Name: Ariel
Host AFS Country: Paraguay
Ford PAS School: Douglas Byrd High School, Fayetteville, North Carolina
Grade Level: Junior
Career Aspiration: Teacher
Course Currently Taking: Managing and Marketing with Data

How did you learn about Ford PAS?
My sister was in it. She told me it was a very good class. It’s about business and entrepreneurship and stuff like that. [I’ve been taking Ford PAS] since the beginning of my sophomore year.

What do you like most about the Ford PAS program?
All of [the Ford PAS modules I’ve taken] are really interesting. Some are more focused on entrepreneurship, and other[s] are focused on finances and stability. I’m not sure which [module] is my favorite—but I like them a lot. They push you along . . .

[I also like] my teachers. We have a lot of fun in class. This semester [using what we’ve learned in Module 12: Energy for the Future], we’re building a hydrogen fuel cell car. And then we’re going to a competition to race them. We’re learning about how hydrogen and different fuels can help our world fight global warming.

What are your career plans?
Everything about [Ford PAS] seems to be helping me improve my studies and understand myself better . . . With the entrepreneurship classes, it’s like, “Is this really something I want to do? Do I want to start my own business?” Or, “I don’t have to just become a [regular] lawyer. I can become this kind of lawyer.” [Ford PAS] opened my mind to the different things I can be. I want to be a teacher, but now I know I can also do something on the side. It’s not just one road. You have many options you can choose from . . .

[Ford PAS] helps me out in a lot of my other classes. I know [that] taking Managing and Marketing with Data helps my algebra—I’m bad at math . . . Also, with my physical science, it helped me [to understand] electricity, protons, neutrons, and stuff like that. It [has] helped me a lot in science . . .

After I get out of high school, I plan to go to a four-year college and then get a master’s [degree] at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. My goal is to become a Spanish or English language teacher. Next semester, I’m going to be taking a college course in financing.

How did you learn about the AFS/Ford PAS opportunity to travel abroad?
There was a lady that went to France [for] one year—she had maybe gone [there] like 10 years [ago] . . . She came and talked to my whole class . . . [to] see if we were interested.

What was your experience abroad like?
The weather [in Paraguay] is definitely different all year round. Spending time with a different family and seeing how the other half [of the world] lives, that was a good experience for me. I know it wasn’t as much of a big experience for me to go into a place where they didn’t have heating, or they didn’t have air conditioning, or they didn’t have both a working washer and dryer. I guess . . . I expected it. I was only there for two months, so they pretty much gave me the freedom to do what I wanted to do. I also played soccer there. Getting up in the morning was challenging when I knew I had to go and play soccer for five hours, and then come back, and then go play soccer for another five hours. It wasn’t too challenging, though. Having to show myself around was a bit different [for] me. It was a fun change. There wasn’t any, “Ah, I have to go through this.” It was more like, “Oh, I have got to go do this.”

I [also] went on school trips with my host sister. She is studying to become a nurse. So I first visited a mental institution, and then a house where they take care of children that have HIV. We took stuffed animals to the kids; it was sad, but fun at the same time. The field trips were very useful for me to see how different the medical institutions are in the two countries. I found ours to be better equipped . . .

Every day, it was more of an experience—just going through everyday [routines] and then realizing I had just been there for two months and had gone through all this stuff and how much I’ve grown.

Were you able to improve your Spanish while in Paraguay?
Definitely. My host mother used to teach me words and help me practice what I learned. I studied Spanish for a year before, but I wasn’t good at it, so I had a hard time the first week. I couldn’t carry a conversation. But after a couple of weeks, I was able to follow conversations. Toward the end of my two months, though, I could engage in simple conversations. Learning the language and the culture definitely helped me become more aware of other countries and cultures. I didn’t even know where on the map Paraguay was before. Now I know a lot more about it.

What was it like to be an American in Paraguay?
Everyone knew I was an American. I’d go outside, and they’d know I wasn’t from there. I mean, it wasn’t hard. I didn’t act out of the ordinary. I was just going about what I wanted to do. People just came up to me and asked what America is like, and how I lived in the States, and what I was doing in Paraguay. It seemed like everyone was really nice and just accepting to the fact that I wasn’t just some strange person trying to get in the way.

What tips do you have for other Ford PAS students considering going abroad?
Definitely, go abroad. You’ll experience something that you might not really feel comfortable with [at first]. But after the experience is over, you’ll see how much you’ve changed from just a couple months before or a year before.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Adam Souza at AFS Intercultural Programs/USA for conducting this interview.

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