My home away from home

An average American high school student commutes daily during the week to and from home and school.  But Nebraska Christian Schools is not an average American high school and definitely doesn’t just have American students.  Here, there are kids from as far away as 3,000 miles – that’s like from the other side of the globe!  I’m one of the many from that bunch who has traveled halfway around the world just to go to school.  This year there are students from China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Thailand (the country I’m from)!

How can Nebraska Christian have an international program?

International StudentsThe answer is pretty simple:  the dorm. Let me give you a glimpse into my dorm, a place filled with love, laughter, lessons, and basically life!

The 30-year old girl’s dorm does not have just one large bedroom for all the 18 girls in the dorm.  There are 13 bedrooms, and they are certainly not large.  They’re more like “good-sized” in my opinion.  My dorm is far from being just a place where a bunch of girls, who could care less for each other, live together.  Everyone is treated life family here, and as far as I’m concerned, no family is complete without parents.

My dorm parents are Larry and Barb Hoff, who also teach at NC.  Since I came in 8th grade, I’ve always had them my dorm mother and father.  Of course they are not my parents, but I, along with the other girls, have come to love and respect them like second parents.  The Hoffs are definitely a blessing to my life and the others they’ve impacted here at NC.  One of the things I love so much about them is their faith in God.  Love and forgiveness are not hard to find in this dorm.

 What makes the girls’ dorm the girls’ dorm?

SONY DSCNo girls dorm is complete without – you guessed it – GIRLS.  Not only do I get to enjoy my teenage life with my incredible dorm parents, I also get to live it with lots of girls from all over!  There are currently 16 international and 2 American girls in the dorm.  The dorm welcomes not only international students, but also American students who live far away from NC.

We all get along pretty well throughout the year, without a single fight.  …Yeah right!  That’s what we would like to think.  Imagine living with 17 other girls and not having one tiny problem.  Well, that’s just not possible!  Problems pay a frequent visit here at the dorm, but we grow stronger in our relationships with one another every time we conquer one.  Plus, every girl brings along with her a different culture than the others.  There’s no doubt differences will occur, but what a blessing it is to be able to live in one place and yet feel like you have been in five different countries!

 What makes the dorm great?

The girls’ dorm has impacted my life in countless ways.  I learn new things every year like how to love unconditionally and forgive others better.  One of the lessons I will never forget is being dependent on God, especially when I’m not with my parents for almost nine months at a time.  The dorm has been a great growing environment for me mentally, socially, and spiritually.  I, along with many other girls, will always remember the love, laughter, lessons and life that the great old dorm has given me.  There will always be a place in my heart for my home away from home.

Categorized in:Dorms International

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