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     A friend of her father introduced her to Foxcroft which, she says, is a great environment due to its varied curriculum, horseback riding and the fact that "it's very safe." She also found "very nice people", a welcome change from the anti-Asian bias she encoutered in Switzerland.
     Tomimatsu says the hardest things about adapting to Foxcroft are learning to speak English and dealing with homesickness. If she has a problem, she seeks out her friends or her American chemistry teacher who serves as her advisor. When things get really tough, she concentrates on her purpose for being there: speaking English and soaking up American culture.
     Though she insists on speaking English, she usually mingles with foreign students because they share the same experiences of being overseas. Her closest friends are from Japan, Taiwan and Corea. Life without other Asian students, she says, "would be very, very hard for me."
     For Tomimatsu it is frustratingly difficult to get involved with American students because she doesn't speak English "100%". "Orientals can laugh at my jokes," and are interested in what she has to say. She finds intramural sports to be the most helpful ice-breaker into the American way of life, and gleefully describes her winning debut performance in field hockey.
     Vastly different from Tomimatsu's experience at Foxcroft is that of Carol Paik, a 17-year-old Corean American who's been there 18 months. Paik finds the lifestyle easier because she does speak English 100% and, as a five-day boarder, gets to go home on weekends.

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     Paik had previously attended public schools in Bethesda, Maryland and transferred because unruly classmates and disinterested faculty hindered her studies. Like Tomimatsu Paik chose Foxcroft because she liked the environment: the people, the scenery, a dorm layout that seemed conducive to making friends. She also appreciates intramural sports as an antidote to stress and social tension.
     Unlike Tomimatsu it's easier for her to relate to American-born students. Most of her friends are white, a couple are black. Paik has no problem mingling, and says her biggest challenge is finding free, unstructured time. She's learning more at boarding school, but still looks forward to getaway weekends at the mall.
     Asian students tend to put her off because they constantly stick together. In particular, Corean students have made her uncomfortable by addressing her in Corean, a language she understands but is not fluent in. Last year she roomed with a Corean national who was personally offended when Paik decided to broaden her social horizons. Other Coreans seemed to waste of lot of time deciding who can do what, says Paik.
     The wide culture gap has more adversely affected Patra Shovityakool, an 18-year-old Thai national who has attended the Wyoming Seminary since last September. Before Wyoming she spent the summer session and her junior year at two Connecticut prep schools and divided her sophomore year in California between a public school and a Catholic school. Until her sophomore year, she attended private school in Thailand.
     She "learned not to trust people," after her necklace and other personal items were stolen in all of her first three boarding schools. What's more, different sexual mores and social values have convinced her not to recommend the experience to other Thai girls of her age. "When they come here they have too much freedom," she explains. "They just don't know how to handle it. They just run wild."
     As with Paik, Shovityakool transferred to a boarding school because of bad relationships with teachers and students. Overcrowding, fights and drugs at both the public and Catholic schools as well as faculty disinterest are among the factors she cites. She chose the Connecticut schools because friends of hers went there and they were recommended by the Education Department in Thailand.
     Shovityakool expected to find a good education in Connecticut, and was disappointed by the faculty's unhelpfulness and their force-feeding of team sports. Thailand's Education Department recommended Wyoming Seminary as an alternative, and when Shovityakool visited in the summer, she was impressed by the curriculum, the school's proximity to town life, and the fact that international students are not segregated from the rest of the student body. PAGE 4

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