By Sarah Stephens
Cheney Free Press 

Cheney hosting three Danish students

 

Last updated 11/4/2021 at 10:18am

CHENEY – A trio of 16-year-old foreign exchange students from Denmark are living here with host families and studying at Cheney High School this year.

Camilla Eriksen of Aarhus, Chrestene Baltzer Jespersen of Viborg and Malte Treppendahl of Hillerod will be here through the end of the school year in June.

“School is very different here,” Eriksen said during a recent interview. “We would have basic classes, and nothing creative like sports medicine

Eriksen is being hosted by Khalil and Kayleen Zwart.

“Everything is big, cars, when you buy stuff from Costco, everything.” she said of the American lifestyle.

After Eriksen returns to Denmark, she will complete three more years of high school, and potentially attend Harvard University in the future, she said.

Camilla played soccer this fall and is currently involved in several clubs, including sports medicine and All Things Mountain.


Her favorite classes are sports medicine and wilderness science. “I tried not to have any expectations,” she said. “I try to be very open, so it was just great when I came here.”

Jespersen shares fome of the same interests and is involved in the All Things Mountain, Key and Avatar clubs.

“My favorite class here is the greenhouse class,” she added. “I really like the people in there.”

She, too, played soccer.

Hosted by Trent and Heather Watkins, Jespersen said she’s found Cheney very welcoming.

“A lot of people here give a lot of compliments,” she said. “In Denmark, people don’t really say that a lot and if they do it is more to, like, start a conversation.”


She said there are differences between school here and her home, too.

“In Denmark, you like have the same classroom all day and the teachers come to your room and you have the same classes every day,” she said. “And besides that, here have all the different opportunities for sports.”

Jespersen said the experience here is helping her develop.

“It will only make you stronger,” she said of being an exchange student, but adding that she misses her family and friends.

Outside of school, Jespersen said discovered she really really likes hamburgers and eating at Panda Express.

She also likes to visit Spokane in her free time.

“Cheney gives me kinda like country vibes, like with the farms and trucks,” she said. “I think it is kinda nice.”

She will go back to Denmark for three more years and she plans to travel the world for a couple of years before attending college to be either a dentist or veterinarian.

Treppendahl is a junior athlete.

He was on the cross country team this fall and is planning to play basketball this winter.

Like Jespersen, he finds everything is bigger here.

“You hear it back home all the time, everything is bigger in the states, but it’s true,” he said. “Even the size of the roads are bigger.”

For Treppendahl schools are completely different.

“We don’t really pick any classes back home, just have a set schedule, each very basic class,” he said. “Here, we choose all kinds of different cool and fun classes and you get to pick which road you want to go.”

Hosted by Nick and Bridget Clevinger, Treppendahl is involved multiple clubs such as Deca, Avatar and All Things Mountain.

His favorite class is sociology, he said.

“I want to study law and I think it helps me study law and seeing how different people act in different social situations,” he said.

Treppendahl said he didn’t have any expectations when he arrived.

“ Have a fun year, meet new people, and I have done that, so far,” he said. “I have met many new people, and nice people, and I just want to keep doing that.”

Treppendahl has taken note of the patriotism that abounds in Cheney.

“You guys really love your flag compared to back home,” he said. “I think it is cool how passionate you are about your country, how much you love it and want to represent it.”

Like Jespersen, Treppendahl has found he likes hamburgers – you can find him grabbing a burger at Lenny’s, he said, noting he’s really taken to Cheney.

“I love Cheney,” he said. “I think it is a great place – the people here, everyone is so welcoming.”

He will return to Denmark for three more years of school and his dream is to study law. He plans to go to a law school in Copenhagen to become a criminal defense attorney “I think that will be fun,” he said. “It sounds like an interesting job and everything.”

Features reporter Sarah Stephens can be reached at features@cheneyfreepress.com.

 

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