Thirty thousand feet from the ground and thousands of miles away from home, students are off on a plane ride to Europe. Setting foot in a foreign country realizing that life long memories are about to be made. Bursts of excitement coming from eager students prepared for the adventures that await them; being able to see their foreign exchange partner and their host families as the students come into the airport. 

This was once the norm for students who are a part of the Spanish foreign exchange program at Bonita Vista High (BVH). However, they are now unable to have this experience since the original fall trip to Spain this year has been postponed until the summer of next year. The Spanish foreign exchange is a program that provides students the opportunity to explore and study in a new country abroad.

“I’m trying to stay positive about [the canceling of the trip]. I’m really sad because I was looking forward to going on a trip with all my friends, staying in [a] new country, going to school [in Spain] and sightseeing. [It was] definitely a letdown but I think it’s probably for the best that it’s postponed,” senior Marina Santana De Valdez said. 

Although the trip is still set to happen next year, many BVH seniors who are a part of the program are no longer able to participate such as De Valdez and senior Natalia Colin. According to Colin, she decided not to attend the upcoming trip as it will take place during the summer before she plans to go to college. Additionally, Colin mentions that attending the trip is not practical because doing so would cause financial stress on her family. Both De Valdez and Colin describe that they prefer spending next year’s summer with their friends and family locally, especially because attending the trip would be a long time away from home.

“I really miss [the exchange students from Spain],” De Valdez said. “I was excited to go but this is for the best [for] everyone [to stay] safe and not getting sick [which] is obviously the priority.”

Senior Alexandria Guerra also cancelled her trip and was concerned with the money she and her family put down for the trip. Guerra expressed that she has been having trouble getting the money refunded. 

“It’s very disappointing because I was looking forward to this trip for so long. It’s also a little bit terrifying because my family and I [put] a lot of money [up for this trip] and [we do] not have a strong communication with the travel company,” Guerra said. “[I was] also disappointed because I thought [I was] going to [have a] really amazing experience.” 

De Valdez, Colin and Guerra all commented on the various difficulties in getting refunded from the travel company the exchange program was working with, Explorica. Guerra mentioned the struggle of getting in contact with the Communication Department from the company due to the confusion in the process listed by Explorica. 

Guerra is waiting to take further action as she does not want to pay the 400 dollar fee to receive her refund of 800 dollars. Colin, on the other hand received her refund last week after contacting Explorica in May but a small portion was kept by the company, while De Valdez said that her refund is planned to arrive in about a month.  

“I thought [that the Spanish exchange program] would be a really good opportunity to practice my Spanish [and] to get to know new people,” Colin said. “It was a really good opportunity to build [a] community and it would have been a lot of fun to go to school there and [to be able to] live with [the Spanish exchange students].” 

De Valdez along with Colin hosted an exchange student from Spain in Sep. of 2019. Both expressed their shock in how close they got with their exchange students in the month they interacted with them; they felt they were able to form close bonds. 

“[I made] lasting bonds and I’ll never forget any of them,” Colin said. “It was very cool to get to know, communicate and learn about their lives and their interests. Even down to what they eat and their music [which] are all very different from us.”

Colin and De Valdez recalled traveling with their Spanish exchange partners to showcase various places and tourist spots across Southern California. These places included Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Coronado and Sunset Cliffs. De Valdez mentions how she is thankful for social media as that has been her main way to keep in contact with her exchange partner.  

“I definitely miss [the exchange students] a lot [and] I appreciate them. I’m glad that social media and cell phones [exist] because we are still able to stay in touch. It’s tough being so far away from them and not being able to be caught up 100 percent in each other’s lives,” De Valdez said. 

Despite the struggles and stress that came from hosting a foreign exchange program, according to both Colin and De Valdez, they feel grateful for the experience and new friendships they’ve developed thanks to the Spanish exchange program. 

“I’m happy that I got to meet all of them and get closer with my friends that I go to school with. I don’t think we would have been as close if we didn’t experience this foreign exchange experience together. I’m super happy that I got the chance to meet and hang out with them,” De Valdez said.