Smiling as she says “yes,” senior Elena Camazón accepts a homecoming proposal from senior Dani Crispin and Sofia Torres that reads, “sería dulcemente agradable si vas a homecoming con nosotras,” meaning, “It would be sweet if you went to homecoming with us.” To Camazón, the gesture was touching because as a foreign exchange student from Leon, Spain, building relationships with new people is important.

Camazón wasn’t originally looking to study in the U.S., but was encouraged by her mother.

“I started looking for things that could bring me here,” Camazón said. “When you send the papers they say you can choose a place you want to go [and I chose Kansas City.]”

Teresa Kilkenny decided to host Camazón to share her “blessings” with her as well as for religious reasons.

“I felt like the Holy Spirit was telling me to help somebody out there that needed to come to the U.S. and study,” Kilkenny said. “I have a big house and kids leaving the big house, so I had a spare room.”

Camazón finds cultural differences to be the hardest adjustment, particularly the scheduling of school. Despite the differences, Camazón enjoys Mill Valley and has made multiple attempts to get involved and immerse herself in the student body.

“I’m in theater club; in Spain we also have a theater club, but it’s not as big as here,” Camazón said. “I like a lot of the school because it’s very big and everything is really cool and [the most helpful people are] the friends that I have that [are] in my classes.”

Torres befriended Camazón because she was intrigued by her background and hoped that they would find similarities in each other since Torres is from Mexico.

“I’ve never met a foreign exchange student, but I thought it was really interesting how she’s from Spain,” Torres said. “We have in common that our cultures are different from what the American culture is and it makes us relate more to each other.”

Besides what they have in common, Torres’ favorite thing about Camazón is her positive energy.

“I love her sense of humor,” Torres said. “She laughs at my jokes and she’s really nice.”

Kilkenny agrees and says she is blessed to have Camazón as a part of her life.

“[Elena is] just a joy. She sees beauty in things I’ve forgotten to look at anymore,” Kilkenny said. “Everything’s new to her, every experience in Kansas City is new and it makes me appreciate how much I love the U.S. and even just the Shawnee area.”