Andrea Flores is from Santa Cruz, Bolivia. She is 16, has 2 older brothers and her parents are professionals. She enjoys sports, painting and drawing, and has an interest in "the ecosystem". Andrea is show here with Phil McNairy at the Christmas 2004 party.

See a 2007 letter and photos from Andrea.

Fran came to us from Moreno, Argentina, a city of about 300,000 people. Fran was sponsored by the Rotary Club Moreno. Fran’s family in Argentina includes his parents, Osvaldo and Celica, and an older brother Gonzy. In Minnesota, Fran’s host parents included Amy and Dave De Jong, Marybess and John Goeppinger, and Deb and Bob Brodie.

Fran arrived in Minnesota on August 12, 2000. Fran came to the United States very familiar with the concept of exchange students. His brother Gonzy had been a Rotary exchange student to Australia. The Rojos also have hosted exchange students and, in fact, were hosting a girl from Quebec, Canada, while Fran was here in the United States.

Argentina’s primary language is Spanish. While Fran had a rudimentary understanding of English, he, like most other foreign exchange students, initially experienced difficulties communicating with the locals. Fran’s best example of a communication gap occurred on the first day of the school year at Red Wing Community High School. While studying English in Argentina, Fran had learned British English. As we all know, England uses different words for some things than we do in the United States.  For example, an apartment is a flat. It was one of these words that led to one of Fran’s favorite stories from his time in Red Wing.

In one class on this first day of school, Fran needed an eraser to, of course, erase an error. He asked a girl in the class if she had an eraser. Fran received no answer - just a blank stare from the girl. Not to be deterred, Fran asked another girl and got the same result. Likewise when he asked a third girl.

It was a few days later, while studying one evening with the help of his host parents that he learned why the girls had reacted as they did. He again made a mistake in pencil, and asked his host father if he had an eraser. His host father didn’t understand the request. Eventually, the host father figured out Fran’s request. As it turned out, Fran had been asking the girls at school and his host father for an eraser, but had been calling it by the name the British used. Fran had been asking for a “rubber." Given one common usage of the word “rubber” in the United States, there is little wonder he received no response from his female classmates.

Among the many activities Fran participated in, he was on the tennis team. Early in his year in Red Wing, he had been befriended by Teresa and Tom Gilman. Tom was the head coach of the high school tennis team at the time and encouraged Fran to join when the season started in the spring. Fran enjoyed his time on the tennis team immensely.

Fran’s main concern on arriving in Red Wing was “I must matriculate." He was worried that he would fail all his classes due to his limited English. As it turned out, Fran excelled in academics in Red Wing. Fran did graduate with the rest of the Red Wing Class of 2001, even graduating with honors. When Fran returned to Argentina in July 2001, he planned to attend a university in Buenos Aires to study Economic Science (i.e., business).

Fran received a special treat when he graduated from Red Wing High School. He was fortunate enough to have his parents come to the Minnesota for his graduation and spend a few weeks. Fran’s host families had the opportunity to spend time with Fran’s “real” parents and quickly understood that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, so to speak. His parents were very gracious and warm. The Red Wing Rotary Club was proud to have been able to host Fran. Fran gave more to the Club than the Club received in return. His smile and charming personality made him friends of everyone he met, from his host families to club members to fellow students.