Exchange students from 23 countries left from Malibu last week for a 33-day train tour around the United States.
The group of 41 excited kids, who are attending high schools in California, Nevada & Hawaii, gathered at Zuma Beach in the late afternoon for an ocean romp and a picnic before boarding a train bound for San Antonio, Texas. Twenty more students were picked up along the way in Arizona. The young travelers will also visit New Orleans, Daytona Beach, Washington, D.C. for the fourth of July, Philadelphia, Niagara Falls, Chicago, Glacier National Park, Montana, Seattle, Portland and Oakland, before returning to Los Angeles.
The students are in a one-year exchange program sponsored by the Rotary Club, which matches the students with their American host families. The students always meet at Zuma Beach for a picnic every year before their train trip. The picnic is hosted by the Malibu Rotary Club.
Local resident Paul St. John created the yearly tour for the exchange students in 1997 because his family was host to a student from Argentina, who had just completed his visit.
“I knew there were lots of other kids who wanted something to do after their year here,” he said, “because they go home to their respective countries and may never visit the United States again. And for some of those students, like the one in Barstow, or in other isolated spots, I think it’s a little unjust to have them in Barstow all year long and never get to experience anything else about America other than Barstow High School.”
Carolina Botelho, from Brazil, is one of the students on this year’s trip. “I wanted to meet new people and see new places in a new culture,” she said.
Anastasia Babamskaya, from Russia, was staying with a family in Santa Barbara. Of her experience living in America, she said, “All doors are open and there’s freedom.” When asked what she is most looking forward to on the tour, she replied, “It’s a chance to be with everyone as a family and see all the kinds of life here.”
The family camaraderie among the students was very apparent as they joked and laughed together, played an informal game of football in the surf or sat in close groups on the sand.
At 6 p.m., the trip’s chaperones rounded up the students for the picnic. Balancing a plate of food in one hand and gesturing emphatically with the other, Siphiwosethu Ndlovu of Zimbabwe spoke about the benefits of being an exchange student, which was the subject of her speech at the International Rotary Convention in Texas on Saturday. With unusual eloquence for a 16-year-old, she said, “Hopefully, while you’re an exchange student, you learn to be proud of your country. Americans have something to be proud of. They are a great people. You learn from them, and hopefully it’s made you proud of your own country and made you realize every single individual and every place has its own wonderful things that make it a great place, an interesting place.
“I want them to realize that being an exchange student is not just to have fun, it’s a whole learning experience. You’d be surprised how much you grow within that year. I know for the six months I’ve been here, I can say, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m not the same person I was when I got here.’ There’s a lot I’ve learned, and a lot I’ve changed about myself.”