THE ECHO

by Simone Bender

While most students walked into their first day at Avon High School with years of middle and elementary training them for the rigor and structure of the secondary school classroom, senior Alina Storbacka walked in with nothing more than an expectation from the American movies she’d grown up watching.

Storbacka, who is completing her final semester at Avon High School, hasn’t had any experience to prepare her for American high school because she isn’t even an American. After growing up in Finland, she moved with her family to Indiana for a number of months to follow her father’s work.

“My dad got this job offer to make a production site for his company,” said Storbacka. “There’s already a warehouse where they’re wanting him to produce things here, and they told him he had to come for six to eight months, so the whole family decided to join him.”

Originally not in favor of the idea of completing her final semester abroad and away from her home and friends, Storbacka had no idea what to expect when it came to American public school.

“I was nervous and excited. Now, I think it’s a good thing,” said Storbacka. “I wanted it to be like the movies. You know, everything’s so different here from Finland.”

Storbacka said she was surrounded by so many cultural differences throughout the move, even down to the very structure of the school system.

“[In Finland], after ninth grade, you could choose if you want to do more of a high school thing or… like a specific line of work like a mechanic or a hairstylist,” said Storbacka. “Everything’s easier here. Yeah, a lot easier. I chose a lot more difficult [path] in Finland. It’s more like… AP classes.”

Storbacka said that overall, one of her favorite parts of coming to America is the niceness of the people she’s met during her time so far here.

“[In Finland], the norm is like… we don’t talk to you. So if you go on the bus somewhere, you don’t want to sit next to anyone. And if someone, like, stands next to you in line, you don’t talk to them at all,” said Storbacka. “Here, everyone’s so nice and polite. Everyone talks to each other, and we have a really nice neighbor who gives us cake and stuff.”

Storbacka said that even though she will be happy to return home over the summer, she is grateful for her experiences here and all the people she has met along the way.

“I think I’m going to be ready to go see my friends again,” said Storbacka, “but I’m probably going to miss it here a lot because I’ve made friends here too.”