“I just wanted to get out of my comfort zone,” says new CHS senior Sophie Jacobs, settling herself into her chair. Last year, Jacobs decided to gain some fresh experiences by going on a student exchange program to the South American nation of Chile.

While her student exchange trip was definitely a major culture shift, Jacobs is no stranger to being the new kid in town. At 17, she has already moved nine or ten times (as well as having lost count in the process), and has spent time in various parts of Oregon, Missouri and California. She even lived in Clayton from second to eighth grade, and attended Clayton schools. The inspiration to enroll in a student exchange, however, came from numerous summers spent in Italy, where her mother had once been an exchange student herself. It was this positive experience, coupled with Jacobs’s love of languages that led her to become involved in American Field Service Intercultural Programs.

Through AFS, one of the largest student exchange services in the world, Jacobs was able to realize her dream. She submitted a list of potential countries and was given her top pick, Chile.  Jacobs explains her choice: “It was the country I knew least about that was a Spanish – speaking country, and I really wanted to work on my skills in Spanish … Also the geography was really interesting to me … I just wanted to go somewhere far away from home.”

Upon her arrival, Jacobs realized just how far from home she actually was. Having previously lived in California’s Bay Area, one of the most densely populated urban zones in the world, she was struck by the isolation of her temporary hometown of Coyhaique, a city of just over 50,000 people situated amidst the harsh beauty of the region of Patagonia. “I remember the first time I was there, “ Jacobs recalls, “I was sitting in the car with my host mother, and there was just nothing around us and I remember thinking: Wait, is this where I’m gonna be for my whole year? I remember kind of getting a bit scared, but also thinking this was just a new adventure for me.”

Over the course of her time in Coyhaique, Jacobs got to know more of the Patagonia and its stunning nature. “My host parents actually worked for the national park service,” Jacobs said, “and they were just really excited for me to explore nature and get to experience what it was like there.” The region around Coyhaique is a popular tourist destination, with many national parks and nature reserves close by. What Jacobs remembers most clearly is the Piedra del Indio, a huge rocky outcrop that the locals believe resembles a human face.

When not acquainting herself with her surroundings, Jacobs spent her time with her new host parents and sister. Many would find getting used to living in a completely different family challenging and awkward, but Jacobs views the experience differently: “I just took it day by day. I took every day as an opportunity to learn something.” The situation was made easier by the fact that Jacobs’s host mother had once also been an exchange student: “Whenever I would get down because of the language barrier or whatever it was, she would just be like: ‘I’ve been there.’”

In school, Jacobs was in the same class as her host sister, which made her adjustment to a completely new system somewhat easier. Getting used to the local school in Coyhaique, however, was a bit of a challenge. Having previously attended Oakland College Preparatory School in California, one of the nation’s top private schools, the experience of some of the inefficiencies of the Chilean system made an impact on Jacobs. The school day in Chile lasts from eight in the morning to late into the afternoon, with a two-hour lunch break in between. “For the first couple of months, I just remember being exhausted, but the weird thing was, we didn’t really learn that much,” Jacobs admits. She mentions that Chile is currently undergoing education reform, which she wholeheartedly supports. Her classmates she remembers fondly as more affectionate and immature than their American counterparts, but essentially, Jacobs states: “We’re really not that different.”

Now back in Clayton, Jacobs is once again adjusting to a new school.   When asked if she misses her Chilean friends Jacobs confesses that she often finds herself very nostalgic for last year, but that she is also looking forward to more great things to come. “That was a year in my life and I can’t stay there forever,” she explains, “I need to move on and I’m just grateful and glad that I had the experience.”