Creating memories along the way

Foreign exchange student has high hopes for his future in America

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Grace Elder

Junior Pablo Crémer plays a piece on the piano. He plays a variety of other instruments too.

Junior Pablo Crémer Cuart remembers the adrenaline building up within him as he first walked the halls of SHS. Although he was nervous, his eagerness to explore what it was like to be a high schooler in America kept him going.
“All of the students here have been so nice to me and trying to get me here to America…,” Crémer said.
Crémer is one of the newest exchange students here at SHS. He is from Mallorca, located in the Balearic Islands, which are right under Spain.
Host father and orchestra teacher Thomas Wright has hosted 43 previous foreign exchange students. He doesn’t have students from Spain often, but has previously hosted children from other countries in Europe.

 

“Since we are used to having kids from Europe, it has been an easy adjustment,” Wright said.
Crémer mentions that he couldn’t have been chosen by a better host family. He says he is very grateful for all of the opportunities that he has been given at SHS, thanks to the Wrights.
Unlike the typical person who is vis

iting a new country, he does not have a checklist of things he wants to see or do, nor does he want one. He believes that he should not have any expectations, but he is always open to exploring new things like going to museums with his host-family and friends.

There seem to be a lot of differences between the United States and Mallorca to Crémer not just in the citizens’ behavior, but in the culture and food too. Besides the language barrier, he says that people speak very happily here.

He mentions people in Spain are very serious, unlike the people he has encountered in school. Crémer had also noticed the difference in what Americans eat compared to meals in Spain. Even though he loves the food here, the food in his home country is a lot more traditional and homemade.
“(Americans) have a lot of fast food restaurants here,” Crémer said. “I love that.”
Another difference Crémer had noticed in the U.S. is being able to raise a flag with pride, since that is not the case in Spain and Mallorca.
“You can get in trouble,” Crémer said. “Politics in Spain are so divided and everyone thinks very different things.”
One of the other things he found as a major culture shock were the films. He thought that America would be like the stereotypical high school movies. In those movies, everyone has school spirit and they are very high energy.
“In Spain, everyone has an objective vision of the United States,” Crémer said, “We just see America as a dream, that people are very involved in their country, and you have a lot of things that we wish we had in Spain.”
Crémer is very active in the school. He has made many friends along with junior Hannah Matthews and other students. 

They have taken him to a few local eateries, like Ms.Curls and showed him around town. Matthews and her friends want to make sure that he can have the best American high school experience, as well as having him teach them things from his culture.

“Pablo has taught us a lot about where he is from,” Matthews said. “He tells us about his friends, his old school and everything he has done.” 

Cremer also plays tennis and is planning to play lacrosse in the spring, since Wright is the coach. He wants to do the most he can while he is here in an effort to make memories, whether it be school related or just experiences in general.

“My year here will be what it will be and I don’t want to plan anything,” Cremer says, ”I honestly don’t know what is going to happen here, but I’ll just let it.” 

Although Cremer does not have a checklist, Wright does. 

There are things that he wants to do with every foreign exchange student, such as going to tourist places that are unique to Indiana. He plans to take Cremer to the Indy 500 or the Brickyard 500 in the future.

Wright also wants Cremer to see the Ohio River, to be able to go on a beach vacation during the students’ fall break and to visit New York City.

“Pablo is number 44, and every kid is different but it is kind of nice having one who has different interests so the piano gets played a lot more in the house, along with the guitar.” Wright said. 

With 9 years of experience under his belt, Cremer has been playing the piano since he was 7 years old. Cremer is currently playing the grand piano for the orchestra, as well as playing the bass guitar in the jazz band. 

“Playing piano is more like a hobby,” Cremer said. “I don’t have enough force, enough mentality, to become a professional pianist because it is so hard.” 

His teachers are so proud of him for joining the orchestra here. His dream is to go to college in Spain. Then, he would like to come back to the United States to continue his studies and work here as a cardiologist. 

Even though he only has one year in the United States, he plans to make it the best year it can be and cannot wait for all of the things he will get to achieve at SHS. 

Cremer is enjoying his time in SHS especially with his new friends and accomplished many goals. After imagining what his life will be like in America, he is excited for his future in America and can’t wait for the activities that he gets to be involved in.

“I have imagined it about one million times, but nothing is greater than what it is, nothing.” Cremer said.