Nico Caman, a 16 year old from Rio Negro, Argentina, is an exchange student spending a year in Fountain Valley, California.
Nico comes from a small town of 25,000, where it rains often, and the customary siesta is observed daily. After taking 5 years of English lessons, he decided that a year long stay in the United States would be a fantastic experience.
When asked why he signed up for the exchange program, he said, “My sister did an exchange in Germany, and because I had learned English at the Institute, I wanted to do it in an English-speaking country. And so I was sent to here.”
In his hometown, Caman went skiing during the winter and played tennis with friends. School sports are not provided for students in Rio Negro, so Caman decided to take full advantage of his opportunities to play at FVHS. He is now a proud member of the Varsity Tennis team.
A typical school day for Caman in Rio Negro would have begun with a 6 AM wake-up call, breakfast at 7, and school at 7:45. Caman would take a block schedule with 13 different subjects all taught in the same classroom with shifting teachers. By 1 PM, the day would be over.
One thing Nico misses from Argentina is the rainy weather. He is definitely not a fan of California’s 90 degree averages.
Other than that, Nico loves Fountain Valley. “It’s great,” he said when asked whether he liked his temporary home. “[It] is really different than in Argentina and people [are] really nice with me. They help me a lot with the language and school and we are doing a lot of things with the host family.”
By Kaitlyn Bannister
omg how cool! he seems chill 😛