The Sun

Getting back to school for Harrah High School student Ho Yan Yau has been anything but normal. Almost 8,000 miles away from home, Yau is learning more about American culture then she could in any of her history books.

Yau, who goes by Christy, is an exchange student from Hong Kong. She began her journey with her first trip on a plane, after 15 hours she arrived in Oklahoma. Once she got off the plane she saw the differences almost immediately. She says in Hong Kong "there are very, very many tall building, here it is very different, when we drive the sky is very beautiful."

Once school started Yau began meeting her new classmates and learning new subjects and routines. The first change was having a schedule of changing classes. "In Hong Kong we stayed in one classroom and the different teachers came to us, here we run, run, run and sometimes I get lost and have to ask," Yau says.

Another big difference for Yau is not wearing a school uniform. In her American school she has a lot more freedom. She says students in her Hong Kong school must wear a uniform, the girls can not wear make-up and they can not wear their hair down. "There we don't have to worry about 'today wear what?' it is very different," Yau says.

While Yau is getting used to the culture differences in her new school, Harrah students are curious about her culture back home. "They always want to know their name in Chinese, and they tell me many secrets, too many secrets," Yau giggles shyly.

When it comes to having fun outside of school, Yau did a lot of the same things at home that Oklahoma kids do. She says that things in Oklahoma are laid back as opposed to the fast pace she is used to. Here she can be more focused on doing her school work. She is even thinking about applying to The University of Oklahoma after she graduates. "Here it is not so crowded and the people are nice." Yau says.

Yau will be at Harrah for the entire school year, but according to her host mother Martha Montgomery and Ayusa Global Youth Exchange representative, there are many more exchange students that would love to come to Oklahoma City area schools but the need for host families has limited the amount of students that they can take.

"We are always needing host families," said Montgomery. She feels that many American students are sheltered and the exposure to different cultures could help them learn more about people their age.

Montgomery became a host parent after her daughter graduated from high school and went off to college. She was a host parent for two years before they asked her to help place exchange students in her homes around her area.

This year Montgomery has already placed six students in Eastern Oklahoma County, but she says there are still a lot more schools in the area that have slots for more foreign exchange students.