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Coming to America
Posted: 03.31.2010 at 5:18 PM
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It's an adjustment going from Seoul, South Korea to Norway, Michigan
NORWAY -- For most high school students, a seven-hour school day is more than enough. But for 17-year-old exchange student Yoon-Yi Lim, the school day is a breeze compared to her home school in Seoul, South Korea.
"When I was in my country, I had to go to school from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.,” said Yoon-Yi. “But here I have to go just until three o'clock."
Yoon-Yi is living in Norway with her exchange family. Her exchange father, Greg Hunt, is the band teacher at Norway Area Schools and gets to see Yoon-Yi both in the classroom and at home. He said over the last six months she has become part of the family.
"Well I think early on we had to kind of get a feel for how we would treat her compared to one of our own children,” said Hunt. “We got to the point by this year where she's not so much a guest in the house but daughter number four."
It has been an adjustment for Yoon-Yi as she gets used to her new family, but she now feels at home.
Yoon-Yi has dealt with some other cultural changes as well. She went from Seoul, South Korea, a city of 50 million, to Norway, Michigan, a town of just a few thousand.
"Oh, at first it was so uncomfortable because they don't have any transportation here like a bus or subway,” she said. “But this is a safe place to live in."
Despite all the changes and adjustments, there is nowhere Yoon-Yi would rather be.
"I'm so happy to be here, I don't want to go back to my country."