Students adjust to foreign land

Marinet Zamora, 16, went to her first football game last week to watch Carson play Galena.

"The game was very boring," she confessed. "I don't understand it. But it was a social event so it was fun."

Zamora, an exchange student from Costa Rica, is more accustomed to fotbol, what Americans refer to as soccer. She attended a soccer match the previous week.

"The soccer game is good, good, good," she said.

Zamora and Ines Zemann, 15, of Austria, are attending Carson High School this year as foreign exchange students.

"I love Carson City," Zemann said. "I like all the people I've met here and I have a wonderful host family."

Zemann said her mother was concerned about her coming to the United States during a time of war but Zemann remained determined to come.

"It's such a famous country," she said. "There's so many opinions about it. I wanted to get my own point of view and see how it is really."

In her hometown of Vsls, about 5 miles from Innsbruck, Zemann attends a school with about 800 people in eight grades.

Carson High School's 2,600 students was a shock at first.

"There's so many rules and so many people," she said.

Zemann studied English for five years and speaks it fluently.

Zamora is struggling more with the language and finds it more difficult to learn because many people want to practice their Spanish skills with her.

But she has a goal.

"For Christmas, I want to be able to speak very well," she said.

The major difference for Zamora between her hometown of Puntarenas and Carson City is the social aspect.

"In the night, all the people are out in the street or in the park," she said. "Here, no."

Zemann is part of the Rotary Exchange program and is living with Phil and Becky Leathers. Zamora, who is with the AFS foreign exchange organization, lives with Judy Harriga and Richard Seeger.

While here, Zemann is following the governor's race in California.

"I'm not that politically involved but it would be great if an Austrian was the governor," she said.