Nieves Gomez was an exchange student from Rosales, School of the Sacred Heart in Madrid , Spain. She stayed with her host Martina Santos ‘26 for three weeks in March and April. Gomez loved coming to Miami and learning more about the culture and language here. She recommends everyone participate in the exchange program.
The following interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Is this your first time in the U.S.?
Yes, I’ve never been here before.
What’s your experience here in the U.S. been like?
I really like it. I love the school; it’s really different compared to my school. And Miami is just very pretty. I really like it here.
How has it been being away from family?
Kind of hard sometimes, but, I mean, I can just call them when I get home. And I’ve also been missing my friends.
Why did you decide to do the exchange program?
Because I wanted to go to the U.S. and also meet new people and get to know more schools. I’ve been in the same school since I was 3, so it was a good experience and also my teacher asked me to try because at first I didn’t really want to do it.
What did you want to gain from this experience?
More friendships and also to get to know different cultures and to learn more English, obviously.
What do you think about Carrollton?
It’s a really great school. Teachers are very nice. You can focus on college, which is something that we don’t really do in Spain. And the school’s really really big.
What is different between Carrollton and your school?
The distances. We can just go walking to any place, and here you have to take the car. And also the classes, how people behave.
What are some similarities between Carrollton and your school?
The religious aspect because the same person founded both schools.
What has surprised you the most about this experience?
How different people are here culturally compared to Spain. We don’t make the same jokes and also the language.
What’s something that makes you feel like home while you’re away?
How people treat me here because everyone has been so nice and teachers have been so nice.
What have you loved about this experience?
To get to know more places outside school because I actually have never been outside of Spain before, so it was really fun. And also to get on a plane, to make plans, it was really fun.
What have you learned?
I think to be less shy and to know how to express myself better in English.
Any final thoughts?
If you are thinking of going on an exchange but you are scared to do it because you’re shy or you think that you’re not going to like it, just do it. Because I really didn’t want to do it at first, but my teacher told me to, and it has been really nice and really fun. I recommend everyone do it.
