Aurora senior Borie finds friendship in the USA
Arriving all the way from France, Aurora High School senior Noham Borie described the preparations to make it into the United States as if he was going into outer space.
“It’s like when you choose to be an astronaut,” Borie said. “It’s important that you’re very smart because you need to do many things.”
Borie lives next to the border between France and Italy with his parents and two siblings. He was motivated to become an exchange student after not being able to remain a member of his ski team.
“When I left the team to do nothing it was really hard for me,” he commented. “I really wanted to do something so after I left my team in May, I decided to go to the USA as a foreign exchange student the next year.”
Excited to great him at the terminal gates was his host family, John and Maile Ilac Boeder along with their son, Chaz.
“It was really important (for me),” he stated. “We had only one call before I came so I didn’t who was John and Maile were. It was, ‘Oh, it’s you. I know your name, but I don’t know what time you wake up or what you eat.’ It was just a whole new world for me. I really liked it the first week and meeting my house parents and house brother.”
Joining his host family from the Netherlands was senior Jitse Valkenburg, who Borie credited as being crucial to improving his English.
“(Living with another exchange student) was so important for me because my English right now is not really good,” Borie shared.
The exchange student stated that when he initially arrived in the USA, he struggled speaking and understanding the language in comparison to his peers.
“I was sad because I really wanted to learn so fast and some people can learn really fast, but it’s not really easy for me,” Borie explained.
Alongside having a different learning curve when it comes to language, he commented that learning English in France was a challenge in and of itself.
“Even if I started to learn English at 6 years old, when you learn English in France it’s not very good,” he stated. “I don’t know why the education to learn English is really bad for any person who learns to speak English in France, which is really sad.”
With the help of Valkenburg and other exchange students who have gone through the process of learning the language, Borie has felt more confident about communicating with his peers.
“Jitse knows different languages, like English and Dutch,” he commented. “When you know more languages, it’s easier for you to understand when people don’t speak the language really good. Maybe when my pronunciation isn’t really good, an American can’t understand, but he can understand it, so it was easier for me to speak with him.”
The language barrier had been a continuous challenge for Borie when his classes at Aurora became a language test of their own.
“It was more odd for me because at the beginning of the year when I was taking physics, it was more of an English test than a physics test,” Borie said. “I love math and numbers so when I could understand the numbers, it was amazing.”
In addition to classes, Borie picked up cross country, basketball and is now playing soccer this spring.
“USA culture is more basketball, football and baseball,” Borie commented. “It’s around these three sports and in Europe we have one sport.”
When reflecting back on his time in cross country, the exchange student expressed excitement to participate in a sport he was more familiar with.
“I don’t really like to run, but when I get to run after a ball, it’s fine,” Borie said.
Being half way through his exchange experience, Borie expressed the most memorable part of his time in Aurora.
“My favorite part I think is the school spirit,” he noted. “It was a really big part of my life when I came here. It’s nice and really different.”
It didn’t matter if it was a football game taking place on a high school field or Memorial Stadium, the support from the community and his classmates became a highlight for several home games.
“It’s more about the school before the sport,” he stated.
With graduation two months away, Borie commented that he doesn’t feel sad about having to leave the USA.
“You lose maybe a part of your life because one part of your life is staying within the USA,” he explained. “I know it’s not forever so I’m not really scared of leaving this place. All of my memories are in my mind so I think it’s important to create many memories this year from this place, from this memory and my experience.”
After he graduates from Aurora in May, Borie stated he has one more year of school in France before he moves on to college where he plans to study engineering.
“I don’t know what exactly in engineering, maybe robotics,” he commented.
As he learns to become an engineer, Borie also stated that he wants to become a ski instructor.
“I want to become one in the winter because when you run into college, you need some money since it’s expensive,” he said. “I want to do that during my break in France.”
Until then, Borie is savoring every moment that he has in the United States, commenting that he is grateful to every person who has helped him and made his time in the country memorable.
“I would say thank you to all the people, because all the people have been really kind to me even if sometimes they don’t understand me, but try to understand me,” Borie said. “I really want to say thank you to the school, to the USA and my family because they’re the people that created a great big experience for me.”