LAURINBURG — Thirteen high school students from Oban, Scotland have spent the last week and half discovering all that North Carolina has to offer.
The experience is part of the 24th annual Laurinburg-Oban Exchange program. The Oban students are staying with host families in Laurinburg during their two-week stay and have made the most of the time by visiting Grandfather Mountain, sporting events — and even a trip to Wal-Mart.
“The supermarkets and the restaurants are a lot bigger,” said Oban student Ben Coates. “Especially Walmart. It’s like three times the size of our Tesco, which is the biggest supermarket in Oban. The school is also a lot bigger than ours.”
Another cultural difference the Oban students have noticed is the food.
“There is no where near as much soup over here,” said Beth Campbell.
“It’s cold all year for us, so we always have soup,” James McIntyre added. He also found interesting the storm conditions recently experienced by much of the South.
“What you guys called the hurricane and the weather conditions, that’s just every other day for us,” said James. “We’re used to that. It’s weird to think that the same weather can have such dramatic differences in different parts of the world.”
The group hopes to take a trip to Myrtle Beach this weekend, if the weather and the roads allow it.
“It will be awesome to go to a beach where it’s actually sunny and the water is decently warm to swim in,” said Ben. “When the Americans came over to Scotland we jumped in the sea and our water was freezing. I’m sure getting into the water here will feel like a nice bath.”
The trip to America is actually the second part of the exchange program. This past June, 13 students from Scotland High School made the more than 3,000 mile journey to Oban, Scotland for a true Scottish experience.
Laurinburg and Oban, Scotland are sister cities because of their shared Scottish heritage, which is how the exchange program started back in 1993. The 12 counties in the Cape Fear region was home to the largest settlement of western Highland Scots well into the 19th century. Oban happens to be in the middle of the western Highlands of Scotland.
When the program began one teacher and one student from Laurinburg traveled to Oban over the summer to experience Scotland. The following spring Oban High School sent two students and one teacher to America to experience western culture. As the program expanded more and more students were exchanged during the two-week program. The program is now in its 24th year and the number of students has grown to 13 with two chaperons.
“The people you meet on this exchange are definitely life-long friends,” said James. “We’re going to speak to them forever. If you think about it we’ve only really spent five or six weeks with them, but it’s ridiculous to think how close we’ve become with all of them. It’s going to be a drag to go home.”
The 13 Scotland students selected for this year’s program are: Brooke Bathie, Emma Gray Beacham, Hannah Bethea, Caroline Bounds, Anna Griswold, Rebecca Heller, Grace McIntyre, Gus Purcell, Gregory Regling, Omega Roberson, Skylar Scott, Isabella Whitehead and Zachary Williams. Chaperoning the exchange were Bridget Ward and Maggie Liles, both teachers at Sycamore Lane Elementary School.
The Oban exchange students are: Hector MacDonald, Rachel Campbell, Selina Keppie, Fiona McLean, Lucy Stewart, Ben Coates, Lucy Swietlicki, James McIntrye, Daniel Speirs, Lucy Hennessy, Kayti MacKinnon, Beth Campbell and Alex Houston. Chaperoning the exchange were Murray Hamilton and Nicole Brown.
Despite the groups being separate for several months, the students are closer than ever. Only this time it’s the Americans who are inviting their Scotland counterparts into their homes.
“They’ve been so lovely,” said Lucy Hennessy. “It’s so wonderful for someone to open their home like that and basically take on an extra child. They’ve been driving us around and showing us places and have just been really, really nice.”
As grateful as the Oban students are for a roof over their heads, the host families simply felt like they were returning the favor after their children stayed in Scotland.
“Lucy Swietlicki, is my Scot. She’s the cute, precious one I love her,” said Elizabeth McIntyre,a parent of Scotland High exchange student Grace McIntyre. “She’s been a piece of cake, she fits right into our family. We haven’t had any problems, we could keep her. Our dog’s name is Lucy too, so it’s been a little confusing — both little heads turn around.”
The students said they would encourage people if they get the chance to participate in an exchange program.
“It just broadens your horizons,” said Lucy Hennessy.
“I feel like it makes you respect people a lot more,” said James McIntyre. “You realized they live a different way of life and you learn to respect their choices and they might be the same as you, but you learn to take that into consideration. Just being around and getting to know different people is really helpful.”
None of them want their time in America to end next week because they’ve been having so much fun, but they know the friendships they’ve forged with the Laurinburg teens will be just as strong thousands of miles apart.
“We’ve been here a week and a bit, it doesn’t feel like that,” said Ben Coats. “How does the saying go, time flies when your enjoying it, that’s what it feels like. We feel like we’ve been here for ages.”
Amber Hatten can be reached at 910-506-3170.
