Being away from home is very scary for most people. Alicia Garellick is an 18 year old senior from Belgium who has been away from home for nearly 6 months. She is currently an exchange student at Wayne City High School.

When asked what advice would she give to a new exchange student, Alicia said, “ I would tell them to be open to everything and to not have special expectations. Personally, I wanted to be in a huge school and live in a real ‘American house.’ I couldn’t be happier that things didn’t work out like that. If you want to be an exchange student, then that means you want to see something new, meet new people and experience a new culture. If you are open for anything and ready to open up to new people and accept their culture I would just say: ‘Go for it!’”

Alicia Garellick put her journey to becoming a doctor on hold to join the exchange experience. She is now living it up in the U.S.A. Alicia finished up her volleyball season a few months ago, and she is now active on the girls basketball team. She participates in many clubs such as History Club, Future Christian Athletes, and FCCLA. With every great experience, there’s always a sad side to it. When Alicia was asked what she would take back home from America,  she stated, “If I could bring home anything back to my country, it would be my friends and host family! That will be the hardest part to leave behind! I have met so many amazing people here, and I still cannot believe that in a couple months I won’t be seeing these amazing people anymore.” Alicia likes that it’s a small community here at Wayne City. “It’s like a big family,” Alicia said. Although, it’s not the place that makes an exchange year amazing, it’s the people that do.