[ILLUSTRATED INTERVIEW] Uruguayan exchange student talks about her experience in Minnesota
Manuela Treber is a short term exchange student. She is staying in Minnesota for a month. Through this Illustrated Interview you can learn more about her hopes, goals, and her experience in Minnesota so far.
February 21, 2019
Where are you from?
“I am from Uruguay.”
What are you doing in the US?
“I am here to see if I like living in this area. My mother came here when she was my age and stayed with the mother of the family that I am staying with. So we were already family friends. I love to travel, and experience something different so I am excited to be here. The overall goal is to see if I like it here, so that I can come back in the start of the next school year, and live here for a year.”
Do you like Minnesota?
“Yeah I do, I have only been here for three days. But this is my first time seeing snow, and it is really beautiful. But I’m still getting used to the cold.”
What are your hobbies?
“I love swimming, I am actually on the national swimming team for Uruguay. I started when I was very young, maybe seven. You can get on the national team if your time is good enough. My times qualified so I was able to get on the team.”
Are you able to swim here?
“Yeah I am, if I would come to live here next year that would be something that I would do. I have been swimming at the U of M everyday after school.”
What do you like about SPA?
“The food and people are really nice. I am an athlete so I mainly eat really healthy. But sometimes you crave a big burger, and SPA has really good. So it’s really fun to eat what I crave.”
What will you do after you leave Minnesota?
“Well I’m going to go to Uruguay for a few weeks, then I will go to China to train in swimming. After that I plan to go to Chile to go and compete there, and after that I will return home to start school. Yeah it is pretty crazy.”
Why do you want to come back and stay here for a year?
“Well in Uruguay it is very uncommon to go to the University and continue with your sport. The education system has less sympathy for swimmers. For example if I had a huge swimming tournament and a test on the same day, the school would immediately give me a fail on the test and not take into consideration the sport that I am in. For me to be able to come here I would need to get a scholarship in swimming, and if I got a scholarship I would be able to come here and study. And here in the US the Universities are better with understanding student athletes.”
What are your goals in swimming?
“Well the overall goal is to go to the Olympics, and swim for Uruguay.”
Do you have plans after you are done swimming?
“Well one of the reasons that I want to come back to the US is to be able to go to the University while I am swimming. I hope to go to medical school and be a gynecologist.”
Do you miss your family?
“Yes of course. But I have to choose between my success and my home country. I know that wherever I am there are people in Uruguay that will always support and love me.”
