They hail from Oviedo, Spain, six hours ahead, nine hours away. Their culture is vastly different from ours. However, the 2008 Spanish exchange students are not really that different from the Wayland High School students.

The popular sports in Oviedo are similar to those that are popular in Wayland: football (soccer), tennis, and basketball. Whereas car racing is popular in the northern town of Oviedo, bull fighting is more common in the south. Lucía Nuevo, an exchange student said, “I don’t like it [bull fighting]. It is so horrible… Poor bulls.”

In Spain, the drinking age is sixteen; however, the driving age is eighteen, and the motorcycle license age, sixteen. Regarding our driving age, Lucía commented, “[the American driving age] is old, but important. Sixteen is fine, but eighteen is better.” A student from Wayland High School said, “In most places the drinking age is lower than the driving age, so the youth knows the consequences of drinking before they learn how to drive. It teaches responsibility.”

Pastimes are similar in Oviedo, ranging from piano classes to reading the Twilight books. On Saturday nights, teens can most often be found at discos and watching popular movies such as The Notebook, Amelie (a French film), Ten Things I Hate About You, and John Tucker Must Die.  Sofía Berdorello, said that she loves Mama Mia because she really likes the songs.

When asked what she thought Wayland would be like, Lucía said, “I thought I was going to have to share a bedroom. I like [the house] very much, because my friends live in flats.” Another exchange student, Rosa Aldonza, said, “I didn’t think it would be like this. I thought it would be like a big city with tall buildings, like New York.”  Asked what she thought of Wayland, Alicia Lopez said, “I like it.  The houses are big, and there are a lot of yards and trees.”  Oviedo is a town that has lots of buildings and cars.  Sofía likes the “change of environment” here.

Every Spanish exchange trip takes two years to plan. According to Mrs. Brown, the chair of World Language and Classics department, the trip was originally started to help students taking Spanish at Wayland High School get an authentic experience with the spoken language. The trip takes place during our school year so Wayland students can attend a school in Spain.