel they should wait until their children are in high school, but that isn’t necessary. “I would encourage families with any age children,” she said. The AFS program screens their applicants very well and does everything they can to ensure a good match.
She explained there are several months between the application process and the arrival. It’s a time of preparation for both the students and the host families and there’s lots of communication before they arrive.
“When we went to Des Moines we were excited. It is so fun when you finally get to meet each other,” Julie said.
This article was originally published here.
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