“How long ago did you move here?”

“3 years ago.” said junior Jose Ibarra.

“I moved six month[s] ago.” said junior Augustine Besson.  “And I’m here for a year so, half of the trip.”

“Six months ago.” said junior Victoria Zinn. “I think it was the third of August.”

“About a year and a half ago,” said senior David Onubogu. “Late September, 2017.”

David is from England. He says he recalls his time there nostalgically, and somewhat wistfully.

Q: “What is something you love about England?”

           A: “My friends. The culture. Like, the diversity of culture.”

           Q: “Would you move back?”

           A: “Yeah. Of course.”

Jose has a different take on his motherland, Venezuela.

“Back in my home it was hard to find basic needs, without, like, paying extra for it.”

           Q: “In the future, would you move back to Venezuela?”

A: “No. I plan to stay here most of my life. I will probably visit Venezuela again, but not stay    there forever.”

But Jose said he was still conflicted about his feelings regarding his home country.

“It’s just the sentimental value from home that makes it home, I guess.”

Victoria is a transfer student from Germany. She is studying at Clements for the year and will return to Germany once she completes her year here.

“I like that they are on time.” she said, when asked about what she loved back in Germany. “The people are also, like, actually, really nice.”

But for the most part, Victoria has a practical view on her time here.

           Q: “How do you feel that moving here has changed your life?”

           A: “I’m more independent. Sometimes when I had a problem in school or something and I needed help, [I’d] ask my mom or something, in math, because you know, it’s like  hard, kind of. And here, it’s like I have to do everything by my own. I have no help, so, [I have] to research for stuff.”

Augustine is also a transfer. He comes from France.

           Q: “What is something that you love about France?”

           A: “The architecture. Like, the church are way different, for example. Like, in France it’s way more Gothic. It’s good-looking, like when you go just in front of the church, you see gargoyles and here…[it’s] not present.”

Augustine said he shares Victoria’s views regarding the values that transfer students learn by moving thousands of miles away just to experience a different country.

“When you change country, without your parents you grow more, by yourself and you gonna do mistakes, you gonna do things you shouldn’t do, but you gonna learn by these mistakes and be a better human.”