By Emmy Benton, News Editor
4,118 miles.
That’s a 10 hour flight. Or a drive from Corolla to Ocracoke — 35 times in a row. Or swimming the length of an Olympic-sized pool 82 times.
The wide distance is the amount of miles Frederik Eriksen traveled in August to come to America. Eriksen is a foreign exchange student this year from Sealand, Denmark, which is home to Copenhagen, Denmark’s capital. He’s living with Maura Trivette, a junior at FFHS, along with her parents, Donna and Robert Trivette.
Eriksen decided to become a foreign exchange student after choosing to take a year off from regular school to play basketball. He could either go to Efterskole, which is a boarding school in Denmark where you can play sports, or come to America as a foreign exchange student.
“My mom came up with the idea that I could go to the US and I was thinking, ‘Why not? That sounds like a great idea,’” Eriksen said. “Then, my mom’s colleague in Denmark, Dee, who is Robert’s niece, suggested [the Trivettes] and now I’m here.”
The process, while very rewarding, was time consuming for Eriksen and family.
“There’s a lot that goes into it and it’s a long process that you start a year to a year and a half beforehand,” FFHS guidance counselor Beth Garrett said. “It’s not simple because you also have to get special visas and travel papers.”
Once all the documents are approved by the agencies and Central Office, Garrett video chats with the student and their family in the foreign country, as well as the host family to coordinate things such as travel plans and classes that the student will take.
Donna Trivette said that the whole process was a fairly easy one.
“We already knew Frederik and his family and they found an agency to organize the trip and necessary documents,” Donna said.
As for Maura, she was excited to get the opportunity to live with a foreign exchange student and be able to experience something like this.
“It’s a story I’m going to tell for a while about how I lived with somebody from Denmark for a year,” Maura said. “It’s an experience that’s very unique.”
And so far, Donna says Eriksen is adjusting well.
“It’s been great! Frederik is not a picky eater and goes along with whatever our crazy family plans are,” Donna said.
Maura agrees and was surprised at how independent Eriksen is, seeing that he’s living in a brand new country.
“I was really shocked at how fast he settled in here,” Maura said. “He adjusted really fast and I was impressed by that.”
His ability to adjust quickly will help him on the court, when he begins to do what he’s most excited about — playing basketball for the Nighthawks.
“In Denmark, we have clubs. We don’t do sports through school,” Eriksen said. “And it’s not really a big thing. There’s not a lot of people watching you play in Denmark, it’s more family that goes just to support.”
He’s especially looking forward to having students, parents and people from the community coming to watch the games.
“It’s definitely going to be something different to play with a big crowd,” Eriksen said. “It’s going to be nerve-wracking and new, but I think it will be nice.”
Eriksen has had a good time so far, making friends, playing basketball and getting used to living in the Outer Banks.
“So far it’s been great. I love the beach, I love the household I’m in, I like playing basketball and there’s been plenty of opportunities for doing that here,” Eriksen said.
Garrett hopes that all foreign exchange students have a good experience while they’re here, and that they make memories that last a lifetime.
“I think that all of our schools are excellent schools,” Garrett said. “And that any student coming here is going to get a really good teacher, they’re going to make really good friendships, and they’re going to have a community immediately embrace them because we do do that.”
Junior Emmy Benton can be reached at 23bentonem58@daretolearn.org.
