Gemma Caruso is pictured with Amma in Kanyakumari, a coastal town in the state of Tamil Nadu on India’s southern tip. (Courtesy of Gemma Caruso)
International Education Week — an initiative led by the U.S. Departments of Education and State celebrating the benefits of global learning and international exchange — will be observed Nov. 13 to 17.
Locally, several programs — including Rotary and AFS — are offering area teens the chance to study abroad while living with host families in host countries. Currently, six AFS students from Humboldt County are attending schools in other nations and learning about other cultures along the way.
One of these students is 16-year-old Gemma Caruso of Bayside, who did an interview with the Times-Standard in anticipation of International Education Week. Caruso — whose twin sister Siri is also on exchange this year through AFS in Germany — is spending the year in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, which is in southern India. She arrived there in July 2023 and will return home in May 2024.
“I chose to go abroad because I wanted to experience another culture and way of life,” Caruso said. “Humboldt is such a small, insulated community that I think it is crucial that we look for ways to expand our world views. Our world is also being brought closer together through social media and how easily we can connect virtually, but I think it is critical that we build relationships in person and truly do our best to understand and learn about another culture.”
Gemma and Siri Caruso are the daughters of Wendy and Keith Caruso. They attend Arcata High School and will be juniors there when they come home.
“We are happy that they chose to go on exchange the same year,” Wendy Caruso said. “The twins are physically apart from each other this year, but they are still sharing the exchange experience. As they integrate into their respective host families and communities, they will probably have many similar feelings and struggles to discuss. The details of their experiences are very different, but the underlying goals of international friendship building and understanding are the same, and we are glad they are experiencing this at the same time. We look forward to when they come home and can share what they have learned, from two very different perspectives.”
In India, Gemma Caruso lives with her host amma (“mom” in the Tamil language) and host appa (“dad” in Tamil).
“My host family is amazing and they feel like a true family to me. Amma is my biology teacher at school, which is very nice because I can talk to her at school as well,” Caruso said. “My host family has been an incredible source of comfort and an amazing way for me to adjust to the culture here since I can ask any questions I have. I’m very grateful to them for hosting me. They’re incredible.”
She relayed this story about the closeness she feels toward her friends and host family in India: “I just turned 16 on Oct. 18, so I was 15 when I left the U.S. It was an amazing birthday. On the 18th itself, I was on the train traveling to Surat with two of our wonderful AFS volunteers and Haili (another exchange student) for Navratri (an annual Hindu festival). I had had cake that morning … but I was so excited to be traveling on the train for so long, I had forgotten that it was my birthday by the afternoon. Haili did not, and remembered that I’d mentioned my dad always makes Siri and I spaghetti and meatballs for our birthday dinner in the U.S. That’s not something readily available here, especially not on a train, but they acquired paneer noodles … and it was so incredibly thoughtful of them. It was a wonderful birthday and I was so happy.
“Amma went above and beyond and planned a surprise party for my birthday last weekend,” Caruso added. “I came home one evening and all of a sudden all the AFS volunteers, Haili, two of my friends and my wonderful host family were at my house. I was completely surprised and it was the sweetest thing. It’s difficult to explain, but I think it was then that it hit me that I really have a family here, that there are people who will go out of their way … for me and I felt so loved and at home.”
Caruso says she is loving her time in India — which she describes as “a remarkable country with such a rich history and culture.”
“It’s incredibly diverse and I learn something new every day,” she said. “To give an example of how diverse India is, daal is a common dish in India, but it varies extensively based on the region. I’ve been to New Delhi, (Delhi), Surat (Gujarat) Udaipur (Rajasthan) and, of course, Chennai (Tamil Nadu). I’ve tried daal in each of these places and it varies immensely. The daal in Surat was much sweeter than in Chennai and it was delicious. This is one example of the regional variance present and how one thing can be so different based on the area. The language is also very varied, with Tamil being the predominant language in my area.”
While in India, Caruso is attending Anita Methodist School in Chennai, where she is studying biology, math, physics, chemistry, English and French.
“Outside of school, I am involved in a Carnatic choir and I am working on a STEM project with a YES alumni here as well,” said Caruso, who is participating in the student exchange through a scholarship from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Abroad (YES) program. Her sister, Siri, is also experiencing the year abroad via a scholarship through the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) program.
According to its website, AFS-USA is “committed to making studying abroad more accessible and affordable to high school students from all backgrounds who possess the unique qualities needed to succeed on our transformative programs.”
Available scholarships include AFS Global Citizen Scholarships & Aid, AFS Global STEM Academies, and Faces of America. AFS-USA also sends participants on U.S. Department of State-funded scholarships. These include Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES Abroad), National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y), Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) and Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX). All four are programs of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
“The YES Abroad scholarship is a wonderful program through the U.S. Department of State that fully covers the exchange,” Caruso said. “It works through various different implementing organizations (AFS, American Councils and Amideast). I would not have been able to study abroad without this scholarship and so I am very grateful to have been selected.”
She added, “YES Abroad was originally to build relationships with countries with a significant Muslim population following 9/11. … The YES Abroad scholarship sends students to several different countries. This year, there are about 60 students in 11 countries, with five of us being placed in India.”
Caruson noted that, “NSLI-Y is focused on learning difficult languages such as Russian and Mandarin. FLEX Abroad is for Georgia, Kazakhstan and Poland, and then CBYX is exclusively between Germany and the U.S. and is a result of World War II.”
Abby Munro-Proulx, a longtime AFS-USA volunteer with the Northwest California Team and Redwood Coast AFS Chapter, said, “We as local AFS volunteers are trying to encourage local students to go abroad and we provide many scholarship options.”
When Caruso returns home this spring, she will look forward to finishing her junior and senior years at Arcata High, where she plans to take AP Physics.
“While on exchange,” she said, “I have discovered that I love physics. It is my favorite class here in school. I’m not entirely sure of what I want to study in college, but after being on exchange, I’m now considering the foreign services.”
For more information about AFS and its exchange programs, as well as scholarship opportunities, go to https://www.afsusa.org or call 1-800- AFS-INFO or 707-822-1111.