On Wednesday, August 7’s episode of Digging Deeper, The News’ Nicola Ceccato chatted with St Anne’s College student Zoe van Maanenberg about how she’s going halfway through her student exchange year.
Here’s an excerpt of what she had to say.
Nicola: Can you tell me what has the last six months been like in Czechia? What have you been up to?
Zoe: I’ve been up to so much. In my first few months, I did a ski week and I learned how to ski, which was absolutely incredible. It was extremely cold, but that was in Slovakia for one week with all the Rotary Youth Exchange students.
We also toured around Europe with the Rotary kids as well. We visited France, Spain and Italy over a two-week period. We actually drove around the whole of Europe, which was absolutely incredible. We visited lots of cities. We spent a very short time in France and most of it in Italy, which was okay with me. I really enjoyed it.
Nicola: Do you have a favourite place that you like to visit?
Zoe: My favourite place is probably Rome. I have been there twice. I went back with my host family, and it was absolutely incredible. The food, the Colosseum, everything is amazing and exactly how it looks in pictures.
Nicola: I know that when we talked about six months ago, you said that you were expecting a few cultural shocks when you went over there. Have there been any cultural shocks? What have been some of the experiences you’ve had so far?
Zoe: I would actually have to say, we were talking about this the other day with my parents, but my culture shock actually wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. Other than the language, which was obviously expected, and even then it was easier and easier as time went on. But the food was probably my biggest culture shock because everything is so different.
In my first two weeks, they actually served me blood soup for dinner, and I was disgusted. I started eating a bowl of pig blood soup in my first two weeks, and I was like, “Oh my goodness, this is going to be tragic. This is going to be a long year if all I’m eating is pig intestine and pig blood soup.”
Nicola: Have you had to have it since, or was that a one-time thing?
Zoe: No, that was a one-time thing for this special holiday they have where they basically celebrate their countries becoming Czech and Slovakia. My host family wanted to celebrate that, but they made this funny joke about how they make anything out of pig. When they said that, they meant the skin, the intestine, the heart, the liver. They eat all of that food in every possible way.
Nicola: Have you learned some cooking skills that you can take these dishes back home when you go back?
Zoe: Oh, most definitely. My favourite thing to eat is lángos, and it’s like this dough that they fry and eat with cheese and tomato sauce. It’s absolutely amazing, and I’m going to have to make it for my sister when I go back.
Nicola: I know you said last time we caught up before you left, you thought you were at about a grade one level in the Czech language. You’ve been immersed in the culture now. How's the language of Czech been going for you?
Zoe: The language of Czech when I got here was extremely hard and I kind of just blankly stared at everyone as they spoke it. It’s definitely improved. I would say it’s nowhere near perfect, but I can understand a lot more and I can understand basic conversations. When I came here, my coach gave me four Czech lessons and then said I should be fine. I don’t think I was fine, but I would definitely say it has progressed a lot more and I can understand a lot more. School is still a big struggle, but if I’m outside of school, it’s pretty easy.
To listen to the full podcast, visit https://tinyurl.com/zoeinczech