Senior Italian foreign exchange student Leonardo Salvatori and senior German foreign exchange student Alessandra Kulik joined San Luis Obispo High School sports this year. Expressions asked them about the differences in sports here and their home country.

Expressions: How is it as a foreign exchange student to be on a [SLOHS] high school sports team?

Senior Leonardo Salvatori: It helped me a lot, making friends during water polo and right now [during volleyball season]  too.

Senior Alessandra Kulik: It was really helpful and an interesting experience because you can connect to a lot of people with the same interest.

Expressions: Do the coaches treat you different because you are foreign?

Salvatori: No, they treat me in the same way as my mates.

Kulik: Not really. Sometimes they make jokes, but that’s it.

Expressions: Is there a difference in the practices between here and your home country?

Salvatori: The practices are a bit different because in Italy we don’t have high school sports so we play in a club and we have more time between each game.

Kulik: It is much more intense, because you do it every day. In my home country it was more laid back.

Expressions: How is the crowd different?

Salvatori: There are several differences between the crowd of this school and the one in my home town because here there is more spirit [at the] school. That is probably caused by the presence of sports at the high school.

Kulik: There is definitely much more school spirit here and everybody is really into the sports which is much better than at my old school; everybody is much more supportive.

Expressions: Was it difficult for you at the beginning because of your English?

Salvatori: When I first came I had a lot of problems with the language because I’ve never studied outside of school.

Kulik: Sometimes yes, because it is hard to understand everything and translate and react quickly, but after a while I got used to it.

Expressions: Do you like it more the way it is here or where you are from?

Salvatori: In Italy we learn more, but having high school sports is better than just playing in a club.

Kulik: I learned more here and we won a lot more, so I liked it more here. Also because it [playing a sport] was every day.