GROWLER: Where are you from?

DAMJAN: Republic of Macedonia.

GROWLER: What do you miss most about home?

DAMJAN: My sister, my dad, my mom, my home, my friends, the two cities, the Macedonian way of life and my mom’s meals.

GROWLER: What would a typical meal consist of back home?

DAMJAN: Gravce na tavce, musaka, sarma, kompir corba (Loosely translated…beans, minced meat with potatoes and eggs, meat wrapped in cabbage, potato broth)

GROWLER: What’s your favorite thing about being in America?

DAMJAN: The fact that I’m surrounded by the English language all of the time.

GROWLER: What made you want to be a foreign exchange student?

DAMJAN: The English language, the experience that I am going to acquire here, the American graduation, and the possibility to see something new.

GROWLER: How did you get involved with the process of being a foreign exchange student?

DAMJAN: My friend enrolled first. I was interested in that too, so with consideration and consulting my parents, I decided to apply in the program for foreign exchange students.

GROWLER: How long are you going to be in America?

DAMJAN: About 10 months.

GROWLER: What has been your best experience so far?

DAMJAN: Traveling by planes, studying in an American school, speaking in English (for the whole time), driving a four-wheeler motorbike and riding in roller coasters.

GROWLER: What has been your favorite subject here in school?

DAMJAN: All of them, I chose them because I liked them.

GROWLER: How does school differ from that in your homeland?

DAMJAN: My school there has 13 subjects in one year, and we do not choose them. Instead of choosing, we have the subjects with the same kids that we are with from the start of the year and we are together the whole school day.

The school has 2 shifts. The first starts at 7:30 in the morning and ends at 1:15 p.m.. The second shift starts at 1:30 p.m. and ends at 7:15 p.m.. Because the school has about 1500 students, the 9th and 10th year go in one shift and the 11th and 12th year go in another. We change the shift every 2 weeks. And about the lunches, they are not served in school. We either buy something from the school cafeteria or go outside and buy whatever we like.

GROWLER: If you had the opportunity to go to college and have a career in America, would you?

DAMJAN: Yes, I am researching colleges and scholarships in America.