Foreign exchange student is soaking up new experiences in Randolph

Trisha Benton

Randolph Times

RANDOLPH — Malen Vallejo comes through the door with her backpack on her shoulder, her volleyball knee pads pushed down to her ankles and a beaming smile.

She’s had so many new experiences in the past few weeks that she could be understandably overwhelmed but this is what she signed up for and she’s soaking up every minute.

From Bilbao, Spain, she’s living and experiencing rural America as a foreign exchange student here for her junior year at Randolph High School. She is being hosted by Doug and Joyce Tunink who have had a prior experience hosting an exchange student from Italy eight years ago.

“It’s been my dream to come here and to learn to speak English and just enjoy new experiences,” Vallejo said.

And so far, just about every single thing has been a new experience.

For starters, Bilbao is a city of more than 300,000 in northern Spain and she lives in the heart of a city in an apartment building. The Tuninks live in a two-story home on a gravel road outside of town with plenty of space inside and out.

Before coming to Nebraska, she’d never driven a car and rarely even rode in one, walking wherever she needs to go. In fact, she must be 18 to get her driver’s license back home.

So the Tuninks are teaching her how to drive . . . with a tractor to start with.

“Its hard for me to imagine a family who doesn’t have a car,” Doug said.

The climate in Bilbao is mild with temperatures ranging from 40 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit year-round with humidity in the summer and rain throughout the year. She does have experience with snow as she skis the nearby Pyrenees but she’s looking forward to experiencing a Nebraska winter.

The most significant change for Vallejo? Meal times. At home, lunch is closer to 3 p.m. and dinner is served around 9 p.m.

Most of her meals back home consist of fresh seafood and vegetables. She’s shared with the Tuninks her love of an authentic Spanish tortilla - made with potatoes and eggs.

It tastes similar to an omelet, Joyce said, and is somewhat complicated to make.

If it wasn’t for the language barrier, Vallejo would consider her coursework at Randolph High a breeze.

“My problem is with the language. I have to work on that - pronunciation especially,” Vallejo said. “If it was the same (coursework) in Spanish, it would be so easy.”

Basque is the official language in Bilbao but Vallejo started learning English beginning in elementary.

English classes in Spain focus mainly on grammar and written English and not as much time spent on conversational English.

She can only come up with a few similarities between home and what she’s experienced so far in the United States - McDonald’s, Coke and the TV show “Hawaii Five-O.”

Her parents, Iñigo and Monica, and her younger siblings, have been very supportive of her decision to study abroad. Her mother also experienced life as a foreign exchange student.

Vallejo texts them every day and they video chat every week.

She’s constantly sending them pictures so they can get a small glimpse of her new experiences in small-town Randolph.

There’s the snapshot of her tubing down the Niobrara River. And here’s another of her enjoying time with friends around a fire pit.

She snaps a picture of the bright orange and pink sunset outside the Tunink’s front door, with the tall, yellowing green stalks of corn as the backdrop.

And then she hits send on another new experience.