Exchange student comes to Colfax from Norway

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | Jan 05, 20120

She comes from the coastal town of Sandefjord, Norway. She was assigned to the wheat town of Colfax.

Jenny Hansen is in her fifth month of a one-year experience as a Rotary International exchange student.

Her journey has brought her American culture - as seen in movies, and some not seen in movies - as well new sports to play and even being crowned homecoming princess.

Hansen, 17, flew from Oslo to Iceland to Seattle to Spokane in August after a period of deciding if she wanted to take the leap. She had read blogs of other exchange students from Norway, but after being accepted into two programs she considered dropping the idea.

However, after going to a Rotary meeting where a former exchange student relayed all the same fears Hansen had, she decided to step onto that plane.

“I wanted to get good in English, meet new people and experience something new,” she said.

The daughter of a banker and a school administrator in the former whaling port of Sandefjord, Hansen came to the U.S. in her second year of videregaende, which is the optional third tier of Norway’s school system. She has chosen science as her area of focus, although this year in America will not count when she returns to Norway.

She stays in touch with friends and family in Sandefjord – population 45,000 — by phone and Skype over the nine-hour time difference. E-mail and Facebook provide another line.

Stepping off of the plane in Seattle, she first noticed a difference.

“People in Norway are more closed to the people we don’t know that well,” she said. “Here people just talk to anyone it seems.”

Then she went to get something to eat at the airport.

“It was really cheap,” she said.

Hansen arrived in Colfax and moved in with the Eng family. She joined the volleyball team, a sport she had only played a little on the beach. Now basketball is underway.

“I’ve played P.E. basketball but you can’t compare it,” she said.

At Christmas time, she missed the traditions of home, including certain foods, family gatherings and dressing up.

“I like it that it’s more casual here, but I also miss dressing up sometimes,” she said.

Here in the U.S., school is more of a focal point for her. In Norway, sports and other extracurricular activities are separate from the school.

“Here you spend a lot of time at school,” she said. “At home I would just go to school for classes.”

They do have a prom in Norway, which is referred to as the ball.

Her favorite activities so far on her exchange experience include trips to Seattle, Lake Chelan, Priest Lake and a day in Coeur d’Alene with other area exchange students.

In October, she was crowned a homecoming princess on a Monday and rode into the football game on the back of a motorcycle on Friday. She hadn’t seen that in a movie.

She now lives with the Webber family, and will move to a third family in the spring. Rotating host families is a standard practice for Rotary’s exchange program.

Hansen said she looks forward to spring break when her parents, sister and brother will arrive for a visit. They plan a road trip from Seattle to San Francisco.

Before that, there will be a ski trip to Rossland, B.C., with other area exchange students.

“I like it a lot here,” she said. “I wasn’t that excited about coming to a small place at first, but I’m really glad it worked out that way.”