MOUNT VERNON — Otto Poschmann and Antonio de Benito have a couple of months left in Mount Vernon before they travel over 1,000 miles overseas back home to Europe. Though back home they’re not next-door neighbors.
Poschmann lives in Berlin; Benito is from Spain.
Both wanted to fly overseas and come to America to experience the culture, American high school life and the general life of an American.
Poschmann and Benito applied to travel overseas via a partner agency, which decides the school district.
The differences between the two countries span many facets.
“I would say the biggest difference is that you need a car to go everywhere,” Poschmann said. “And that you can also drive at a younger age.”
Public transportation is a staple in Berlin, filled with buses and trains, Poschmann said.
English is almost a first language for the duo, learning it between kindergarten and third grade.
“In this country, a second language is not mandatory,” host Joe Porter said. “In most other counties it is. And generally, the mandatory second language is English.”
Porter has housed exchange students since 1999, though he stopped for five to six years, he said.
The host family provides them with a place to stay and food, Porter said.
“I’m kinda like the taxi,” he joked.
“That’s one of the reasons why people come so much here,” Benito said. “Cause their families are actually volunteers and other countries. Not only because of the money, because here someone volunteers to have you, it’s obvious that they want to have you here.”
“You have to give these guys and the other students a lot of credit because when Antonio was saying about coming to the U.S. families volunteering,” Porter said.
“What a lot of people don’t see is these guys, their parents gave them away for 10 months. They sent them to a county that they’re both 4,000 miles from home and move them in with somebody they’d never met for 10 months.”
The first month living in Mount Vernon wasn’t difficult for the exchange students, Poschmann said, though they became homesick around Christmas.
“You’re not really conscious of what’s going on,” Benito said. “Saying, ‘I will get used to this’ but it reached the point where you have been here for a month and you’re like, ‘I’m not used to this yet.’”
Benito thought it was going to be harder, but in the end he found it gets easier with time.
Since being enrolled at Mount Vernon High School for the 22-23 school year, both have participated in sports, varying from wrestling, volleyball and soccer.
Playing sports coincides with making friends, Benito said.
“It also really depends also in the classes you’re taking,” he said.
“There is no point in comparing because here we have been actually living and not in a touristic place,” Benito said. “So if I were living in Italy for seven months in a town, I would be able to tell but I have not so I just like it here.”
“Yeah it’s different because we’ve been in Europe two weeks somewhere but not for such a long time,” Poschmann said.
The weather in Europe and Knox County are nearly similar, Poschmann said.
“I live probably in the warmest part with Europe, one of the warmest parts,” Benito. “It’s not like we don’t see snow every year.”
Though last December when Knox County had a harsh winter, Benito said, it was probably the coldest place he’s ever lived.
On what Benito will miss the most from his time at Mount Vernon, it comes down to the relationships he’s made throughout the school year.
Correction: Otta Poschmann’s last name is spelled Poschmann not ‘Posch.’
