Milnthorpe teen on AFS exchange to Costa Rica
Collingwood Area School student Sara Isbister. Photo: Neil Wilson.
Sara Isbister will spend next year in Costa Rica.
The Milnthorpe teenager, currently in year 11 at Collingwood Area School, has been selected by the American Field Service international student exchange organisation to live and go to school in the Spanish-speaking Central American republic.
"I've been interested in doing an exchange for a while," said Sara. "About three years ago, when we lived in Dunedin, I had a chance to get on a week-long study trip to Japan but I didn't end up getting picked for it. After that I applied for a short exchange in Tahiti too, but I missed out, so I decided to do a whole year programme. I'll miss all of my level two programme but I can get University Entrance from my level three qualification."
For the first six months of this year, Sara's family hosted Cristobal Morales-Vera, an exchange student from Argentina, and he further encouraged Sara's interest in studying overseas.
"I'd like to live in a totally different culture and learn a new language. Central and South America sounded interesting and I wanted to learn Spanish. Cristobal told me about a few places he thought I shouldn't go to. I had to choose three countries and Costa Rica was my first choice. I'm really pleased."
Sara says that when she returns to Collingwood Area School for her year 13 studies in 2010, she is unlikely to study Spanish as a subject but she will try not to lose her fluency, no matter how hard it might be to find people to converse with.
"I might be looking at working in tourism at some stage so being fluent in Spanish would be helpful for that."
Neil Wilson
