Tabor exchange student at Miramonte High School, Eliska Tumova, adjusts to life in Orinda and gets to know her fellow Orindans, including Slavka Ruzicka, at left, at the Rotary Club of Orinda’s Dancing with the Cars event on Sept. 8.
Like most 17-year-olds in Orinda, Eliska Tumova is a senior at Miramonte High School. She enjoys spending time with friends and loves to watch Netflix shows, especially Lucifer. Unlike most teens here, Tumova is a foreign exchange student from Tabor, Czech Republic.
Tumova came to the United States in August through The Orinda and Tabor Sister City Foundation’s student exchange program. She is staying with Bobbie Landers temporarily as the search for a host family continues. Landers is a former mayor and active member in the Orinda sister-city program.
Tumova rides to school with her next-door classmate. She attends classes including English and her favorite, psychology. She’s fascinated by the human mind and appreciates learning “how we can make ourselves better.”
Tumova has noticed a few differences between the high schools in Tabor and Miramonte. Here, classes alternate between period lengths of 45 and 90 minutes, whereas classes back home are all strictly 45 minutes.
In Tabor, the high school is a four-story building where she takes the stairs to different classes and walks to her school cafeteria, which is off-campus. At Miramonte, she walks through green lawns and outdoor locker halls to reach her classes and the cafeteria is just a quick stroll away.
A base for the Cheer Team, Tumova goes to practice after school most days and receives a ride home from one of her teammates.
In her free time, she explores the Bay Area with friends, venturing to Walnut Creek, Berkeley, San Francisco and beyond. She enjoys hiking, playing tennis and staying active.
With a nine hour time difference, staying in touch with her family is a challenge. They mostly exchange texts rather than calling because Tumova is asleep while her family is awake and vice-versa. Although she misses her family, she likes meeting new people and is very social.
“People here are really friendly. I didn’t expect they’d be this friendly,” she said.
Tumova traveled to the United States last year with the Czech Republic’s national Cheer Team, but this is her first time ever traveling alone.
“I was a little scared about catching the right flight and how school would go and how people would be here … I was also really excited because it is a dream of every child to do high school in America,” said Tumova. “We have the vision from the films and now it’s real life happening to me.”
Nicole Lamison can be reached at nlamison34@gmail.com.
