The thought of leaving the simple town of Skien, Norway was exhilarating but scary. After a few discussions with her parents, Vilde Sorlie finally got an application to come to America as a foreign exchange student.

“I told them first when I was thirteen that I wanted to be a foreign exchange student,” she said. “At first they said no, but now that I am sixteen, they agreed.”

The process was long and very detailed. Everything had to be exact before she was allowed to leave the country.
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“I sent in an application,” Sorlie said. “After that, I got an entry and then I had to fill out a bunch of forms describing myself.”
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When Sorlie found out she was approved, it was time to find a host family.
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“I had to write a letter, and then I had to wait until a host family picked me,” she said.
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Sorlie had no idea where she was going to be traveling. All she knew was it was in America.

“I didn’t pick Decatur,” she said. “My host family that picked me lives here.”

Sorlie had been to America before on a vacation to Florida, but she had never been on a plane alone.

​“When I first got on the plane, I didn’t really realize that I was coming to stay and live here for ten months,” Sorlie said.
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The plane she took made two initial stops; one in New York and one in Texas.
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“It took six and a half hours to get to New York. Then we stayed there for four days,” Sorlie said. “Then it took three hours and fifty-five minutes to get to Fort Worth, Texas.”

​She finally arrived to the airport in Fort Worth and got to meet her host family.
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“I was really tired when I first saw them because my plane had been delayed and then it was cancelled,” she said.
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Before her plane landed, she had only talked to her host family on Skype a few times to see if they would like each other. She really liked their family.

​“My host parents are Brooke and Craig Bentley,” Sorlie said. “I have two little sisters and one brother. My sisters are five and nine, and my brother is eleven.”

​So far, Sorlie has enjoyed her time here.
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“I have my own room and bathroom at the house,” she said.
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Not only is her home life different, but school is too.

​“Norway has no sports at school,” she said. “It is more strict here though. Here you have to call your teacher by their last name. In Norway we use their first name.”
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The school rules in Norway also differ from the school rules here.

​“In Norway, we don’t have dress code rules,” Sorlie said. “I see people wear shorts and crop-tops at my school back home.”
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Although Sorlie admits she isn’t very fond of school, she is enjoying Decatur.
​ The weather in Norway is also very different from the weather in Texas. Currently, it is about forty degrees Fahrenheit in Norway.
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“It is a lot colder in Norway,” Sorlie said. “I don’t really like the cold weather. Right now it is also flooded in my hometown.”
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Almost every family know what it is like to go out to eat in America, but Sorlie’s family doesn’t exactly know that feeling.

​“It is very expensive to eat in Norway, so we usually cook,” she said. “If you were to eat in Norway with a four person family, it would be about 200 American dollars.”

Sorlie likes it here, but she misses her parents back home.

​“I am only allowed to talk to them every other week so I won’t get home sick,” Sorlie said.
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She is scheduled to stay here until June 15th.

​“I can’t wait to see what I will be able to do this year,” Sorlie said.
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