Hiba Sader is a 16-year-old high school junior who is taking part in a foreign exchange program. While originally from Nablus, Palestine, Sader will spend the 2019-20 school year at Rushford-Peterson High School.
Being so far from home for almost a year would intimidate most, but Sader was lucky enough to get a preview of America and the foreign exchange program before she even enrolled. “One of my friends in school was an exchange student last year, she was placed in Arizona,” Sader explained. “So she was having fun, posting stuff on Snapchat and Instagram, so I thought, ‘Oh, thats cool, I should apply to go next year’ and my parents said, ‘Oh you should do this, you would have so much fun.’ I applied to the program and here I am.”
Sader has been adjusting well to life in America, but it hasn’t been without challenges. “I miss my family and friends, and the weather, of course!” she said. “It is warm there compared to the weather here. What’s cool about America is you have hot weather, cold weather, and weather somewhere in the middle all in one.”
Sader is liking life in a small town, despite living in a very large city back home (Nablus has a population of about 126,132 people). “It’s clean here, I live in a really big city, it’s not always this clean. There’s just so few people here,” she said.
Sader is currently involved in volleyball, Drama Club, and the all-school play “Treasure Island”, and is enjoying all three so far.
While she is not taking to the stage in the Nov. 7-9 run of “Treasure Island”, Sader will be making props for the show, as well as helping with costuming.
And despite having little experience with the sport before arriving here, Sader is enjoying the volleyball season so far. “Back in Palestine we don’t have sports that we pick to join, we have to be in every month and it is chosen for us. I joined volleyball here because I thought I would meet more people than in cross country, and I did,” Sader said. The volleyball season is still going, and games are typically on Tuesdays and Thursdays of each week.
Originally published on http://www.bluffcountrynews.com